Postmodern Ties to the Western Messianic Ideal

In observing the thematics that seem to arise in personality types in America, one type that I keep coming back to is that of the Western world's man of power. That's a vague definition, but it is linked to the Western idea of the singular hero, which I blogged about earlier. The cultural value in this type of character is likely founded historically in religious traditions; the Christ, a Messiah; a singular hero.

This value in the singular hero has likely caused people to connect with that ideal and gain a sort of personality type with strengths in individual, heroic-like ability. This has been particularly interesting as of late, because it seems that the accepted form of this singular hero has shifted. The contrast I see, has been from a type that was highly valued since probably around the late 19th century, to another type that began emerging at the turn of the 21st. This has been intriguing to watch because it seems that there is great conflict within the culture as to whether this new hero model is right or not; some even claiming that the old ideal was wrong and the new ideal, though still a hero, is right.

The singular hero of Western culture that existed from at least the late 19th century, was a man of knowledge and understanding. Most people attribute this to modernity, and they are mostly right. The more the man understood, knew, and sought to know by reason, the more the man was seen as powerful and right. Using the technology of the time to understand his world, man would delve long hours and time into books of great intellectual depth and abstractions. A common family expression of this value was that the evening hours, a time set apart for reading, was the most valued period of the day.

Turning to more contemporary times, since around the turn of the 21st century, there has been much debate in the culture about whether the reason and knowledge-based system is really something to continue. Much of this is subversive; people don't even realize it is happening. The essential argument of the new type of singular hero, is that he is not primarily a man of infinite knowledge and truth, but of infinite relational connections. Now, not everyone accepts this model; it is still an expression of the singular hero ideal that is in contention against the older, all-knowing ideal. In any case, it has risen to greater prominence and the signs have been around the culture everywhere, mostly in the avant-garde groups of the culture: the youth and emerging adult. Expressions of this can be seen ranging from the greater desire to be all-connected through Internet portals such as Facebook, Instant Messaging, Cell Phones, to the largely meaningless (except the communal aspect) of Online-orchestrated Flash Mobs. Again, be sure to note this: much of the community that young groups are seeking, have little to no value in discerning the reason they are coming together, they seek community first, and from that usually truth emerges, but not as consciously at the older heroic model.

To me, both expressions indicate each a differing set of values; one on knowledge and one on relationships. However, they are commonly fueled in their beliefs that this is done by individuals striving to pursue the same ideal of heroic-esque glory. So when someone criticizes the older way of doing things, of seeking to be all-knowing, it is difficult to see reason for that criticism when they hold up a new ideal to strive for: relationships. Both seek the infinite, both seek to be God in a new way; whether that is a good or bad thing.

American Pragmatism: The Silent Generation

The first article in the series on American pragmatism beyond the historical foundation laying, will analyze the socio-historic group known as the Silent Generation. The Silent Generation were understood to be those that were born between 1925 and 1942, and hence reached adulthood sometime around the 60's. As such, this article will focus on possible reasons the counter-cultural movements of that time period took place in respect to those who were the main instigators of it: the Silent Generation.

Now, it has already been laid out that the culture of the United States was imprinted with pragmatic beliefs due to its history, these causing high cultural value in the pursuits of exploratory progressiveness, scientific-inventive progressiveness, and societal progressiveness. This is the main hingepoint for interpreting the actions of the Silent Generation.

Born in the midst and on the cusp of wartime, the Silent Generation has been understood as having strong resilience in matters of using resources efficiently, working hard, and having good analytical skills; traits that allow people to survive optimally in a difficult situation. Pragmatically, they were very good at understanding how to do things; they likely explored better ways to sustain what they had and work with what they were given.

And yet, the American pragmatic would not allow them to stay this way once the opportunities flourished in a post-war environment. Since there is high value in exploring progressively, inventing progressively, and going forward as a society progressively, the Silent Generation arguably was probably a bit lopsided. Most of their development had been spent figuring out how to work with materials; impersonal objects and resources; they were probably not well experienced in social matters. And so, it is possible that this drive, this cultural ethic to always be progressing as a people, drove the Silent Generation to consider that which was style enigmatic. For them, social relationships would certainly be one, while inventive and work-related pursuits would seem dull and already extinguished of any enigmatic qualities.

And so, the action to progress societal understanding in dark areas began with the movement into exploring by experimentation the possible family, social, and sexual-relational structures of the day. Thereby, the so-called "Postmodern Experiment" was born.

American Pragmatism: Historical Foundations

This article will be the start of a series I am attempting to do that seeks to analyze recent history's generational / socio-historic categories under the topic of American pragmatism. The reason for this is due to wanting to know better whether the emerging postmodern movement is truly set on a path away from the traditional American pragmatic view on life; whether they truly believe and have an identity based on being and not on doing.

The first article will bring to focus the origins and therefore definition of American pragmatism. Since the definition is historically-based, this will mostly be a historically-reflective analysis. American culture began placing roots as soon as the first Europeans attempted to colonize what would be the United States. Historically, this arrival to colonize North America was a novel event; the rest of the globe had been reached by civilized and / or European men in the past. From this new situation, then came the need to explore and understand that which was mysterious; a very European ethic. For the time, we are completely ignoring the existing Native American populations, culture, and civilizations, since the culture present now is largely devoid of their influences. This drive to understand what was unknown spurred a people of pioneers and homesteaders.

As the pioneers explored the unseen lands before them, the homesteaders and town crafters attempted to wrangle with the yet untamed land about them in order to create order out of what was viewed as disorder. This grafting of human order upon that which had little before, spurred forth inventive scientific and inventive social minds; finding ways to create novel human order and novel social structures, the novelty coming out of it being a historically novel event. Evidences are present from the early beginnings of American scientificism and the early attempts at creating social utopias.

After many years of creating order by exploring the mysterious wilderness and by establishing human environs out of untamed land, the American pragmatic ethic had been established. In this analysis, three pragmatic beliefs have been identified: exploratory progressiveness, scientific-inventive progressiveness, and societal progressiveness. These beliefs, once established, created cultural values that everyone agreed upon; that the American people should always be progressing as a society in the following ways together and individually: exploring the mysterious unknown and uncharted, creating and determining by science new ways to create human order out of unordered nature, and exploring better ways to organize and define human society. Together, these formed the American-pragmatic cultural norm of the past and present.

Abstractions and Learning

The Enigma of the Hour
- Giorgio de Chirico, 1910/11

Thinking about how irritating it is to acquire various abstracted perspectives on reality due to our alienating society because of its roots in modernistic-industrial beliefs.