Gen Y “Discovers” Postmodernism!

September 25, 2007 By Tom

Check it out: PomoWorld. Inspired by some newfangled revolutionary philosophy called postmodernism, the site declares:

Nothing short of a social revolution, PomoWorld is the internet/world’s first community for people around the globe to discover and explore the idea of postmodernism and pomosexuality, while uniting with each other to work towards the goal of becoming a force too strong to be denied, [and] in [the] end, revolutionizing society.

Awesome! Just like our parents did in the Sixties! Let’s not create a new culture; let’s just rehash the old!

Ah, perhaps I’m being too cynical. Obviously they mean well, and they seem sincerely inspired and passionate, which is totally cool. But, my fellow Gen-Yers, I’m afraid that postmodernism is the water we’re already swimming in — and, dare I say, drowning in, too. In fact, my initial cynical response to that site is itself a conditioned response born of the postmodern mind. As Ken Wilber has explored at length, that cynicism is the natural result of our parents’ revolution not exactly delivering on its Age of Aquarius promises. Instead, we’ve got ourselves a hyper-individualistic world where everyone is living out their own Choose Your Own Adventure lifestyles, secure in the bubbles of their easy isolation, rocking out to their iPod Touches, experimenting with their pomosexuality, and innocently (oblivious to even recent history, which itself is delightfully postmodern) creating websites that herald a philosophical perspective — and stage of consciousness — whose domineering reign on this earth has already expired.

Then again, maybe these kids live in Texas or Alabama or someplace where the 60s hippies were driven out of town by the good ol’ Christian soldiers (or downright strung up) before their psychedelic party could even get started… If that’s the case, then I forgive PomoWorld and wish them well. A little more peace, love, and open-minded tolerance certainly can’t hurt this world any. In fact, we could all use a hell of a lot more of it (especially in the Middle East…or Africa…or China…or Alabama). But for those of us in the postmodern West, it isn’t revolutionary. It’s the status quo we need to evolve beyond, because it’s killing us softly in our personally empowered individualism, day after disconnected day…

But there are alternative possibilities.


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