Butchering Post-Modernism

By Leo Gura - September 6, 2024

The following is one of the most painful things I’ve ever forced myself to listen to. It’s a 2hr long slow-motion epistemic train wreck.

James Lindsay is a right-wing PhD professor who completely misunderstands and butchers post-modernism, mysticism, esotericism, and leftism.

This talk is so wrong, so backwards, so ignorant, it leaves my mind dizzy. And yet, the conservatives who listen to it think it is profound (just read the YT comments).

This is what I mean when I say that conservatives do not understand post-modernism. Conservatives cannot understand post-modernism because if they actually understood it, it would destroy their religion, culture, and morality. Because religion is a relative social construct. So any religious conservative is obligated to misunderstand post-modernism. They aren’t interested in understanding, they are interested in defending their religion. And this is why they are so passionate in their opposition to it. It’s personal. They feel it is their duty to combat and destroy post-modernism — a thing which they do not even understand. This kind of attitude has spawned a whole cottage industry on the right, with Jordan Peterson as its ring-leader.

My series on Post-Modernism is aimed at clearing up this whole confusion, so no one falls for such right-wing misinformation.

You don’t need to like or agree with post-modernism. But before you do, at least understand what it is you’re disagreeing with. There is plenty to criticize about post-modernism without demonizing it in this way.

Notice that Lindsay is pitching a grand meta-narrative: a conspiracy of woke gnostic post-modern Luciferian Communist mystics who have existed for 2500 years, who are infiltrating every element of society, from academia to government, to destroy Western civilization and orthodox religion. According to Lindsay this is objective truth. It’s every right-wing boogeyman collected into a single demonizing grand narrative: mystics, Communists, SJWs, leftists, wizards, gays, feminists, Nazis, Satanists, pedophiles, Jews, Illuminati, post-modernists, academics, cultists, elites, DEI, CRT, environmentalists, demons, Kamala Harris, Mickey Mouse — all working together to enslave you. Just take every perceived enemy of the American right and lump them together into a single epic cabal of evil-doers.

This is actually a conspiracy theory known as Cultural Marxism/Bolshevism, whose roots stretch back to the Nazis, but Lindsay is more than eager to put lipstick on that old pig.

This is the intellectual nonsense you get when you mix right-wing reactionary politics with philosophy and religion. Now you see the problem, the epistemic foolishness, of grand narratives. The ego is masterful at constructing an infinite array of grand narratives to suit its biases and survival needs. There is no limit to the grand narratives your mind can spin and hold as truth.

This is a profound example of the levels of creative self-deception the mind is capable of. This isn’t just your run-of-the-mill self-deception, like that of traditional religion. This is a highly creative, conspiracy-brained level of self-deception. It’s self-deception as art-form. Lindsay invented this elaborate grand narrative out of thin air under the guise of scholarly work. This should leave you terrified of what your mind is capable of.

Total misunderstanding and misuse of the concept of “hyper-reality”.

Total misunderstanding and misuse of negative theology.

This is how the culture wars will rot your mind if you aren’t careful.

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