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Mea culpa: there is a crisis in the humanities

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Re: Mea culpa: there is a crisis in the humanities

#241
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure you know what you've bitten off. What does your question even mean? What aspect of "post-modernism" are you hoping to tear down? One assumes you're referring to hopelessly abstruse liberal arts senior theses, and is left to wonder whether you're aware of e.g. postmodern architecture. Deliberate, original works of postmodern literary theory might be incomprehensible, but the ideas of postmodernism --- met…

What does your definition even mean? On that basis you could claim almost anything as "postmodern". It's so vague as to be utterly meaningless. I assert that we would have remixes even if postmodernism had never become a thing. Prove me wrong.

The term "postmodernism" is a broad descriptor intended to inject some understanding into changes that have already occurred. For example:

- Music went from pristine classical chords to overlapping remixes of existing music;

- architecture went from symmetrical glass boxes to crooked chaotic dissonance;

- visual arts went from seeking the perfect form to an acknowledgment that just about any form can be perfect for the right time/viewer/artist/etc.;

- morality went from religious absolutism to moral relativism;

- even physics went from clean equations that worked everywhere to requiring the observer's viewpoint to be considered (relativity) and more extreme, accepting randomness and unknow-ability as inherent principles (quantam mechanics).

Are these cultural changes related at all? You may say no, each is it's own independent thing that happened for its own separate reasons. But even if that's the case, there are definitely some commonalities among them, chiefly that "value" or even "truth" is far more complex and uncertain than we previously thought.

So to answer your question, yes remixes could exist without postmodernism. But I wonder if postmodernism could have existed without remixes.

Re: Mea culpa: there is a crisis in the humanities

#242
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does your definition even mean? On that basis you could claim almost anything as "postmodern". It's so vague as to be utterly meaningless. I assert that we would have remixes even if postmodernism had never become a thing. Prove me wrong.

The term "postmodernism" is a broad descriptor intended to inject some understanding into changes that have already occurred. For example: - Music went from pristine classical chords to overlapping remixes of existing music; - architecture went from symmetrical glass boxes to crooked chaotic dissonance; - visual arts went from seeking the perfect form to an acknowledgment that just about any form can be perfect for t…

Iriny and explicit abandonment of modern ideals is also common across postmodern thought.

I wasn’t sure I understood how a building could be ironic until I went and stared at the post modern self parking garage in Chicago for a bit:

https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/photos-15-buildin...

Re: Mea culpa: there is a crisis in the humanities

#243
I wonder what the correlation is between the price of a university degree and the percentage of humanities majors. I imagine it's much easier to justify an education in English Literature when it doesn't cost $70,000 or more.

At the same time, I know people who majored in English who ended up working as security guards and package sorters. There just aren't many jobs that require that skillset anymore, thanks to the internet. Not many editors, copywriters, or reviewers are necessary when there are millions of people willing to do it almost for free online. Digital publishing has made writing into a free for all. Almost all that is left is teaching which requires separate credentials and very low pay for long hours.

Re: Mea culpa: there is a crisis in the humanities

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The term "postmodernism" is a broad descriptor intended to inject some understanding into changes that have already occurred. For example: - Music went from pristine classical chords to overlapping remixes of existing music; - architecture went from symmetrical glass boxes to crooked chaotic dissonance; - visual arts went from seeking the perfect form to an acknowledgment that just about any form can be perfect for t…

Iriny and explicit abandonment of modern ideals is also common across postmodern thought. I wasn’t sure I understood how a building could be ironic until I went and stared at the post modern self parking garage in Chicago for a bit: https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/photos-15-buildin...

Great link--thanks for posting it.

Re: Mea culpa: there is a crisis in the humanities

#245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marx wasn't the first, and he wasn't the last to argue for a community/worker owned and operated economic system. He's just the best known. He might have co-written written a manifesto, but had he not another would very likely have. It was a long time coming. But that's really besides my point. Importantly, Marx did not advocate for a totalitarian political regime. That's a big deal, because that's a defining element…

Karl Marx (Capital) “You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property ..." Did a military underling write that? Try asking anyone at all what their views are on a suggested policy saying "we will make it impossible for you to own private property!" It's delusional to imagine that such a program could not be accomplished without a totalitarian revolution.

Do you understand the difference between private and personal property?

Re: Mea culpa: there is a crisis in the humanities

#246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the idea that a high proportion of social scientists end up describing themselves as Marxist should make you reconsider your view of Marx, rather than dismiss the social scientists as equivalent to creationists?

This is a fallacy of majority. Most people also believed the Earth to be the center of the universe. Marx got the labor theory of production wrong. He blames the capitalists for unjustly acquiring the "means of production" and uses that as an excuse for violently stealing and murdering those people. He would literally insist that you must have stolen for someone because you have a successful 1-man blog earning lots o…

This is nonsense. To start with, a capitalist is someone who employs and exploits a worker. A 1-man blogger (or a 1-man anything) does not employ anyone.
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