The integrity of postmodernism - colouring shades of grey

'Structures don't protest on the streets'

The origins of poststructuralism in Paris in 1968 led to a revolution in intellectual thought as the established rules of language, institutions and norms came crashing down. This indeed seemed like putting the final nail in the European Enlightenment coffin; intellectual thought would never be the same again. And as they say, the rest is history.

Now it seems that postmodernism is the dominant force in our society as there can be meaning in anything and everything at the same time. Hyper-relativity of today's instant media makes it doubly difficult to find truth and essence. Imitation, repetition, globalisation - these are the forces which have dumbed our senses down but show no sign of their influence abating. We are at a loss to find that precious needle in the haystack.

Anish Kapoor's 'Tall Tree and the Eye' - filled with clear meaning?

You look at a sculpture and wonder what it possibly could be. Without a caption, you might actually be a little miffed. Is this 'good' art when the explanation seems unnecessarily convoluted? Is obtusity the name of the game - a new kind of elitism where the brash confidence of the individual as a brand is celebrated in the full glare of the media? And it is open to question whether we would all agree with J.M. Coetzee's assertion that:

'In the present "culture", few care to distinguish - indeed, few are capable to distinguish - between sincerity and the performance of sincerity.' (Coetzee, 2007)

Rene Magritte's 'The Treachery of Images' - this is not a pipe, but an 'image' of a pipe

But this does not mean that the postmodern project is a futile one; we should not be writing its obituary just yet. As with any quality cultural or intellectual pursuit, the process must be rigorous and open to scrutiny. Only then can we sort out the rainbow of colours from the shades of grey.

Otherwise we might get the laughable stupidity of America we all love to laugh about in Britain: 'The rise of Idiot America today reflects - for profit, mainly, but also, and more cynically, for political advantage and in the pursuit of power - the breakdown of the consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is good. In the new media... if everyone is an expert, then nobody is... That because there are two sides to every question, they both must be right or at least not wrong.' (Pierce, 2010: 8)

Idiot America has seeped into popular culture through the music of Green Day

Of course the British would never admit to have plunged to such dire intellectual depths, but it is a possibility - especially for the docile population to embrace their own 'chav'-ocracy. Well at least we wouldn't possibly vote for someone like Christine O'Donnell, right?

Relevant links:
Guardian Review of J.M. Coetzee's Diary of a Bad Year
Google Books: Charles Pierce - Idiot America
YouTube video of Christine O'Donnell - "I did not go to Yale"