PetalswiththeWind 09/05

High Modernist: Dead End Meaning, Dead End Feeling, Deadened Meaning, The Death of Meaning, The Death of Feeling, The Death to Living for Emotional Beings, The Death of Life...

The underdog, is the unaware hegemonic consumer. An aware consumer does not mean the death of the economy. Jameson, is here apparently to make us aware of what Postmodernism should not become, an extension of Modernism, “High Modernism”, in which he declares has a “Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” (482-483). Political dimensions are intertwined with a profitable approach of capitalistic incentive, presented as culture. Fine, consumption drives our society, but why can’t every consumer at least have the opportunity to play where the “big boys play” , the right, fair way! Right now, honestly, when all is said and done isn’t the consumer at an unfair disadvantage? Country politics, systematically educate the general population specifically on what they deem essential to support only their cause. A top executive once told me at my last place of corporate employment, “…there must be bottom feeders…” Nice, huh, so should human beings be implanted, growing up to be good little boys and girls, because they fit ever so nicely in the patriarchal roles as “bottom feeders” to befit their enterprise of being kept at the top and making the most money.

No one is saying to get rid of consumption altogether but “middle-class” families, poverty/below poverty “line” stricken families, the struggling college student and artist, the list goes on and on the types of consumers, people, human beings who are only taught to squander their money on these synthetic constructed materialistic dreams. Materialistic synthesized dreams that even takes precedence of high priority needs such as of putting away 6 to 9 months worth of emergency income to cover constant and variable expenses in case of illness, injury, loss of job, or just trying to complete your senior year without the additional political corporate driven stress; instead we squander our money and our possible future livelihood. Those mass advertised media possessions can always wait until after you “CYA”, setting a foundation for a secure financial future.

In Personal Finance, “No plan, is a plan to fail”. I learnt that from attending Personal Finance here at Rollins College, a private liberal arts college. How come Personal Finance is not something taught in depth throughout our an entire educational careers, like English has? After all, we are a Capitalistic society. Aren’t we? Does the current ideological system in place want us to mainly focus on understanding the present contract of language, specifically in a name to meaning content only? There was a comedian that once said, “Public School System, you owe me some money back!” The present American Public School System provides a very limited outlook in the subject Math such as Basic Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, College Algebra, Statistics etc., the majority of Americans always find ourselves asking “When are we ever going to use this stuff in real life?” That’s right folks that type of Math is mainly geared towards Scientists, Engineers, Economists, Support Technicians, the “High Modernist” modern version of industrial manufacturers, a higher branch of “bottom feeders” of an patriarchal ideological society. Before consumers are driven to consume by the over saturation of mass media, should our Capitalistic Government not first show us how to manage our money, so we can create a more secure financial future for ourselves and then, accordingly the economy? Or do they want us to continue to struggle with our finances just to fit and purchase the synthetic dreams they have created for us? Unfortunately, a massive amount of Americans do not know how to balance their checkbook, because they don’t know and don’t want to know how much and what they spent their money on. It’s like we are under constant hypnosis, under one spell, “Spend! Spend! Spend! Consume! Consume! Consume!”, isn’t that why we work so hard is to spend our money, caught up in a gust of hegemony. Does anyone remember what Bush said after the September 11th attacks something like, “Go out and spend your money, don’t be afraid, that is what the terrorist want! Go take your families out to dinner!” Now, isn’t that a great big old sign of the upper circle of Club Corporate America in effect.

Bottom line, high capitalism, systematically educates mass society with basic educational functions facilitating one purpose, theirs! Jameson, is putting on blast what was happening in the late 80’s and is still presently happening to Postmodern Culture. In this Tuesday’s past class, Dr. Notorious Rog, gave a classic example that I will never forget, “ I want to be different just like you”, the gobbling up and digestion of mass perception. Postmodernity should be about taking off the mask and revealing our true unique individual selves, not still being caught up in the trap of the Patriarchal System, (which poverty is still a present structure in this interlocking system), if and only if we choose to allow ourselves to remain victims. The linear perception of Modernity blurs Postmodernity creating, “High Modernism”(483). Postmodernity, should be about exposing the truth, uncovering what is behind the hidden signs of the last century. High Modernism, is water downed Postmodernity, diluting and cheapening it into a trend in order to capitalize on it, as if our lives have been turned into market segments! Postmodernists, are always up against Modernist linear thinking. Jameson, forewarns us before preceding to read his article not to fall into high modernism linear perceiving/programming: “A last preliminary word on method: What follows is not to be read as stylistic description as the account of one cultural style or movement among others” (484). In other words, don’t put the blind folds back on, expose, expose, expose! The linguistics of present day America still has a psychological pre-cursor with every agreed upon sign in the present linguistic contract, disguising reality to appear one way and be something else on the other side. The hypnosis comes with the language of the patriarchy, and citizens are left only with synthesized thinking and the corresponding emotions. Such as Jameson demonstrated with Warhol’s painting “Diamond Dust Shoes”, “the work in its inert, objectal form, is taken as a clue or symptom for some vaster reality which replace it as its ultimate truth” (488). Warhol’s painting is misinterpreted as Postmodernism as a whole, when in fact it is an affect of Modernism, High Modernity. Modernist dinosaurs are taking individual variables of postmodernity slapping a new sign on it, but it still has the same meaning attached to it. So in the public/consumer/follower’s eyes it appears that they have shifted, re-algined their thinking, but in reality they've just found a new place to stand in order to bar their ulterior motives. High Modernism, like Modernity, is still about singularly defining one truth as a whole, the end product still being close mindedness and/or tunnel vision.