The Postmodernism endorsed by many contemporary “intellectuals” purports, as its name implies, to be an improvement upon the Rationalism and Scientific Objectivity formerly deemed essential to a truly Enlightened, truly Modern point of view. Postmodernism embraces Relativism, suggesting that neither Reason nor Science can tell us anything definitive about the nature of Reality, indeed that Reason and Science may actually be deterrents to human fulfillment. While early Postmodernists did not use the term, their insistence that all points of view are equally worthy of respect entailed an implicit endorsement of Inclusiveness. At the same time, of course, it made meaningful human discourse impossible. You have your point of view and I have mine and Reason is in no way a valid means of resolving our differences. The contemporary Left, with the support of supposedly sophisticated Academics, is, in other words, aggressively anti-intellectual. The Irony and Hypocrisy of its perspective is that while it vilifies those who purport to be dealing in Objective Truths, it nevertheless defends its Relativism as Objectively True. It is a world-view, that is to say, that is definitively self-defeating!
Historica Canada, a non-profit organization given to exploring this country’s past, recently removed a positive portrayal of Sir John A. Macdonald from its You Tube page due to the complaints of several academics. Canada’s first Prime Minister a little over 150 years ago, Macdonald frequently referred to the country’s Indigenous as “savages” and fully supported the Residential School system as a means of dragging them into the modern world. Were he to have been confronted by a Postmodernist accusing him of being a racist jerk whose appraisal of Indigenous Culture was utterly unfounded, he would no doubt have deemed the man to be insane! Was it not self-evident that Western Civilization, while inevitably compromised by human imperfection, was more Civilized in every conceivable way than the various tribes of the Americas?
Macdonald’s perspective and that of the Philosophers of the Enlightenment was rooted in the conviction that Man is an Intelligent Being blessed with Free Will, compelled to use his capacity as such in the pursuit of both Moral Integrity and Personal Fulfillment. The Absurdity of Postmodernism is that it defines us as just another animal whose behavior and valuations are always determined by factors beyond our control. Our “intellectuals,” in other words, don’t actually believe in the efficacy of Human Intelligence! If they did, they would have to admit that Macdonald’s valuation of Canada’s Indigenous was rooted not in Racism, but in simple common sense.
Even more ridiculous than the inherent Anti-Intellectualism of those who see themselves as today’s most evolved “intellectuals,” is their hypocritical tactic of demonizing figures who lived hundreds of years ago for failing to live up to their 21st Century Ideology. If, as they insist, all our ideas are the factitious products of the circumstances to which we were born, ought not Sir John A., born over 200 years ago, to be forgiven his “racist” views? I clearly don’t believe they were so motivated, but ought not our “liberals,” willing to rationalize the shortcomings of every other Civilization in history, be equally tolerant of the supposed flaws of the architects of our Western Democracies? Or is the tendency of academics to submit all of Western History to the standards of their 21st C. Egalitarianism, just another aspect of the absurd Double-Standard that informs their world-view, one which insists that all human knowledge is by definition tainted, while their Woke Gospel is unequivocally True!
You may perhaps recognize in this recipe for Fascism, the source of today’s Cancel Culture!