I just posted a  review of a book  called  Postmodernism disrobed.  It's quite funny but worth some serious thought as well.  

eg   "In a passage reminiscent of a notorious feminist description of Newton's Principia (a "rape manual"), Irigaray argues that E=mc2 is a "sexed equation". Why? Because "it privileges the speed of light over other speeds that are vitally necessary to us" (my emphasis of what I am rapidly coming to learn is an 'in' word). Just as typical of this school of thought is Irigaray's thesis on fluid mechanics. Fluids, you see, have been unfairly neglected. "Masculine physics" privileges rigid, solid things. "

I'd be interested in people's comments on Postmodernism as an extreme case of what I call the "Emperor's New Clothes phenomenen" - people can see that the emperor has no clothes but  don't have the confidence to believe their own eyes.  So they just shut-up and learn to see what everyone else (apparently) does. 

Ok, this is the first time that I have ever posted anything on a site like this and I have no real clue what post modernism actually means but in regards to people seeing and yet refusing to believe their eyes I'm not so sure. I actually think that the majority of the world just doesn't see, or isn't interested in seeing. There is of course that incredible tendency towards negativity to which I have also been a victim for so long. Ie most people will admit that their own lives are pretty good, but they are still depressed and still believe that the world if changing at all is not changing for the better. I am constantly being amazed as I travel around the world at how I can have these great conversations with people and then to finish it off they tell me that we are all doomed and that there is no point in trying to change things. Interestingly most of these people ARE actually trying to change things. It's very strange and probably has nothing to do with the emperors new clothes but I just thought I would try posting something.

Political correctness - attempting to hide the truth with visions of how we would like things to be.

I think what you're referring to regarding people's inability to see things is an SEP, which is, in the erudite words of Ford Prefect "...something we can't see, or don't see, or our brain doesn't let us see, because we think it's somebody else's problem. That's what SEP means. Somebody Else's Problem. The brain just edits it out, it's like a blind spot. If you look at it directly you won't see it unless you know precisely what it is. Your only hope is to catch it by surprise out of the corner of your eye."

Most of the time I'm not sure what Post Modernism is either although I don't think it's an SEP. This is because Douglas Adams descibes the SEP field as simple and effective and capable of being run for hundreds of years on a single torch battery. Post Modernism on the other hand requires the intense and combined efforts of alot of dedicated academics to keep its meanings as obscure and tortuous as possible.

Hearing you TOM! Ok, Kerry I just read the review and now I can make a more logical reply. I STILL don't know what postmodernism is and would love to have someone give me a definition.....but I have the feeling that it is whatever has been scaring me away from being an intellectual in this world. It just seems to me that most people speak a lot of (excuse me) shit and that I would rather not get involved. But yes I think that it's almost definitely the case that alot of people feel this way and are just too scared to open their mouths. Haven't nearly all of us been in a situation where we have KNOWN that something wasn't quite right, but due to the fact that no-one else said anything we kept our mouths closed. I think it takes a certain amount of honesty to admit this, but as humans we ARE very persuadable and also we fear to stand out. Think of all the people scared to speak in public, or scared to admit how they feel about something, or someone! I know for a fact that my private side is very different from my public face. So in my opinion this is a 'problem' that stretches right across the board, it's not just in intellectual circles. People in general are afraid to speak their minds! Me too, so afraid that I don't want to post this, but I will anyway. Maybe we would all be alot better off if we were more happy to have discourse where instead of feeling that what we are saying is 'right' and should be defended at all costs we just expressed views and felt comfortable to have them analysed and corrected without feeling that this somehow was an attack on ourselves. This sounds a bit like hippy mush (there I go attacking hippies now) but I think you know what I mean.