Thursday 27 October 2005

PC, & 'The Great Postmodern Essay Generator'

Seen this? The postmodern essay generator -- ideal for embattled students who can now generate gibberish at the push of a button. Try generating one for yourself and just revel in the nonsense. [Hat tip here to Keith Windschuttle, the author of The Killing of History, and proprietor of TheSydneyLine website, both highly recommended. Hat tip also to Stephen Hicks, who recommended Windschuttle's lectures and essays on postmodernism. Both Hicks's book and Windschuttle's work provide invaluable real help for embattled students caught in the ibid thickets of postmodernism.]

And given the talk about "eradicating political incorrectness" around the traps today, Windschuttle's links to Jim Ball's list: antidotes for political correctness and reading lists for every young woman might come in very useful (you might compare the suggested lists with my own suggested reading list for a young man). Hicks's own book, Explaining Postmodernism, might also prove useful, particularly as it points out so well the connection between postmodernism and PC. As I argued at 'Blog Central' when this subject came up before once before:
Political correctness is not just harmless stupidity; it is the imposition of pre-digested opinions, usually by those in some position of power. It is the replacing of thought with rote.

Author Stephen Hicks argues that political-correctness comes from post-modernism, and is simply post-modern relativism applied to speech and personal beahavious.

In his book 'Explaining Post Modernism,' which I highly recommend - especially to students - Hicks contrasts the Enlightenment view of the world with its nemesis, the post-modern politically-correct position that seeks to overturn Enlightenment values:

"The contemporary Enlightenment world prides itself on its commitment to equality and justice, its open-mindedness, its making opportunity available to all, and its achievements in science and technology. The Enlightenment world is proud, confident, and knows it is the wave of the future.

"This is unbearable to someone who is totally invested in an opposed and failed outlook. That pride is what such a person wants to destroy. The best target to attack is the Enlightenment’s sense of its own moral worth. Attack it as sexist and racist, intolerably dogmatic, and cruelly exploitative. Undermine its confidence in its reason, its science and technology. The words do not even have to be true or consistent to do the necessary damage.

"And like Iago, postmodernism does not have to get the girl in the end. Destroying Othello is enough."

Does any of that sound familiar?
Do you think 'Political Correctness Eradicator' Wayne Mapp knows what the hell I'm on about? (Do you, dear reader?) Given what Mapp said in his speech about the subject that got him his new job job, probably not, as Rodney explains.

7 comments:

Richard Y Chappell said...

Ha, I like the way the Generator throws in words like "thus" and "therefore" to give the appearance of an argument, even when what follows bears no relation whatsoever to what went before. Very life-like.

By the way, as part of my ongoing campaign to clear the good name of (analytic) philosophers, let me emphasise that our discipline is one which has little patience for such nonsense. You might enjoy the post Characterizing a Fogbank: What Is Postmodernism, and Why Do I Take Such a Dim View of it?, by Prof. Keith DeRose, which exemplifies the standard position here. (As one commenter remarked, "Philosophers have never cared to tolerate widespread idiocy".)

Peter Cresswell said...

Thanks for the link, Richard. That looks like one to print off and ponder. I'll write on it once I have. Ta. :-)

Steve said...

What I wanna know is, who's the cute chick in the tee shirt...

Rick said...

Watch out Mapp, they're fighting back!!

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Anonymous said...

Although it may have elements taken from postmodernism, political correctness really hails from Marxism, and especially from the Marxist Herbert Marcuse.

Wikipedia is a notable example of a neo-Marxist project.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I hate those political correctness police. they are so annoying trying to make us think about the poor who lets face it, are just too lazy to work. I read this fact, that for a Thai woman to earn as much as someone in a factory in New Zealand earns in a year she would have to work for something like 1000, but lets face it, they don't want to!

Unknown said...

Now you know that is just plain not true. Other's circumstances are different. It's not PC to tell the truth, as long as it is the truth rather just your prejudices. If you know it to be true, go ahead and say that all poor and people of color, including Thais, are stupid and lazy and deserve what they get. Shout it from the rooftops that you believe white western people are superior. Make sure you don't do it anonymously either because you should always be proud of your belief system.

I just believe that you are wrong.

As for Postmodernism, I like "One who believes in nothing will fall for anything." Postmodernism for me is encapsulated in the phrase, "Whatever...."