Here’s the problem for those of middling to average intellect. I speak as a woman here of decent but by no means outstanding smarts.
First, we were promoted along the academic assembly line and lauded for the smallest hints of promise by well-meaning people who thought this would help us and, even more importantly, save the culture from the sins of its past.
At some point, we learned that we were incapable of understanding the vocabulary and concepts of science and mathematics. Maybe we should have been sitting in the “for dummies” version of the class but we weren’t and it was too late to ask for a refresher on elementary concepts. Or maybe we should have been pouring coffee or doing any of a number of other valuable and worthwhile things.
But we’ve been told from the beginning that what matters is sitting in that private club and talking about things in a language that people outside the club struggle to grasp. Forget that the language of science and math exist to be as precise as possible; what we noticed was that it was all Greek to us, so we’re going to work on our new Greek. We get to feel like brilliant academics, which is where we get our sense of worth, and you to feel good because now academia is filled with the descendants of those who were discriminated against (possibly— for my brother is as much a product of my great and great great grandmothers as I am).
"[...] language was a fundamental component of the exercise of power; those who got to define the narrative, or define the norms and meanings, were those who had the power to do so."
I'm reminded of how words like "vaccine" and "case" and "misinformation" were redefined by Very Important Experts back in 2020 and 2021, so as to shame and ostracize dissenters.
I'll defer to the neurosurgeoun on matters concerning his speciality only, and to Ethel when it comes to running a café, also only.
As they should to me in matters of post-modernism, ideas-history and such as that is my backyard.
Or in more old-fashioned terms: in germanic cultures, respect is something earned after ability and courage is proven by deed. It can not ever be demanded, coerced or be based simply on titles, or anything you yourself didn't earn. You might cheer the bloke what is rich due to inheriting a fortune because he's lucky - sort of - but no-one respects him for having inherited a lump sum.
Other cultures have differeing definitions and interpretations of respect - among arabs it most definitively is a thing that the stronger may demand of the weaker, being in meaning adjacent to dominant/obseqious, and that the weaker is obligated to show.
The above has been a PSA on post-modern analysis of meaning done right, sans ideology.
Post Modernism posits that all interpretations are permissible and this may well have merit but not all interpretations align with reality. The ones that don’t align with reality are rather useless. Sorry to burst your fantasy bubble po mos, not everything is possible.
Here’s the problem for those of middling to average intellect. I speak as a woman here of decent but by no means outstanding smarts.
First, we were promoted along the academic assembly line and lauded for the smallest hints of promise by well-meaning people who thought this would help us and, even more importantly, save the culture from the sins of its past.
At some point, we learned that we were incapable of understanding the vocabulary and concepts of science and mathematics. Maybe we should have been sitting in the “for dummies” version of the class but we weren’t and it was too late to ask for a refresher on elementary concepts. Or maybe we should have been pouring coffee or doing any of a number of other valuable and worthwhile things.
But we’ve been told from the beginning that what matters is sitting in that private club and talking about things in a language that people outside the club struggle to grasp. Forget that the language of science and math exist to be as precise as possible; what we noticed was that it was all Greek to us, so we’re going to work on our new Greek. We get to feel like brilliant academics, which is where we get our sense of worth, and you to feel good because now academia is filled with the descendants of those who were discriminated against (possibly— for my brother is as much a product of my great and great great grandmothers as I am).
"[...] language was a fundamental component of the exercise of power; those who got to define the narrative, or define the norms and meanings, were those who had the power to do so."
I'm reminded of how words like "vaccine" and "case" and "misinformation" were redefined by Very Important Experts back in 2020 and 2021, so as to shame and ostracize dissenters.
I'll defer to the neurosurgeoun on matters concerning his speciality only, and to Ethel when it comes to running a café, also only.
As they should to me in matters of post-modernism, ideas-history and such as that is my backyard.
Or in more old-fashioned terms: in germanic cultures, respect is something earned after ability and courage is proven by deed. It can not ever be demanded, coerced or be based simply on titles, or anything you yourself didn't earn. You might cheer the bloke what is rich due to inheriting a fortune because he's lucky - sort of - but no-one respects him for having inherited a lump sum.
Other cultures have differeing definitions and interpretations of respect - among arabs it most definitively is a thing that the stronger may demand of the weaker, being in meaning adjacent to dominant/obseqious, and that the weaker is obligated to show.
The above has been a PSA on post-modern analysis of meaning done right, sans ideology.
Insanity here in Michigan.
Below is a clip from an NBC news article.
The apocalypse is upon us.
DETROIT — The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered all judges to address people in court by the pronouns they use or by “other
Post Modernism posits that all interpretations are permissible and this may well have merit but not all interpretations align with reality. The ones that don’t align with reality are rather useless. Sorry to burst your fantasy bubble po mos, not everything is possible.
Great post. Talking of deconstructing things that don't need deconstructing and great edifices made of verbose gobbledegook, Deconstructivism is my own theme this month: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/deconstructing-deconstructivism