126 lines
5.7 KiB
Plaintext
126 lines
5.7 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 7 Num. 71
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======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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"But it seems that something has happened that has never hap-
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pened before: though we know not just when, or why, or
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how, or where."
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"Men have left God not for other gods, they say, but for no god;
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and this has never happened before"
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-- T.S. Eliot, Choruses from "The Rock"
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POSTMODERNISM
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=============
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(As featured on CBN's [700 Club] Newswatch Today, 01/05/96)
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It's a world void of absolutes -- of spirituality without truth
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-- a virtual world where you are your own god. And although it
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sounds more like a science fiction movie, postmodernism is indeed
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a reality threatening to undermine morality as we know it.
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Author Gene Veith says, "People are trying to find something new,
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a new worldview to take us into the 21st century."
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Although most people haven't even heard the term, statistics
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indicate that post-modernism already rules in America. Today, 75
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percent of adult Americans reject the notion of absolute truth.
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Author George Barna says many young people today are being
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negatively influenced by a postmodernist agenda. "We've got an
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even higher proportion of our young people -- kids under 18 --
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who say there's no such thing as absolute moral truth."
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Barna believes most don't even realize what they're part of.
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When denying truth, he says, "we lose the difference between good
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and evil, love and hate. That... condemns us to bad decision
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making right from the start," he says. "We can't hope to have a
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positive meaningful existence."
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The O.J. Simpson trial clearly put postmodernism on display.
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Throughout the case, the facts were secondary to racial concerns
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and feelings for Simpson.
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The postmodern rejection of ultimate standards, says Barna, makes
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today's America a virtual America -- a poor imitation of a
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country -- one obsessed with escaping into a false reality. That
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Americans now spend 49 hours-per-week in front of their
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television sets only further illustrates Barna's claim of rampant
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escapism.
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But to understand the postmodernism threat, one must be familiar
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with modernism -- which turned science and rationalism into a god
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-- designed to solve all our problems.
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"That hasn't solved our problems," says Veith. "In many cases
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they seem to be worse."
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Although it rejects modernism's arrogant and false claim to have
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all the answers, postmodernism is dangerously similar to Hitler's
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Nazism and fascism, says Veith. "What fascism did was to set
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forth another kind of socialism but instead of being based on
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science and rationalism as Marxism was, it was based on
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irrationalism -- on tribal identity -- on passions and
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subjectivity."
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While examples of irrational postmodern influences can be found
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everywhere -- in art, architecture, radical environmentalism,
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feminism, political correctness and science -- they are most
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prevalent in television and movies. In fact, the anthem for
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postmodernism in the '90s is Oliver Stone's movie, "Natural Born
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Killers", which screams out that life is meaningless and people
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alone create reality and meaning.
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In the political realm, the transition from modern to postmodern
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can be seen in the nation's rejection of modernist George Bush,
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in favor of post-modernist Bill Clinton.
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"People choose their candidates not on whether they agree with
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their policies but whether they like him," says Veith.
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"President Clinton seems like such a nice man..."
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The postmodernism theme is found in architecture where constructs
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mock the norm. A hospital in Milwaukee, Wis., for example, gives
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the outward appearance of being a country barn.
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This kind of postmodernism appears as harmless fun. Indeed,
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Barna and Veith see hope in this postmodern movement: "Maybe
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this will be the chance to rebuild the culture on a biblical
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foundation," says Veith.
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But the most likely scenario appears dark for postmodernistic
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souls lost in a virtual world void of truth.
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+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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See also: *Postmodern Times* by Gene Veith. Crossway Books,
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1994. Phone 800/323-3890 ISBN: 0-89107-3890
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For a catalog of publications, many concerning Postmodernism,
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contact The Barna Research Group, 647 West Broadway, Glendale, CA
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91204. Phone: 800/552-2762.
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Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc?
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See also: http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn.html
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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