I suppose this entry is more for my own benefit than anyone else’s. Posting this on the web helps in a way to keep me accountable and to actually think this through instead of just letting the fragments of these thoughts float around unconnected in my mind until I forget them altogether. This topic has reared its head due to my dear friend Sunny’s post, and was then aggravated by the Postmodern Literature class I’m taking here at SFA. This post is an exploration of exactly what is Postmodernism (POMO), what are the consequences of POMO, and how one proceeds once POMOed.

To begin with, it’s helpful to acknowledge the fact that movements don’t assert themselves overnight, nor are they (usually) the result of one guy deciding that it’s right time we put an end to the current movement and get on with another one. They occur as a culmination of events in history, politics, art, music, architecture, philosophy, etc, and they occur not all at once, but in different fields at different times and to different extents. This is why movements are spoken of in such generic and sweeping terms. I will still attempt here, to throw some boundaries up. Feel free to challenge them.

It is my theory that one of the most seminal events for POMO is the advent of the Atomic Bomb. Up until WWII, wars that took place even at an international level (like WWI) were, while devastating, something that the unconquered nations could eventually recover from and remain for the most part culturally unaltered. The Christian nations could remain Christian, the Muslims could remain Muslim, etc. Enemies could be easily demonized, for they could always be beaten back and it made it easier for us to kill them “damned Jerries.”

The Atomic Bomb, however, put an end to all this. When the citizens of Hiroshima simply ceased to exist one day, it became clear that if we continued to demonize each other, we too would vanish in a mushroom cloud. The Cold War was a period of confusion where we slowly came to terms with the fact that if we wanted to survive, we had to find common ground. But how do you find common ground with cultures whose religions are exclusive, whose languages are indiscernible, and whose customs are so alien? To quote Ezra Pound, we needed in all respects, to “make it new.”

Shows like Leave it to Beaver tried to ignore this fact. Pleasantville was feverishly trying to hold on to its hegemony, but it was too late. The hippies were firing up their peace pipes and the Marxists were holding their clandestine meetings. The tension here was fueled by McCarthyism, and then came to a final showdown with the Kennedy presidency. When JFK was buried, so was Pleasantville.

So who, exactly, had defeated Pleasantville? Was it Ginsberg’s “Angel-headed hipsters” or Karl’s adherents to the Manifesto? Neither. The Modernists had cored us, proclaiming that “God is Dead.” When they turned to the nihilistic abyss they had left, they found nothing to stand on, and so they imploded. The Ubermen like Hitler and Mussolini didn’t sit so well with us. So instead of filling in the core, we caked on the makeup and played house. We put on suits and dresses and bought convertibles and televisions and microwave ovens. We acted as though salvation was attained by attending the right church and winning religious debates. The subversives, whether they were pot-heads or communists, saw right through us. When the house of cards we made came tumbling down, we were very, very confused.

The first POMOs saw themselves as finger-pointers who with haughty faces said “I told you so!”, and then proceeded to take out buzz saws and deconstruct everything we had taken for granted. They spoke sarcastically of all the traditions we perpetuated without knowing why, and pointed out that if the only reason we do church is because we have always done it, the Boshongo myth about how the god Bumba vomited forth the moon and the stars is just as valid as Christianity.

They insisted, in fact, that unless God himself comes down and provides proof of His existence, any religion, creed, tradition, or story is just as valid as any other. If Absolute Truth exists, not even Scientists can discern it, because due to the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle, we can’t even determine the location, speed, and vector of an electron!

In Art, the POMOs tore down the wall between high and low culture, and said that Campbell Soup labels are just as much art as the Mona Lisa.

In Music, the POMOs embraced dissonance and insisted that Kurt Cobain’s voice was beautiful.

In Architecture the glass-box-form-defined-by-function dream was defaced by playful buildings in the shape of grandfather clocks and donuts.

In Literature, the POMOs threw away plot devices and structure of any kind.

Is nothing sacred? According to POMO, the only sacred thing is the reality inside your head.

I would offer here, that this is where POMO ends. POMO basically picked up the porcelain plate that represented our society, smashed it to the floor, and then walked away. In my opinion, it is a new animal, the NeoRealist, who comes in to grind the pieces even smaller so that they become the grist of reconstruction. It is the NeoRealist who realizes the value and truth in tradition which is adopted soberly and voluntarily (but never forgets to remember why it was adopted). The NeoRealist sees the fingerprints of God all over the spectrum of humanity and can respect and learn. The NeoRealist is a moral being, aware of the fact that when you smash everything down, there are still common denominators; ie, it is not OK to commit genocide. It’s not even OK to use a racial slur. For the NeoRealist, it’s OK and even honorable to be a Christian, as long as you are honest.

I am unashamedly a Christian, and not because the NeoRealists condone my beliefs and actions. I used a lot of generalizations here, and blurred the lines between Modernism, POMO, and NeoRealism. This was intentional, and I hope it will spark some comments and debate.