Post-Modernism, and the Death of the Western World

[Leaf]

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without creating a civilization in-between.

– Oscar Wilde
http://www.lewrockwell.com/latulippe/latulippe71.html
Some time ago, I was at a friend’s house and happened to catch an HBO TV show called Sex and the City. Since I don’t watch much TV, I hadn’t seen it before. But after a few minutes, I was riveted to the screen and remained glued to my chair through several episodes.

The show is, in a word, horrifying. To give the Devil his due, it is also brilliant...in the sense that Hannibal Lecter is a brilliant criminal or napalm is a brilliant weapon. The writing, acting, and cinematography are amazing, the women’s lives are intriguing, and the comedy is truly hilarious.

But brilliance of production aside, Sex and the City has a number of profound socio-political nuances that dovetail with an issue I’ve been kicking around for quite some time; namely, that the Western world is experiencing the final stages of a cultural struggle between two radically different versions of social organization (which I call "organic culture" and "post-modernism"). This struggle is the single dominant issue of our age, and it defines a variety of conflicts both within Western civilization and between it and other civilizations, stretching from the relentless expansion of our government to our misbegotten "war on terror."

MORE AT THE LINK ABOVE

[oliver.rochford]

Leaf:

Just a hunch here, but do you know Mark Steyn? If so, do you like his writings?

ollie

[foodnotlawns]

Good find, Leaf.

I especially liked these paragraphs:

In essence, their lives are more akin to that of animals than to anything that could be called genuinely human. They live lives dominated by impulses and sensations rather than by the intellect or the spirit, lives of indulgence rather than of purpose. They reside in the "eternal present," without regard for the future and without reverence for the past. Even more disturbingly, their lifestyle has a spooky passivity to it, a sense of slavery to their vices. If someone takes them to a swanky Thai restaurant, they’ll eat. If someone hands them a martini, they’ll drink. If a handsome guy appears, they’ll copulate.

That is, in a nutshell, the sum total of their existence. Their post-modernism really isn’t a culture, but an anti-culture. It’s what people do in the absence of authentic culture...it is a downward spiral into the abyss. These women are, admittedly, an extreme example. But the beauty of art lies in its ability to harness archetypes for the purpose of making social and political commentary.

At the opposite end of the spectrum lies what I call "organic culture." The most extreme examples of this form of social organization are the Amish and the Hasidic Jews.

Organic cultures are typified most importantly by a "chain of being." In such circumstances, an individual sees himself as one link in a family that extends back through innumerable generations, usually ending in a mythical creation story that connects him with the supernatural (early Romans, for instance, could often recite their ancestry back dozens of generations, ending with one of the Gods or Heroes of their mythology). Such an individual also looks to the future and adjusts his time preferences to account for the needs of future generations. Respect of one’s ancestors and concern for one’s descendants are thus wrapped together in a religious and culture milieu that is of profound importance in everyday life. These families are linked to other, similar families through the bonds of culture and religion. Together, they see themselves as a unique "tribe" moving through history toward some final destiny.

My daughter regales me with stories about her being the only kid at her elementary school who knows about the political parties, and any politicians beyond Bush.  She was the only one who knew the VP, the Secretary of State, and the political parties including the Greens.

I said, "good for you, but that's terrible for us as a whole."

I got in several arguments the past week with voting age adults.  My pitch was simple, "re-elect no one, bring the troops home."  A lot of these adults gave replies akin to, "Well, I haven't studied the issues."  What's there to study?  American kids are getting killed, Iraqis are getting killed.  Bring home the troops.  It's real simple!

I hear these adults talking among themselves. They talk about television shows, and I'm sure sex in the city was one of their topics when it was airing.  It's really pathetic.  No misfortunes can be too terrible for us Americans.  We will deserve whatever happens, and then some.  It's just too bad that my daughter will suffer, unless we flee to Russia or Ukraine.

Do you have children yet Leaf?  My daughter is growing up speaking Russian.  No Amercan cable TV in the house.  There's Russian TV for the mother-in-law, which is somewhat better content than the American garbage.  My daughter spends her time at dance lessons, piano, gymnastics, quilting, soccer, reading novels, and helping me with the garden.  All the teachers tell us they see a big difference between her and the other kids.  I tell the teachers "it's just an absence of cable TV and junk food."

But it sucks not to have a community of like minded people around.  It's lonely at the top, so to speak.

[Leaf]

Mark Steyn, yes Ive read some of what he write..he has good things to say..yes...But he's not my favorite to read.

[Syberberg]

Good find Leaf.

Here's another interesting essay on the subject from a favourite band of mine, The Sisters of Mercy.

http://www.thesistersofmercy.com/gen/rrr2.htm

All in all, post-modernism is a victory of style over substance and it pervades pretty much all of Western society, from art to politics to language.

[Judy]

I agree with the article up to a point.  I mean I agree that modern life, as depicted in a TV show like Seinfeld and Sex and the City, is vacuous. 

My own life is not as extreme an example as the lifestyles depicted in those TV shows, and I still find it profoundly lonely.  That was one of the main reasons why I already had undertaken some steps towards Voluntary Simplicity before I found out about Peak Oil.  I was looking for a life that was "outwardly simple but inwardly rich" as the proponents of Voluntary Simplicity put it.

But, while we do have some choice in how we live our lives, the developed world puts tremendous pressure on us to lead an empty, disconnected life.  There are so many ways in which our social lives and our "spirituality" (for want of a better word) have been eroded.  I guess the process started, to some extent, when we moved from being hunter-foragers to being farmers.  But I think it accelerated enormously at the onset of the Industrial Revolution.  For example:

• The machines in factories operated around the clock.  Workers had to ignore their circadian rhythms in order to do shift work.
• Refrigeration enabled us to store food safely, and that in turn enabled us to eat whenever we wanted to.  A family member can get home late in the evening, pull something out of the fridge or freezer, nuke it in the microwave oven, and eat on his/her own at 11.00 p.m.  That was not possible in the days before refrigeration.  Family members had to stop what they were doing and eat when a meal was served.  This, in turn, brought them together for conversation.
• As corporations spread out across a country or the world, nuclear families were split off from extended families and transferred to distant branches or outposts.  Relatively early examples of this were the British soldiers and civil servants who went to far flung corners of the empire, e.g., India, while their young children were educated at boarding schools back in Britain.
• Television and similar technologies enable us to consume "canned" entertainment, rather than sitting around a fire telling stories, beating drums, and dancing with other people.
• Internet forums give us the illusion of being connected with other people when in fact we are not.  Don't get me wrong.  The Internet can help to overcome certain kinds of isolation, and I regard it as a godsend.  Given how deeply in denial most people around me are, being able to participate in online discussions about Voluntary Simplicity, Climate Change and Peak Oil certainly is an emotional safety valve for me.  But an online "community" cannot be a true substitute for a real life community.
   

 

I have mixed feelings about the "organic cultures" that the linked article praises.  The article says that people who belong to organic cultures have a strong sense of identity, they know who they are, they know where they fit into a long line of people that stretches back into the distant past and that they know will stretch into the future.  The article cites the England of Jane Austen as an example of an organic culture.

But was Austen's England really organic?  I don't think so, at least not in the sense that a hunter-forager society is organic, and not even in the sense that the Amish in America are organic.  It was a stratified society, with class lines clearly demarcated by the accent with which you spoke, etc.  The upper classes exploited the working classes.  Breaking through the class barrier was next to impossible.

Furthermore, when that so called organic British society sent its conquerors and administrators to places like Africa, their confidence in their own way of doing things made them arrogant.  They assumed that the supposedly civilized approach was the only valid one.  They were blind to the fact that, while the indigenous people were semi-clothed, illiterate and heathen, indigenous culture had a richness of its own. 

The organic culture of the indigenous people also had its superstitions, prejudices and blind spots.  Some of the beliefs were necessitated by conditions on the ground.  For example, in a so called "primitive" culture in which women breastfeed their babies and carry them on their backs, a mother can cope with one only baby.  The birth of twins is a disaster.  So every primitive culture conjured up a set of beliefs that one twin was good and the other was evil, and every primitve culture devised a methodology for determining which twin should be permitted to live and which one should be killed. 

While my childhood in Africa allowed me to witness the incredible warmth that existed in the local tribal society, and although I desperately miss the deep level of connection that people had with each other and with nature, I also am relieved that the privileged position I enjoyed in that set up freed me of certain constraints.  For example, if I had ever given birth to twins, I would have had the resources to raise both of them, and would not have been forced to kill one of them.

So, while I think that there are all kinds of flaws with post-modern society, I don't see it as being all bad.  Similarly, while I believe that organic cultures bestow huge benefits on the people who belong to them, they also have some disadvantages.

I also think this discussion is mainly academic.  The post-Peak Oil world will impose physical constraints on us that will force the survivors (if any) back into organic ways of interacting.  Seinfeld and Sex and the City (and the real life people whom they represent) will be a thing of the past.   
       

[Leaf]

Judy did you read "Your Money or Your Life"? That is a really good book, really helped to assist me in my life to find a balance. I love the fullfillment curve it rings so true.
Judy, no amtter what mankind will not find a utopia.Thus the writter is just stating how mankind for the most part is more fullfilled and has a meaningful life in a Organic society.
Ive lived now in Ukraine for 3 years and Ive seen lots of things money cant buy Ive made observations..and I tryly feel man is happier when he has enough and has a community that is close.