Post Modernism

Here we explore what appear to be good ideas that turn out to be bad ideas.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau starts his Book One of Émile ou De l’éducation (1762) with the line, Tout est bien, sortant des mains de l’Auteur des choses ; tout dégénéré entre les mains de l’homme. – “Everything is good as soon as it comes out of the hands of the Author of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man.”  With this recognition that echos Bereshit, Evil Continually, he sets out to improve the lot of humans on the earth with a philosophical masterpiece about the relationship among education, an individual (Émile), and society.

Rousseau portrays the the individual, natural man, as originally good and self-sufficient, corrupted by artificial social institutions. Among the institutions are philosophers who “will love the Tartars to avoid loving their neighbor.”

This describes the leaders of Western nations who have bought into the dominant philosophy of our time, namely a combination of liberalism and post-modernism. Liberalism still provides the normative framework of law, governance, and free markets.  Post-modernism shapes cultural imagination, moral relativism, and identity discourse. It creates a currently dominant philosophy, a liberal order inhabited by post-modern culture. It’s an alliance that is arguably creative but frequently unstable, and often highly dysfunctional. It qualifies as an artificial social institution that will eventually crumble under the weight of its dysfunction.

Nowhere is this dysfunction more evident than in our decades long experiment with identity politics and into it’s inevitable spillover into arguments about culture and immigration. Immigration policy perfectly illustrates the fusion and its contradictions:

Liberal dimension:

• Enshrines rights of asylum, non-discrimination, and equality before the law.

• Encourages open markets, labor mobility, and assimilation into the work force.

• Recognizes the state’s responsibility to its citizens to control its borders and regulate legal immigration.

Post-modern dimension:

• Emphasizes cultural pluralism and the deconstruction of “national identity.”

• Frames migrants as bearers of diverse narratives rather than as subjects of assimilation.
  

• In many cases, previously and currently, condemns rigorous immigration requirements. 

Tension:

• The liberal state promises universal rights and civic integration; the post-modern culture treats identity as irreducible and diversity as an end in itself.

• Result: policies promoting inclusion but lacking a shared integration narrative, leading to social confusion and backlash.
  

To say that traditional German or British culture is worth preserving now invites criticism from the ruling elite. To suggest that American culture is worth preserving invites the response, “what culture?” America is a melting pot. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Yearning to breathe free is a noble objective, but what are the real objectives of the millions of immigrants from Syria, and others from North Africa, Iraq or Afghanistan that poured into Germany after Angela Merkle declared, “Wir schaffen das” (“We can do this!”)?  And what has it done to German society? Is there still a recognizable British culture?  Remember France? 

France is waking up to the threat. Here’s a link to the Ministry of the Interiors web page where you can find links to their report and press release about the Muslim Brotherhood and Political Islamism in France: Publication du rapport “Frères musulmans et islamisme politique en France”

To what extent is integration into the prevailing culture possible?  Evidence in Europe suggests that radicalization among 2nd/3rd-generation immigrants is real and sometimes severe. The trend is less about religion and more about social identity conflict, perceived exclusion, and reactive subcultures.  Socially disaffected people become susceptible to well financed ideologies as evidenced by global jihadism.

Will America finally arrive at cultural stability?  These are the questions. Maybe our YouTube friends have some answers.