It is very difficult to explain postmodernism in a way which is clear and accessible to the average person. There are many reasons for this including but not limited to: -Postmodern academic writing is convoluted and difficult, often making use of obscure jargon and shifting standards of rigor
Great post, and I look forward to reading what comes next. I have to be reminded of this every so often: you waste your time appealing to logic and evidence when debating the super woke, because theirs is a religious thinking that cares only about power and prestige, Reason and principled communication and Enlightenment values and all that mean absolutely nothing to them. They will feign a commitment to these values only as a means to attack; but they will never defend those values because they do not share them, and they do not care if you point out the contradictory evidence or illogic surrounding their positions; they are not arguing in good faith.
I was a philosophy major about 8 years ago, and I often wonder what philosophy classrooms look like today. Every single postmodern/woke "argument" relies on fallacy after fallacy. Not to mention the lack of belief in an objective truth. It flies in the face of everything I was taught. I wonder if this gets called out or if philosophy itself has somehow been woke-ified in the classroom as well.
Sam Harris had a great line in a conversation with Jordan Peterson. It was something to the effect of, "If you don't value logic, there's no logical argument I can possibly give to convince you that you should."
Just a pitch, Wokal-- specific examples/stories could be useful. James Damore and Ilya Shapiro would be obvious ones for this example, but it would be great to see how often it is happening, and perhaps also to find some non-mainstream examples. I'm sure you could recruit a group of people to help find such things. I'd be glad to volunteer.
"The woke see everything as a do or die scenario. The woke person thinks 'I can't debate this non-woke person and take the chance that someone might reject wokeness, so I won't risk losing…I will do ANYTHING to stop them.' The woke don’t 'settle differences' by seeking the truth about the disagreement to find out who is correct. The woke settle disputes by winning socially and getting the power to implement their ideas."
That isn't the philosophy woke individuals use; even if it was, "winning socially" and attaining power to implement ideas is how our society and political system has traditionally been set up for generations. This is how people rose through the ranks in the Federalist Society, which has arguably influenced the makeup of today's Supreme Court.
Great post, and I look forward to reading what comes next. I have to be reminded of this every so often: you waste your time appealing to logic and evidence when debating the super woke, because theirs is a religious thinking that cares only about power and prestige, Reason and principled communication and Enlightenment values and all that mean absolutely nothing to them. They will feign a commitment to these values only as a means to attack; but they will never defend those values because they do not share them, and they do not care if you point out the contradictory evidence or illogic surrounding their positions; they are not arguing in good faith.
I was a philosophy major about 8 years ago, and I often wonder what philosophy classrooms look like today. Every single postmodern/woke "argument" relies on fallacy after fallacy. Not to mention the lack of belief in an objective truth. It flies in the face of everything I was taught. I wonder if this gets called out or if philosophy itself has somehow been woke-ified in the classroom as well.
Sam Harris had a great line in a conversation with Jordan Peterson. It was something to the effect of, "If you don't value logic, there's no logical argument I can possibly give to convince you that you should."
I look forward to reading this Substack. Keep up the great work!
Just a pitch, Wokal-- specific examples/stories could be useful. James Damore and Ilya Shapiro would be obvious ones for this example, but it would be great to see how often it is happening, and perhaps also to find some non-mainstream examples. I'm sure you could recruit a group of people to help find such things. I'd be glad to volunteer.
At times, the Woke movement sounds very much like another leader of a radical group who was out to change the world.
"There is no good and evil. There is only power, and those too weak to seek it."
--Tom Riddle
"The woke see everything as a do or die scenario. The woke person thinks 'I can't debate this non-woke person and take the chance that someone might reject wokeness, so I won't risk losing…I will do ANYTHING to stop them.' The woke don’t 'settle differences' by seeking the truth about the disagreement to find out who is correct. The woke settle disputes by winning socially and getting the power to implement their ideas."
That isn't the philosophy woke individuals use; even if it was, "winning socially" and attaining power to implement ideas is how our society and political system has traditionally been set up for generations. This is how people rose through the ranks in the Federalist Society, which has arguably influenced the makeup of today's Supreme Court.