why postmoderns are conservative, even if they haven’t read that part of the story yet
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
Post-moderns attempt to escape the narrow confines of a culture defined by the Enlightenment. That attempt includes moving from pure individualism to community, from propositional claims to narrative, from strict rationalism to contentment with inconsistency, from truth to authenticity, and from integrity to transparency. Every one of those moves is surrounded by dangerous cliffs overlooking jagged valley floors. But that discussion is for another day.
The point here is that by making those moves, post-moderns also end up embracing a type of community which is organic and emergent rather then artificially planned, engineered, and executed. There is something about post-modernity which expects the unexpected, and does not believe that air-tight solutions really have all the holes sealed up. So natural pressures and and the choices of individuals acting as part of a community within those pressures creatively emerge into solutions unforeseen by those living within strict rationalistic guidelines.
Interestingly, conservatives share exactly the (more…)
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So with the recent revelations that AIG is spending close to half of its $170B worth of rescue money on foreign obligations, and about $150M on bonuses for certain executives and employees has come frighteningly unified excoriation from practically every corner of American Culture.
The college where I teach, Criswell College, owes a huge debt to the spirit, generosity, and vision of Andy Horner. Here’s a quote from Andy Horner’s booklet Jewels for Life. Written in 1994, every word is three times as significant today:
I read this quotation yesterday on the air and I’ve had a few people ask about it. I received it by e-mail from Penna Dexter so I don’t know the original source, but It is right on the mark, so I’m happy to post it here:
Nancy Pelosi’s Fallacy: Here’s a part of how Nancy Pelosi justified her party’s decision to include family planning and contraceptive funding in the stimulus plan working its way through Congress. “The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now, and part of what we do for children’s health, education and some of those elements are to help states meet their financial needs. One of those—one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception—will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.” Representative Pelosi has crammed two enormous errors into this one small statement.
Someone e-mailed me this picture with the caption, redneck seafood. Since I now have less than half-inch hair, I believe I can use the word “redneck” with some impunity. And I must admit, the appearance is better than the traditional “tube steak” look.
The closer an election, the greater the shallow promises intended to convince a few more voters toward one side or the other. Since by definition the majority of people are not wealthy, many of those shallow promises are aimed at the middle class and lower. “We will not raise taxes (or we will lower taxes) for anyone making less than $xxxx.” But promises are not the only way to win a middle-class heart. There are also attacks on a minority, in this case the wicked people who make more money than they do. “Greedy corporate executives have abused the free market and they ought to be punished.” Never mind that it is not greed, but the success at acting on their greed which actually aggravates the critic’s audience. That is, there is no political bounty to be had by attacking those who are greedy but fail to gain wealth through it: only those whose greed brings them wealth face the criticism, revealing the hypocrisy of a criticism motivated more by its disdain for wealth (or even profit) than for greed.
This odd UPI story provides a nice metaphor for the financial and economic plight Americans find themselves facing this week. 
