NP-po-pooing PoMo, futility for trhe feeble minded

[Joseph Tracy]

Another example of overwrought false attribution( pomo broke peoples' faith in science) enabled by the lack of counterbalancing arguments. This exists because cultural and intellectual debates are treated as a war zone rather than an open dialog. Her claim that pomo led to distrust of science is as unproven and silly as claims that autism is caused by vaccines. 
Autism is a complex syndrome. Western science has failed so far to provide a reliable medical treatment, so it is odd for her to invoke autism as field of scientific knowledge and authority.There are dramatic reversals of the condition but they are often psychological, humane, holististic and therefor hard to reproduce, some stories of transformation attribute shamanic treatments( certainly an alternate way of knowing). We need to take success stories more seriously and keep conversations open.  Skepticism is understandable on both sides of the debate she invokes. 

Might there also be environmental factors, diet issues, even ( admittedly unlikely)reaction to vaccines ? There certainly are environmental causes for cancer.  There are also questionable practices like flouridated water that has been imposed on the public despite the fact that flouride is only good for teeth as a topical treatment. Swallowing it has zero health benefits. These debates are like wars where one side ( often with serious corporate support) wins and further debate is stifled. Wars are fought without examining the claims of “authorities” and only succeed in leading humans deeper into madness. 

The essence of pomo at its best is looking at context and text. Many of the core texts  and a fair amount of the art produced have faded in popularity but core strong ideas survive. When we make big decisions we should look at relative benefits and costs and who will bear those costs including past success or failure. When you consider the rise of obesity, cancer, environmental toxins, dictators, militarism, and global warming it becomes understandable that there are many reasons for distrust and discontent with the progress claims of the defenders of Western Civilization that have nothing to do with those dastardly French intellectuals.. Pomo, is in my opinion a silly and inadequate label  for a debate that must be had without resorting to name-caling and unproven attributions of causality.

Pynchon’s connection to pomo may be more a sympathetic resonance with causes for the ideas than a direct following of the ideas, but that resonance does tell us something about how to write powerfully in our post WW2 reality. 

> On Oct 20, 2018, at 11:37 PM, jody2.718 <jody2.718 at protonmail.com> wrote:
> 
> T. Ekchardt offered:
> 
> https://areomagazine.com/2017/03/27/how-french-intellectuals-ruined-the-west-postmodernism-and-its-impact-explained/
> 
> As an example of a "recommendable article which criticises Postmodernism not from the right but in the name of the enlightenment."
> 
> An interesting read, but, I think, one sided. I'm not knowledgeable enough to defend PoMo. However, the article does seem to be a little simplistic with regards to what it refers to as "The Enlightenment."  The author takes for granted the beneficial effects of science and technology, while failing to deal with the seriously deleterious ones, as if the downside of science and technology could somehow be avoided by embracing the ideals of reason and an objective consideration of reality. She seems a little idealistic, if not enchanted.
> 
> For example:
> 
> "Despite this, science as a methodology is not going anywhere. It cannot be “adapted” to include epistemic relativism and “alternative ways of knowing.” It can, however, lose public confidence and thereby, state funding, and this is a threat not to be underestimated. Also, at a time in which world rulers doubt climate change, parents believe false claims that vaccines cause autism and people turn to homeopaths and naturopaths for solutions to serious medical conditions, it is dangerous to the degree of an existential threat to further damage people’s confidence in the empirical sciences."
> 
> Hello? She needs to complete the circuit- Climate change has not only been detected and proven by science, its acceleration has been caused by the heedless effects of science and technology. Vaccines may not be a cause of autism, but the scientific development of convenient organic chemicals and their heedless injection into the environment by a zillion unregulated drain pipes can't be a good thing for the developing brain- let alone their carcinogenic effects, and not to mention, the over use of broad spectrum antibiotics which has us all running like Alice in the garden of The Red Queen- just to keep one step ahead of the next super bug.
> 
> I don't know about Lyotard, Foucault and Derrida, but I could use some more of the likes of Voltaire, despite his shortcomings, and Jonathan Swift, as well.
> 
> jody
> 
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