Rayne Today

Rayne Today
Searching for dharma, in spite of the weather...

Monday, February 24, 2003

RantsCounterRants: Pomo is a state of mind…

A couple of our Salon Bloggers blasted “postmodernism” (pomo) this past week.

Jan Haugland kicked it off with a slap along side the head to pomo writers.

The Raven supports the Secular Blasphemer, assaulting the idea that pomo thought brings anything new to the table of humanity.

I subscribe otherwise. Postmodernism is real; it’s a state in the evolution of human consciousness manifested in changed worldview.

It’s not just the gobbledy-gook of deconstruction.

It’s not merely a recognition of duality (modernism is more likely to embrace this concept) or an allegedly new line of inquiry.

Postmodernists are more likely to understand and realize a matrix of opportunities, choice, realities. They’re not confined by traditionalist mono- or tribal culturalism, or by modernist universal absolutism.

In our global community where values are not only black-and-white but contextually created and colored, it’s difficult to accept anything but a matrix-like values framework and multilateralism if one is truly an engaged member of this global community.

As an example, acknowledge that the current U.S. Administration can only think in limited terms of black-and-white (perhaps even more narrow: black-or-white, traditionalistic). If you can think in more complex terms and can contemplate the spectrum of options available which this Administration cannot grasp, you are already on the pomo path. (In fact, many of us resent the backward slide of this Administration towards modernism and traditionalism!)

Utterly simple stuff. No gobbledy-gook required.

A problem with understanding pomo is that many point to the intensive navel-gazing of deconstruction as the definition of pomo. Deconstruction is merely a state of awareness, a subset of pomo consciousness. It is not the entirety of pomo.

It is more important at this point to look beyond pomo, to look to the future of human consciousness. Slamming pomo values is only another form of navel-gazing. It’s not an expansive use of our energies, and it does little towards progression of human understanding.

Or perhaps the slamming of postmodernism is the death-knell acknowledgement of post-humanity and the dawn of new post-human values?

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Postscript – don’t miss Rob Salkowitz blast today (24-FEB) against pomo at Emphasis Added. IMHO, I think Rob’s confusing the backslide towards absolutism he’s seen of late for real pomo values.