Recently, I ran across something that surprised me, and I am not often surprised. What I ran across was the transcript of a talk on postmodernism which was actually intelligible in parts. You might wonder why I would bother to read such a thing.
When I was in college, I had a teacher who was modernist. He was a warrior. When he was younger he was golden gloves boxer. Though he was a professor, he often spoke in war metaphors. He actually owned and flew a World War II fighter plane. Really! Anyway, I was once in his office for some reason, and to my surprise saw two bibles on a book shelf. I asked him why in the world he had them, and he answered that you had to know your enemy.
It was with that thought in mind that I read the aforementioned piece on postmodernism. The piece is by Larry Wall, who is the creator of the Perl programming language. The piece is, of course, misguided and stupid, however it is occasionally lucid and useful. Perhaps, the occasional clarity comes from Mr. Wall's exposure to computers.
The most useful thing to me in Mr. Wall's piece is his characterization of modernism. I believe his intent is to discredit modernism. He, of course fails. Below is a table which contains a column for characteristics of modernism according to Mr. Wall and a column where I have provided the missing perspective.
| Characteristics of Modernists (per Mr. Wall) |
Perspective (per me) |
|---|---|
| 1. Modernists are serious, not comic. | This is a criticism? I prefer not to be a laughing-stock. Generally, people who don't take life seriously are losers. |
| 2. A modernist picks one piece and glorifies it. | Would it be better to be wishy-washy and not choose? Instead, I pick the piece called winning and glorify it. Isn't that the point of winning. Does he want me to be sad about winning? I prefer to glory in it. |
| 3. A modernist makes everything look the same. | Actually, the modernist glories in the win/lose distinction. Modernists don't try to make winning and losing look the same. They try to intensify the difference. Still, it's true that modernists are pleased to make things look the same when that is the most efficient thing to do. |
| 4. A modernist focuses on hammering (attacking) things. | Yep, we smash our enemies into oblivion. We show no mercy. That's why we always win in the end. |
| 5. A modernist likes to stop people from doing inappropriate things. | True. Would it be better to let stupid people cause their betters problems by doing stupid things? Clearly not. |
As you can see, viewed in the proper perspective, all the characteristics Mr. Wall attributes to modernism are positive.
© Copyright 2003 George Woolley