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Derek Young

Thinker and Experimenter,

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What does Post Modernism mean by your definition?

We are currently in the post modern era, but I don't know what that truly means. Hopefully, you can be the outsider that sees this era for the qualities it really is.

Bring in examples of art, writers, education, science, religion, social movements, ideas, governments, etc.

I'm removing wiki as a source by posting it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism

Thanks and Enjoy!

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Topics: Orientation art education ideas literature philosophy religion science technology thought
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    Branislav Ivkovic 20+

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    May 18 2012: American literature student here - for 2 semesters we've been doing all the great postmodern American novels - to me, all the works seem like final and desperate attempts to try and invent something new in a world (of literature) where everything's already been done. Honestly, I'd compare the books to hipsters - a lot of people desperately trying to be different only to become mainstream.
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      Derek Young 30+

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      May 18 2012: I disagree with the point about everything's already been done. I don't necessarily think that everything can ever be "done" because there is no quantifiable range that is set in stone. Your opinion is discerning to me. I think that this mentality that "everything's been done" is going to create no future for humanity on this planet to survive. Do you think the rest of literature around the world is "done" as well"?
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        Branislav Ivkovic 20+

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        May 18 2012: I meant in literature only of course - considering style, themes etc. but my point is that the whole concept of trying to define a whole period as 'different' (which is one of postmodernistic ideas) is not true. Other periods openly admit that they 'borrowed' elements from other periods, while posmodernists refuse to admit any connections with other periods - the term postmodernism has nothing to do with modernism (they say) but it is used only to determine the postmodern period chronologically as something that occurred after modernism... In short, it's the arrogance of it all that bothers me...
        As far as literature around the world - yes, i don't think that we'll have any other original works (as i said, considering style, themes...)

  • Adam Sid

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    May 17 2012: "Weird for the sake of weird" -Moe from the Simpsons.
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    David Hamilton 50+

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    May 12 2012: It depends on context... I use it as an insult sometimes though... So I'll start off the coversation with a bit of a funny rant against postmodernist society. At least I hope it will be funny.

    Ayn Rand is often attributed with the expression "Reality Exists!"... In the postmodern era, we have grown much wiser, and suggested "No it doesn't!". The explosion in innovation and creativity to come out of this artistic revolution, cannot be overstated.

    Post modernists, for the most part, have come to realize the obvious truth, that perception determines reality. There is absolutely nothing in this world that can ever be objectively tested or verfied, and so there is absolutely no reason for any of us to try to learn anything. We're beyond learning, into pure stream of consciousness. Facts... We don't care about facts... Futures... They don't exist, the only thing that exists is this moment. The critical thinking skills we've developed based on this realization, are staggering.

    The postmodern art movement brought us beautiful masterpieces, like "Black Dot on White Canvas", "Human Feces Watercolor", and "Thing it looks like my 5 year old painted". Brilliant, deep, emotional music like "It Ain't No Fun (If the homies can't have none)", "My Neck, My Back", and of course, who can forget "Psycho, Groupie, Cocaine, Crazy".

    Talent flooded the television networks... Pretty soon there were five or six science, nature, and technology channels, and on every one of them you could learn fascinating things about guns, lumberjacks, croc hunters, and truck drivers.

    The news, now shows you 2 completely different and contradictory views of the same event, and then it watches you, to decide how to react. After everyone has tweeted what they feel, the news decides what event occured. It's all so much more intuitive, and interactive now...

    Everything is art... Just do something... Wow... That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
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      Derek Young 30+

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      May 13 2012: I get your humor now David! Thank You for that well delivered joke! I very much enjoyed it! =)
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      Vague Ideas

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      May 17 2012: LOL, great post!
      I was wondering do you see any escape from our post modern era??
      I don't know a lot about post-modernism, but today's society does seem exactly like you describe. :)

      In politics, i think post modern is more to do with post-ideology, (see Fukuyama End of History) and an end to traditional "left and right" politics etc... Philosopher Slavoj Zizek has spoken about this recently...
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