#postmodernism — Public Fediverse posts

The Postmodernist Side of the Force
https://existentialcomics.com/comic/665

#philosophy #starwars #postmodernism

The Postmodernist Side of the Force
https://existentialcomics.com/comic/665

#philosophy #starwars #postmodernism

A Cure for What Ails Us?

I have been reflecting lately on the peculiar sickness of modern life, and I have a theory which, stated somewhat like a math problem, is this: modern society (entailing economic, social, and labor practices) plus postmodern media (including communication technology, news consumption, and competing truth claims) leads to a kind of sickness. And the treatment for that sickness may be following Jesus through the historic practices of the Church.

My basic argument is this: for thousands of years, human beings lived in certain ways. Whether by divine design, adaptation, or some combination of the two, human bodies, minds, and spirits were set up for success while living a certain kind of life. People lived off to the land. They lived near extended family. Most people spent their lives in relatively small communities, surrounded by people they knew and who knew them. Work was physical and tangible. Information traveled slowly. The problems people encountered were usually nearby, visible, and connected to people who could actually help or be helped. This was by no means a perfect system, for pre-modern life contained many ills (physical and social). But this is the kind of the life that human bodies were prepared to live.

In the past 200-ish years, however, the technology of the Industrial Revolution and the development of (post) modern culture have placed enormous stress on that kind of life. Obviously, modernity brought with it a great many positive changes. It is easier to obtain food, clothing, medicine, and shelter now than at almost any other point in human history. Infant mortality has declined. Travel is easier. Communication is faster. Many forms of work are safer and less physically destructive. These are real goods, real ways in which human beings have flourished in ways never before seen, and such goods should not be dismissed.

But along with those good changes came new stressors. People became more mobile. Families became more scattered. Communities became less stable. Work became increasingly detached from the production of visible and tangible things. People became more reliant on systems and technologies that few of us understand and none of us can control. Almost no one practices subsistence living anymore, which means that nearly everything we need comes to us through a complicated network of strangers, corporations, machines, and institutions.

And for the past couple hundred years (less time in many places), as people adapted to modernism, human beings did their best to adjust. Many things worked reasonably well. We developed institutions, customs, and social practices that helped people endure the disruptions of modern life. But despite our best efforts, cracks began to form in the human experience. And as more and more research and lived experience attest, what seems to have shattered our humanity was the addition of postmodern media.

It was already difficult for human beings to carry the stresses of modernity. Then we placed in nearly every pocket a device that provides constant access to nearly every crisis, argument, tragedy, advertisement, opinion, and temptation in the world.

We are constantly connected, yet often deeply lonely. We possess unprecedented access to information but are less certain about what is true. We know what is happening across the globe almost instantly, while frequently knowing very little about the lives of the people who live next door. Our minds were not made to carry every tragedy. Our hearts were not made to process the suffering of the entire world before breakfast. Our identities were not made to be continually displayed, evaluated, marketed, and compared. Yet this is increasingly what we ask of ourselves every day.

So what is the cure?

Some might argue for a rejection of modernism. We might call this an Amish response: separate from the technologies and systems that deform human life. Others might argue for some form of the Benedict Option, in which Christians build durable communities and institutions while waiting for the present cultural disorder to pass. And I must admit that there are plenty of times when both of these seem like very appropriate responses to the ills of the current age.

My proposal, however, is a little different, and it goes something like this: the historic practices of the Church of Jesus Christ—specifically communion, baptism, and the penitential cycle—provide the way forward. (Not accidentally, these are essentially the three things Martin Luther—who is often credited, or blamed, for contributing to the rise of modernism—suggested were necessary for the life of the Church.)

Communion requires deep introspection and life in community. You cannot receive communion entirely alone. You need life with other people. You need to gather around a table. You need to confess your sins, reconcile with your neighbors, receive the gifts of God, and remember that you belong to a body larger than yourself.

Communion teaches us that we are not merely individuals consuming religious content. We are members of one another. We share one bread. We receive one Lord. We are brought into communion not only with God, but with the people standing beside us.

Baptism is historically a sign of entering into God’s family. It marks a person as belonging to Christ and to his people. But baptism has also historically been connected to deep formation in Scripture and theology. The early Church did not treat baptism as a passing religious moment. It was surrounded by teaching, preparation, examination, and a reordering of life. We desperately need that kind of depth today.

We must move beyond surface-level interactions shaped by postmodern media. We must dig deep and drink from wells that take longer than fifteen seconds to hear, understand, and digest. We need Scripture slowly read, theology carefully learned, prayers repeatedly prayed, and truths practiced long enough to reshape our instincts.

Then there is the penitential cycle: confession, repentance, forgiveness, and restoration.

The practice of confession is not simply something a priest holds over your head. Properly understood, it is a practice of introspection, conversation, truth-telling, and repentance. We deeply need these things today.

We need places where we can speak honestly about the ways we have failed. We need people who will tell us the truth without discarding us. We need the opportunity to repent, receive forgiveness, make amends, and begin again. Therapy, at its best, often offers a sanitized version of some of these practices: careful listening, honest self-examination, naming destructive patterns, and seeking a healthier way forward. These can be genuine gifts. But the Church’s penitential tradition goes further. It does not merely help us understand ourselves. It places us before God, names sin as sin, announces forgiveness, and calls us into new life.

*****

That is my diagnosis of this strange math problem. Modern society plus postmodern media has produced a sickness that cannot be solved merely by better technology, more information, increased efficiency, or improved self-care. The solution is actually practices which are much older. We lean back into the historic practices of the Church of Jesus Christ. We gather around the table. We remember our baptism. We confess our sins. We receive forgiveness. We read slowly, pray deeply, and share life with actual people in actual places. Will it be enough?

I hold this theory lightly. The problems of modern life are complicated, and the practices of the Church are not easy techniques or quick fixes. They are gifts, and they require patience, faithfulness, and time. Still, I wonder whether the ancient practices of the Church might be precisely the medicine our modern souls have forgotten how to receive. Shall we return?

A Cure for What Ails Us?

I have been reflecting lately on the peculiar sickness of modern life, and I have a theory which, stated somewhat like a math problem, is this: modern society (entailing economic, social, and labor practices) plus postmodern media (including communication technology, news consumption, and competing truth claims) leads to a kind of sickness. And the treatment for that sickness may be following Jesus through the historic practices of the Church.

My basic argument is this: for thousands of years, human beings lived in certain ways. Whether by divine design, adaptation, or some combination of the two, human bodies, minds, and spirits were set up for success while living a certain kind of life. People lived off to the land. They lived near extended family. Most people spent their lives in relatively small communities, surrounded by people they knew and who knew them. Work was physical and tangible. Information traveled slowly. The problems people encountered were usually nearby, visible, and connected to people who could actually help or be helped. This was by no means a perfect system, for pre-modern life contained many ills (physical and social). But this is the kind of the life that human bodies were prepared to live.

In the past 200-ish years, however, the technology of the Industrial Revolution and the development of (post) modern culture have placed enormous stress on that kind of life. Obviously, modernity brought with it a great many positive changes. It is easier to obtain food, clothing, medicine, and shelter now than at almost any other point in human history. Infant mortality has declined. Travel is easier. Communication is faster. Many forms of work are safer and less physically destructive. These are real goods, real ways in which human beings have flourished in ways never before seen, and such goods should not be dismissed.

But along with those good changes came new stressors. People became more mobile. Families became more scattered. Communities became less stable. Work became increasingly detached from the production of visible and tangible things. People became more reliant on systems and technologies that few of us understand and none of us can control. Almost no one practices subsistence living anymore, which means that nearly everything we need comes to us through a complicated network of strangers, corporations, machines, and institutions.

And for the past couple hundred years (less time in many places), as people adapted to modernism, human beings did their best to adjust. Many things worked reasonably well. We developed institutions, customs, and social practices that helped people endure the disruptions of modern life. But despite our best efforts, cracks began to form in the human experience. And as more and more research and lived experience attest, what seems to have shattered our humanity was the addition of postmodern media.

It was already difficult for human beings to carry the stresses of modernity. Then we placed in nearly every pocket a device that provides constant access to nearly every crisis, argument, tragedy, advertisement, opinion, and temptation in the world.

We are constantly connected, yet often deeply lonely. We possess unprecedented access to information but are less certain about what is true. We know what is happening across the globe almost instantly, while frequently knowing very little about the lives of the people who live next door. Our minds were not made to carry every tragedy. Our hearts were not made to process the suffering of the entire world before breakfast. Our identities were not made to be continually displayed, evaluated, marketed, and compared. Yet this is increasingly what we ask of ourselves every day.

So what is the cure?

Some might argue for a rejection of modernism. We might call this an Amish response: separate from the technologies and systems that deform human life. Others might argue for some form of the Benedict Option, in which Christians build durable communities and institutions while waiting for the present cultural disorder to pass. And I must admit that there are plenty of times when both of these seem like very appropriate responses to the ills of the current age.

My proposal, however, is a little different, and it goes something like this: the historic practices of the Church of Jesus Christ—specifically communion, baptism, and the penitential cycle—provide the way forward. (Not accidentally, these are essentially the three things Martin Luther—who is often credited, or blamed, for contributing to the rise of modernism—suggested were necessary for the life of the Church.)

Communion requires deep introspection and life in community. You cannot receive communion entirely alone. You need life with other people. You need to gather around a table. You need to confess your sins, reconcile with your neighbors, receive the gifts of God, and remember that you belong to a body larger than yourself.

Communion teaches us that we are not merely individuals consuming religious content. We are members of one another. We share one bread. We receive one Lord. We are brought into communion not only with God, but with the people standing beside us.

Baptism is historically a sign of entering into God’s family. It marks a person as belonging to Christ and to his people. But baptism has also historically been connected to deep formation in Scripture and theology. The early Church did not treat baptism as a passing religious moment. It was surrounded by teaching, preparation, examination, and a reordering of life. We desperately need that kind of depth today.

We must move beyond surface-level interactions shaped by postmodern media. We must dig deep and drink from wells that take longer than fifteen seconds to hear, understand, and digest. We need Scripture slowly read, theology carefully learned, prayers repeatedly prayed, and truths practiced long enough to reshape our instincts.

Then there is the penitential cycle: confession, repentance, forgiveness, and restoration.

The practice of confession is not simply something a priest holds over your head. Properly understood, it is a practice of introspection, conversation, truth-telling, and repentance. We deeply need these things today.

We need places where we can speak honestly about the ways we have failed. We need people who will tell us the truth without discarding us. We need the opportunity to repent, receive forgiveness, make amends, and begin again. Therapy, at its best, often offers a sanitized version of some of these practices: careful listening, honest self-examination, naming destructive patterns, and seeking a healthier way forward. These can be genuine gifts. But the Church’s penitential tradition goes further. It does not merely help us understand ourselves. It places us before God, names sin as sin, announces forgiveness, and calls us into new life.

*****

That is my diagnosis of this strange math problem. Modern society plus postmodern media has produced a sickness that cannot be solved merely by better technology, more information, increased efficiency, or improved self-care. The solution is actually practices which are much older. We lean back into the historic practices of the Church of Jesus Christ. We gather around the table. We remember our baptism. We confess our sins. We receive forgiveness. We read slowly, pray deeply, and share life with actual people in actual places. Will it be enough?

I hold this theory lightly. The problems of modern life are complicated, and the practices of the Church are not easy techniques or quick fixes. They are gifts, and they require patience, faithfulness, and time. Still, I wonder whether the ancient practices of the Church might be precisely the medicine our modern souls have forgotten how to receive. Shall we return?

#IgorMakarevich #ИгорьМакаревич Malevich's hut; 2004

#art #mastoart #Postmodernism

A bonus minimalist shot from the Groninger Museum. #postmodernism at its best.

#photography #architecture #architecturephotography #Groningen #minimalism #minimalistphotography

A bonus minimalist shot from the Groninger Museum. #postmodernism at its best.

#photography #architecture #architecturephotography #Groningen #minimalism #minimalistphotography

We live in a #deathcult rooted in 45 years of #neoliberalism and #postmodernism. Until we understand those roots, we'll keep mistaking the symptoms for the disease.

Today's "reasonable" politics to often feels like lost people, each individually thrashing through the same thorny bush. The problem isn't the people, it's the roots feeding the mess.

Cut those roots, and the old growth dries out. But history reminds us: when old systems collapse, the fire can spread in dangerous directions if we don't build something better first.

That's why we need the #openweb, #4opens and #OMN - not just to critique the old world, but to grow the next one. #climatechaos #KISS

We live in a #deathcult rooted in 45 years of #neoliberalism and #postmodernism. Until we understand those roots, we'll keep mistaking the symptoms for the disease.

Today's "reasonable" politics to often feels like lost people, each individually thrashing through the same thorny bush. The problem isn't the people, it's the roots feeding the mess.

Cut those roots, and the old growth dries out. But history reminds us: when old systems collapse, the fire can spread in dangerous directions if we don't build something better first.

That's why we need the #openweb, #4opens and #OMN - not just to critique the old world, but to grow the next one. #climatechaos #KISS

5/5 Groninger Museum

An opulent entrance to part of the Groninger Museum.

#photography #architecture #postmodernism #architecturephotography

5/5 Groninger Museum

An opulent entrance to part of the Groninger Museum.

#photography #architecture #postmodernism #architecturephotography

4/5 Groninger Museum
Looking up at a light fitting in the cafe, where the lights fall from a mirror for more attention to detail of the design of absolutely everything in the Groninger Museum in the north of the Netherlands.
#photography #architecture #postmodernism #architecturephotography

4/5 Groninger Museum
Looking up at a light fitting in the cafe, where the lights fall from a mirror for more attention to detail of the design of absolutely everything in the Groninger Museum in the north of the Netherlands.
#photography #architecture #postmodernism #architecturephotography

3/5 Groninger Museum

I've always liked a good corridor shot.

#photography #architecture #postmodernism #architecturephotography

3/5 Groninger Museum

I've always liked a good corridor shot.

#photography #architecture #postmodernism #architecturephotography

2/5 Groninger Museum

One of the best things about the museum is the attention to detail thoughout. This snap looks up into a decorative shaft.

#photography #architecture #postmodernism #architecturephotography

2/5 Groninger Museum

One of the best things about the museum is the attention to detail thoughout. This snap looks up into a decorative shaft.

#photography #architecture #postmodernism #architecturephotography

#urbanphotography #postmodernism #blackandwhite #photography #berlin

#urbanphotography #postmodernism #blackandwhite #photography #berlin

1/5 Groninger Museum
Back to my Dutch trip for snaps from the Groninger Museum - a post-modernist delight. Not always a pomo fan, but if you are going to do it go completely over the top.

#photography #architecture #postmodernism #architecturephotography

1/5 Groninger Museum
Back to my Dutch trip for snaps from the Groninger Museum - a post-modernist delight. Not always a pomo fan, but if you are going to do it go completely over the top.

#photography #architecture #postmodernism #architecturephotography

This was my thinking on the Fediverse a few years ago – building commons

https://hamishcampbell.com/this-was-my-thinking-on-the-fediverse-a-few-years-ago-building-commons/

The Silence of Friday: How J.M. Coetzee Flipped the Script on Robinson Crusoe

https://lawakhigbe.com/2026/07/13/the-silence-of-friday-how-j-m-coetzee-flipped-the-script-on-robinson-crusoe/

The Silence of Friday: How J.M. Coetzee Flipped the Script on Robinson Crusoe

https://lawakhigbe.com/2026/07/13/the-silence-of-friday-how-j-m-coetzee-flipped-the-script-on-robinson-crusoe/

'the literature of modernism generally stood apart from and was critical of the market. Postmodern literature is part of the market and may even celebrate it. Characteristic of the postmodern is “a new kind of flatness or depthlessness, a new kind of superficiality in the most literal sense…”...such depthlessness applies to human experience as well, yielding individuals more likely to be recognized as fragmented or schizophrenic than alienated'

#culture #postmodernism #polycrisis #clusterfuck

https://againstthecurrent.org/atc236/fredric-jamesons-innovative-marxism/

'the literature of modernism generally stood apart from and was critical of the market. Postmodern literature is part of the market and may even celebrate it. Characteristic of the postmodern is “a new kind of flatness or depthlessness, a new kind of superficiality in the most literal sense…”...such depthlessness applies to human experience as well, yielding individuals more likely to be recognized as fragmented or schizophrenic than alienated'

#culture #postmodernism #polycrisis #clusterfuck

https://againstthecurrent.org/atc236/fredric-jamesons-innovative-marxism/

Our failure to mediate the mess

https://hamishcampbell.com/our-failure-to-mediate-the-mess/

This paper examines poem "Death of a Philosopher" – a parody of postmodernist thinkers. It is shown how meter and allusions are used to turn an elegy into a conservative attack on postmodern. The poem's rhythm echoes "God's Judgment on a Bishop" – framing postmodernists as intellectual frauds deserving cosmic punishment.

nevmenandr.github.io/portfolio/assets/pdf/judgement.pdf

#Tsvetkov #Postmodernism #Baudrillard #RussianPoetry #Zhukovsky #Marshak #Philosophy #Parody #LiteraryCriticism

This paper examines poem "Death of a Philosopher" – a parody of postmodernist thinkers. It is shown how meter and allusions are used to turn an elegy into a conservative attack on postmodern. The poem's rhythm echoes "God's Judgment on a Bishop" – framing postmodernists as intellectual frauds deserving cosmic punishment.

nevmenandr.github.io/portfolio/assets/pdf/judgement.pdf

#Tsvetkov #Postmodernism #Baudrillard #RussianPoetry #Zhukovsky #Marshak #Philosophy #Parody #LiteraryCriticism

i've long wanted to read a thorough, laser focused indictment of post modern theory. unfortunately that book could exist and i wouldn't know and if i did i probly wouldn't have the patience to read to the end

was just reading the intro and dedication of marc bloch's historian's craft and occurred to me that part of the reason norms and such are flying apart from what seems like centrifugal forces might be that we seem to have switched into a mode whereby history no longer has any purchase

if the record of the past is largely meaningless (or little more than a curiosity) then it doesn't matter so much what we do in the moment, whether an individual or an institution

#history #postmodernism #relativism #stopTheWorldAhWannaGetOff

i've long wanted to read a thorough, laser focused indictment of post modern theory. unfortunately that book could exist and i wouldn't know and if i did i probly wouldn't have the patience to read to the end

was just reading the intro and dedication of marc bloch's historian's craft and occurred to me that part of the reason norms and such are flying apart from what seems like centrifugal forces might be that we seem to have switched into a mode whereby history no longer has any purchase

if the record of the past is largely meaningless (or little more than a curiosity) then it doesn't matter so much what we do in the moment, whether an individual or an institution

#history #postmodernism #relativism #stopTheWorldAhWannaGetOff

Rick Roderick: The Self Under Siege: Philosophy in the Twentieth Century

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wetwETy4u0&list=PLA34681B9BE88F5AA

#philosophy #postmodernism

Rick Roderick: The Self Under Siege: Philosophy in the Twentieth Century

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wetwETy4u0&list=PLA34681B9BE88F5AA

#philosophy #postmodernism

Rebuilding Shared Meaning in a Fragmented World

https://hamishcampbell.com/rebuilding-shared-meaning-in-a-fragmented-world/

“The Century of Gehry”: Frank Gehry Retrospective Opens at the Serralves Museum in Porto

DZ Bank, Berlin (Germany). Image Courtesy of Frank O. Gehry & Gehry Desig…
#NewsBeep #News #Artsanddesign #Architecture #Arts #ArtsAndDesign #Design #Entertainment #Exhibition #frankgehry #FrankO.Gehry #GehryPartners #MuseudeArteContemporâneadeSerralves #porto #Portugal #Postmodernism #Retrospective #SerralvesFoundation #SerralvesMuseumofContemporaryArt #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/629893/

#Nicenasty the hidden power of soft obstruction

https://hamishcampbell.com/nicenasty-the-hidden-power-of-soft-obstruction/

#Nicenasty the hidden power of soft obstruction

https://hamishcampbell.com/nicenasty-the-hidden-power-of-soft-obstruction/

“Other Ways of Knowing”: How Epistemic Relativism Dismantles Civilisation

The Seductive Lie: “All Knowledge Systems Are Equal”

Epistemic relativism sounds compassionate and inclusive on the surface. It promises to honour indigenous traditions, validate lived experience, and democratise knowledge. But beneath the soft language lies a corrosive idea: truth is no longer something to be discovered; it is something to be allocated.

Once you accept that all knowledge systems are equal, you must also accept that:

• empirical evidence is optional
• falsifiability is colonial
• criticism is oppression
• the scientific method is just one “cultural perspective” among many

This is not pluralism. It is the abandonment of standards.

The Scientific Method: Humanity’s Hard‑Won Breakthrough

Civilisation advanced because we discovered a brutal, unforgiving truth: nature does not care about your feelings, your culture, or your ancestors.

The scientific method works because it is:

• testable
• falsifiable
• replicable
• predictive
• self‑correcting

It is the only epistemic system in human history that reliably produces:

• electricity
• medicine
• engineering
• agriculture
• sanitation
• modern life

Every alternative “way of knowing” has failed to produce these outcomes.

What Epistemic Relativism Actually Does

When institutions claim that all knowledge systems are equal, they are not elevating indigenous knowledge; they are downgrading science.

This shift has predictable consequences:

A. Science becomes optional

If whale songs and whale oil can be funded as “research,” then evidence no longer matters.

B. Criticism becomes taboo

If a knowledge system is tied to identity, then questioning it becomes “racist,” “colonial,” or “harmful.”

C. Education becomes indoctrination

Students are taught what to think, not how to think.

D. Institutions become ideological

Universities, ministries, and research bodies stop pursuing truth and start pursuing narrative compliance.

E. Public money is wasted

Millions are spent on projects that cannot be tested, falsified, or replicated.

The New Priesthood: Critical Pedagogy and “Lived Experience”

Epistemic relativism is not an accident; it is a deliberate ideological project.

Critical Pedagogy, Critical Theory, and postmodernism all share a core belief: objective truth is a tool of oppression.

Once you accept that premise, the scientific method becomes:

• colonial
• patriarchal
• Eurocentric
• oppressive

And “lived experience” becomes the new authority.

This is how we end up with:

• whale songs as kauri medicine
• “gender is a spectrum” taught as scientific fact
• mātauranga Māori treated as equivalent to biology
• “decolonising mathematics”
• “indigenous physics”
• “ancestral astronomy”

It’s not harmless. It’s epistemic sabotage.

The Civilisational Consequences

Civilisations collapse when they lose the ability to distinguish:

• truth from myth
• evidence from narrative
• science from ideology

Rome fell when superstition replaced engineering. The Soviet Union was doomed because ideology replaced economics. We are repeating the pattern.

When a society abandons objective standards, it becomes vulnerable to:

• magical thinking
• political manipulation
• cult behaviour
• institutional decay
• technological stagnation

Epistemic relativism is not inclusive; it is regressive.

The Real Question: What Happens When Reality Pushes Back?

Nature does not negotiate.

• Bridges collapse whether or not you believe in “indigenous engineering.”
• Diseases spread whether or not you believe in “traditional healing.”
• Pathogens kill kauri whether or not you believe they are “losing their mauri.”
• Planes fly because of physics, not whakapapa.

Civilisation survives only when we align our beliefs with reality.

In Summary

“Other ways of knowing” may have cultural value, historical value, or spiritual value, but they are not science. And when governments, universities, and schools pretend otherwise, they are not promoting diversity. They are dismantling the epistemic foundations that keep civilisation functioning.

This is not a culture war issue. It is a survival issue.

“Other Ways of Knowing”: How Epistemic Relativism Dismantles Civilisation

The Seductive Lie: “All Knowledge Systems Are Equal”

Epistemic relativism sounds compassionate and inclusive on the surface. It promises to honour indigenous traditions, validate lived experience, and democratise knowledge. But beneath the soft language lies a corrosive idea: truth is no longer something to be discovered; it is something to be allocated.

Once you accept that all knowledge systems are equal, you must also accept that:

• empirical evidence is optional
• falsifiability is colonial
• criticism is oppression
• the scientific method is just one “cultural perspective” among many

This is not pluralism. It is the abandonment of standards.

The Scientific Method: Humanity’s Hard‑Won Breakthrough

Civilisation advanced because we discovered a brutal, unforgiving truth: nature does not care about your feelings, your culture, or your ancestors.

The scientific method works because it is:

• testable
• falsifiable
• replicable
• predictive
• self‑correcting

It is the only epistemic system in human history that reliably produces:

• electricity
• medicine
• engineering
• agriculture
• sanitation
• modern life

Every alternative “way of knowing” has failed to produce these outcomes.

What Epistemic Relativism Actually Does

When institutions claim that all knowledge systems are equal, they are not elevating indigenous knowledge; they are downgrading science.

This shift has predictable consequences:

A. Science becomes optional

If whale songs and whale oil can be funded as “research,” then evidence no longer matters.

B. Criticism becomes taboo

If a knowledge system is tied to identity, then questioning it becomes “racist,” “colonial,” or “harmful.”

C. Education becomes indoctrination

Students are taught what to think, not how to think.

D. Institutions become ideological

Universities, ministries, and research bodies stop pursuing truth and start pursuing narrative compliance.

E. Public money is wasted

Millions are spent on projects that cannot be tested, falsified, or replicated.

The New Priesthood: Critical Pedagogy and “Lived Experience”

Epistemic relativism is not an accident; it is a deliberate ideological project.

Critical Pedagogy, Critical Theory, and postmodernism all share a core belief: objective truth is a tool of oppression.

Once you accept that premise, the scientific method becomes:

• colonial
• patriarchal
• Eurocentric
• oppressive

And “lived experience” becomes the new authority.

This is how we end up with:

• whale songs as kauri medicine
• “gender is a spectrum” taught as scientific fact
• mātauranga Māori treated as equivalent to biology
• “decolonising mathematics”
• “indigenous physics”
• “ancestral astronomy”

It’s not harmless. It’s epistemic sabotage.

The Civilisational Consequences

Civilisations collapse when they lose the ability to distinguish:

• truth from myth
• evidence from narrative
• science from ideology

Rome fell when superstition replaced engineering. The Soviet Union was doomed because ideology replaced economics. We are repeating the pattern.

When a society abandons objective standards, it becomes vulnerable to:

• magical thinking
• political manipulation
• cult behaviour
• institutional decay
• technological stagnation

Epistemic relativism is not inclusive; it is regressive.

The Real Question: What Happens When Reality Pushes Back?

Nature does not negotiate.

• Bridges collapse whether or not you believe in “indigenous engineering.”
• Diseases spread whether or not you believe in “traditional healing.”
• Pathogens kill kauri whether or not you believe they are “losing their mauri.”
• Planes fly because of physics, not whakapapa.

Civilisation survives only when we align our beliefs with reality.

In Summary

“Other ways of knowing” may have cultural value, historical value, or spiritual value, but they are not science. And when governments, universities, and schools pretend otherwise, they are not promoting diversity. They are dismantling the epistemic foundations that keep civilisation functioning.

This is not a culture war issue. It is a survival issue.

Rick Roderick "Self under Siege" lectures on (postmodern) philosophy in the 20th century:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wetwETy4u0&list=PLA34681B9BE88F5AA

#philosophy #lectures #postmodernism

Rick Roderick "Self under Siege" lectures on (postmodern) philosophy in the 20th century:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wetwETy4u0&list=PLA34681B9BE88F5AA

#philosophy #lectures #postmodernism

Just saying something doesn't make it true. To make ideas real you have to confront vested interests, challenge #mainstreaming "common sense", and do the hard social work of change.

Words without action are just wind. Truth is something we struggle for, build, defend, and live.

This is why I'm often frustrated with strands of Western Buddhism and #postmodernism that drift into treating belief, and personal feeling as truth. The world pushes back. Reality pushes back.

Just saying something doesn't make it true. To make ideas real you have to confront vested interests, challenge #mainstreaming "common sense", and do the hard social work of change.

Words without action are just wind. Truth is something we struggle for, build, defend, and live.

This is why I'm often frustrated with strands of Western Buddhism and #postmodernism that drift into treating belief, and personal feeling as truth. The world pushes back. Reality pushes back.

#postmodernism: Changing the story doesn't change the world.

#geekproblem: Writing the code doesn't build the community.

#lifecult: Believing in something doesn't make it live.

#OMN: Social processes make things real. Everything else is scaffolding.

#postmodernism: Changing the story doesn't change the world.

#geekproblem: Writing the code doesn't build the community.

#lifecult: Believing in something doesn't make it live.

#OMN: Social processes make things real. Everything else is scaffolding.

#OMN Grounding (the roots as a story)

https://hamishcampbell.com/omn-grounding-the-roots-as-a-story/

#OMN Grounding (the roots as a story)

https://hamishcampbell.com/omn-grounding-the-roots-as-a-story/

#postmodernism is the cultural and intellectual current that, by insisting there is no shared truth and all narratives are equally valid, dissolved the foundations needed for collective action - leaving people atomised, cynical, and unable to build the solidarity required for real social change.

https://hamishcampbell.com/?s=postmodern

#postmodernism is the cultural and intellectual current that, by insisting there is no shared truth and all narratives are equally valid, dissolved the foundations needed for collective action - leaving people atomised, cynical, and unable to build the solidarity required for real social change.

https://hamishcampbell.com/?s=postmodern

believing in a kind of stultifying sameness
that we saw on the news yesterday praying for us

I Got The News, by Lewis LaCook https://lewislacook.bandcamp.com/track/i-got-the-news

#poetry
#music
#postmodernism
#experimental

believing in a kind of stultifying sameness
that we saw on the news yesterday praying for us

I Got The News, by Lewis LaCook https://lewislacook.bandcamp.com/track/i-got-the-news

#poetry
#music
#postmodernism
#experimental

In the #OMN hashtag story, #block refers to the reflexive, unconscious tendency of individuals and communities to shut down unfamiliar and challenging ideas, people, and processes - a defensive gesture rooted in #stupidindividualism and #postmodernism that prevents the trust-building and messy collective work needed for real #openweb organising.

https://hamishcampbell.com/?s=block

In the #OMN hashtag story, #block refers to the reflexive, unconscious tendency of individuals and communities to shut down unfamiliar and challenging ideas, people, and processes - a defensive gesture rooted in #stupidindividualism and #postmodernism that prevents the trust-building and messy collective work needed for real #openweb organising.

https://hamishcampbell.com/?s=block

@revcomintern @youtube.com #Revolution ary #Communist #Internationale #Socialism #Liberation #Postmodernism #KillCapitalism before it kills us. @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] youtube.com/shorts/KZ8hq...

Why post-modernism is reaction...

I am super psyched to add this book to my reading list. Been wanting to read Fredric Jameson for a few years now.

#bookstodon #culture #postmodernism #theory #capitalism #marxism

I am super psyched to add this book to my reading list. Been wanting to read Fredric Jameson for a few years now.

#bookstodon #culture #postmodernism #theory #capitalism #marxism

Italo Calvino's 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveler' (1979) is rather prophetic in how computer produced content leads to a mass production of random noise, which then is marketed or not based on response. #Calvino #LLM #reversecentaur #postmodernism

no 1 understands baudrillard less than film critics

#postmodernism