AM pre-9/12 class

What is postmodernism?

According to Habermas, postmodernism is charachterized by a manifesto of consciousness -especially that of time. There is, he says, an emphasis placed on society's fast paced instability and value placed in the transitory.

Lyotard says,

"No industry is possibly without a suspicison of the Aristotelan theory of motion, no industry without a refutation of corporatism, of mercantilism, and of physiocracy. Modernity, in whatever age it appears, connot exist without a shattering of belief and without discovery of the 'lack of reality' of reality, together with the invention of other realities." (43)

Soooo. These guys think that postmodernists are searching for a center or "real" reality. Or maybe I'm just assuming the binary opposite here: if there is no center (or reality), then we must be searching for a center (or reality). Center of art? literature? humanity? conciousness?

Really, isn't this just about perspective?

Not long ago I was reading the jacket of a Steve Wonder CD (yes, I still buy them) I can remember the story....It was similar to Prof. Rog's Madonna-on-TV-in-a-South-American-shanty story, however, this time a music critic paid homage the artist -stating you know an artist has "hit it big" when ...on a trip to Africa, a young boy was seen carrying a transitor radio and in the breaks of static (the critic) could hear the oh-so-familiar guitar and vocals of Stevie Wonder's song, "Superstitious."

To the critic this was the pinnacle of success. To Prof. Rog. it might have been a great example of exploitation and influence. Which to me is kind of like saying, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."

It's all about perspective.