Why Postmodernism is Appealing to Contemporary Audience

Postmodernism can be broadly defined as a late 20th century philosophy which rejects the western philosophies adopted by the society primarily during The Enlightenment (18th century). Therefore, while modernism preaches the existence of reality, absolute truth, individuality, objectivity, and free markets; postmodernism preaches relativism, collectivism, and the belief that human nature is a social construct which can be deconstructed and rearranged because it is subjective in nature. This enables people to lazily avoid the harshness of reality as they continue to live inside their comfortable bubbles.

In the words of Michel Foucault, one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century commonly associated with his work in structuralism, “It is meaningless to speak in the name of - or against - Reason, Truth, or Knowledge.” However, if there are no absolute truths and objective knowledge then postmodernism immediately contradicts itself at the very fundamental level on which it stands because the statement, “there are no absolute truths and objective knowledge” is a statement of absolute truth in itself.

Historically speaking, many social thinkers of the 20th century such as Irving Howe (Mass Society and Post-Modern Fiction, 1959), C.R. Mills (The Sociological Imagination, 1959), Leslie Fiedler (The New Mutants, 1965), and Jurgen Habermas (Modernity versus Postmodernity, 1981), have continuously portrayed the dawn of postmodernism as the beginning of a dark age where the principles of The Enlightenment fall due to which a nihilistic society eventually rises.

The reason why postmodernism is appealing to many, especially to the younger generation is because it removes objectivity and places feelings above logic and reason. All feelings, no matter how ridiculous, are to be respected and taken seriously. As a result, a toxic atmosphere of relativism is created which diminishes the need to make a distinction between the right and the wrong; and the moral and the immoral. For instance, saying “all culture and humans do not deserve to be respected” or “there is no ‘your truth’ or ‘my truth’, there is just one truth” gets you labeled as a sexist, racist, islamophobic bigot.

Another reason why the appalling idea of giving more importance to somebody’s feelings than rationality seems appealing to many, is because it is the easiest way to end conversations. Since nobody can be wrong and everybody’s ideas and opinions are to be given the equal amount of importance and respect, discussions and debates can always be ended by saying things like “I do not agree with you but I’m also not judging you because I respect and value your opinion.” This way, there are no winners, no losers, nobody’s feelings get hurt, people don’t need to use their brains to think, and we all live in a constant state of utopia of laziness, ignorance, and shrunken minds while our society grows stagnant and our policies continuously fail.

Postmodernism persistently discards meta-narratives and also poses a great threat to morality. Morality and absolute truths are not mutually exclusive and therefore while disregarding the belief in meta-narratives it indicates that morality is a fluid and subjective concept. Instead, it favors moral relativism which contributes to the increase in sociological deviances by destroying moral boundaries. This is because postmodernism’s loose framework revolves around the idea that absolute truth and principles are constructed as a result of the power struggle between different identity groups and they exist to control human beings on the basis of a class struggle.

In the communist manifesto, the class-identity struggle is defined between “the bourgeoisie and the proletariat”. Nowadays, the postmodernists neo-Marxists while always talking about people in term of different identity groups fighting a war with power have introduced the same sly yet effective game of identity politics but have termed it as “ the oppressor vs. the oppressed”, ensuring that people feel guilty, especially for the “privileges” they have.

The reason why postmodernism has become such a dangerous ideology in today’s world is not only because people are blindly falling into its trap but also because we now have an entire matrix of schools and universities where campus indoctrination of the postmodernist narrative occurs in large numbers.

For instance, many universities in America have to follow university speech codes which prohibit “offensive speech” and issue “trigger warnings” to students. This is not only a direct threat to the freedom of speech and individual liberty but it also sends across a very dangerous message, that it is not the individual who has constitutional rights but it is the groups which do.

The growing trend of the postmodernist school of thought in India and in the West is terrifying to see. However, it becomes a bit easier to understand and deal with the intricate workings of the postmodernist philosophy in the real world if you think about people’s actions and where you stand in terms of “who are we to judge” or “we alone can judge”.

Postmodernism has become this generation’s underground course of achieving totalitarianism. A philosophical ideology too broad to be specifically defined has achieved to destroy rationality, objectivity and has made its supporters immensely lazy and ignorant. Therefore, it is imperative that we fight against this metaphysical war which is a major root cause for the rapidly increasing problems all around the world.