Reddit reviews Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (Expanded Edition)

I'm talking primarily about the type of people that only believe in the concept of free speech depending on who the speaker is and what the topic may be. People that will use a bullhorn to drown out an (admittedly despicable) white nationalist who is attempting to speak in a public place with the proper permits or invitation. This isn't how free speech is supposed to function, there is a reason that 'bad' speech should also be heard. Many reasons.

Another example may be to suggest that a western literature course should be more fairly balanced towards authors that are women and / or persons of color, so perhaps certain classics may need to be artificially weeded out to make room. This may seem like it isn't harmful - may even seem like the right thing to do on the face of it - but the true method of selection should have nothing to do with the gender or race of an author, but instead should be based on the content of the novel.

As a final example, think of how often you hear people appointing themselves as defenders of certain groups that they consider maligned. People who, perhaps with the best of intentions, appoint themselves the defenders of the LGBTQ community, or various people of color communities, or women or... whomever. These people are labeling and grouping people up in the most 'identity politics' type of manner possible. Most of the time they've never been selected as protectors or representatives by any individuals of said groups, let alone by actual groups of such people. Don't confuse this with someone speaking up when, say, a bigot begins spouting idiotic nonsense about some minority group - these are different situations.

These are a few of the more common examples that I've seen over the past five to ten years.... and I'm probably not very good at explaining this, so if you have any interest the best book I've read on the topic can be found here.

If you're willing to do soul crushing research:

Investigate the rise of post-modernism. From its religious anti-Enlightenment roots. To its modern incarnation as identity politics. There's a rather dry, but insightful book on the subject. It dives deep into the actual philosophy of the movement.

Cross-reference that with the timeline of communism switching from economics tactics of revolution to identity politics in the late 60s. Read David Horowitz's memoir, for a personal anecdotal account of that era.

Note how the majority of "radical" feminists are open marxist. Note how "Patriarchy" and "the System" is just another term for America and the processes that made America the great land it was. Note the goal of "smashing the Patriarchy" is a call to destroy democracy and liberty. Note that the "Patriarchy" is just a rebranding of communist "bourgeoisie", and feminists themselves a rephrase of the proletariat. Note the attack on Free Speech and the right of association--literal pillars of American life--are being hacked away by progressive ideology.

There's a lot of here. I think you need to study some of this stuff more to compartmentalize these ideas more effectively.

The Britannica encyclopedia link I posted pertaining to post-modernism is a good place to start on post-modernism and it's central themes. If you want, read Derrida on deconstructionism and Foucault on Classical Representation (maybe read, "Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice" and "The Order of Things" if you want). Providing simple snapshot summaries on concepts doesn't mean that you should dismiss said concept, but it's up to you to want to dive in deeper. I've only been inspired to research these topics since finding JP a year and a half ago. So I do take issue that there's an offhanded nature to JBP's criticisms since it has had the opposite effect on me. Post-modernism is not evil alone and should be studied and critiqued accordingly, but the problem comes when it's used as a weapon vs a tool to analyze art or literature. I would read Stephen Hicks' book on that particular subject.

If you want to learn more about intersectionality, Wikipedia is a good place to start. Tons of references and further reading to take away from there. (You could also comb google scholar if you can find a free article.) Again, my comments are just helpful snapshots. Not really speaking to the why behind the what. A lot of these sociological terms or topics can be traced back to post-modern ideals.

I linked to Heterodox Academy as I believe it's a good start to understand the problem of viewpoint diversity on college campuses/academia. It's part of the problem of where these SJW's are coming from and part of the massive equation of our current political polarization. Plenty of articles, surveys, polls and things to read on there. I'm looking forward to this book as well on the subject.

It seems that you have a problem with labels in general, but I don't think that has anything to do with the particular label itself, but the problem with labels. They don't paint a full picture and can be misconstrued. Also, I don't think if a problem is "intelectually pathological" that it can be instantly tied to a mental illness/deficiency. An incomplete thought or worldview is a better way of describing it. I want to be specific so as not to conflate (maybe you could make a case if one examined Evergreen State College haha).

The point of my post wasn't to be a slam dunk but to be a jumping off point to start reading. It was evident that some crucial viewpoints weren't being addressed in this thread and I was trying to help bring more to the table.

Also, note, this is Reddit. I'm not here really to make friends or be a source of education, so at the end of the day, it's up to you to research these topics properly.

We are nearly in a new era for most people in the West, especially, that is called postmodernism. Those who subscribe to these belief describe themselves as post modernists as described by philospher Stephen Hicks in his book Explaining Postmodernism:

https://www.amazon.com/Explaining-Postmodernism-Skepticism-Socialism-Rousseau-ebook/dp/B005D53DG0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=epact&linkId=c4b6919e8aae23984578628924f18a37