17th-century French thinker René Descartes’s in all probability had by no means envisaged, in his wildest goals, that his well-known dictum ‘cogito, ergo sum’ (“I think, therefore I am”) can be utterly rejected by the Technology Z, Y and A, particularly throughout the postmodern occasions. Nor did the proponents of the theories of recent period had ever imagined {that a} time would come when the basic ideologies, time-tested beliefs and common truths would lose their which means.
We dwell in a postmodern time; period of dying of meta narratives. An period which ended the age of motive, an period the place fact is underneath scrutiny, an period the place ideologies are seen with skepticism, an period the place morality and moral values don’t have any which means, an period the place in line with Vaclav Havel, ‘Everything is possible and almost nothing is certain.’ When Jean-Francois Lyotard first outlined postmodernity in his well-known e book, The Postmodern Situation: A Report on Data in 1979, nearly all of us misunderstood what he truly meant. It’s protected to confess that he was far forward of his occasions and prophetically predicted the longer term (the current occasions) whereas critically analyzing the socio-economical, cultural, moral and political manifestations of such an period. So, it’s crucial to first perceive the ideas of modernism earlier than dissecting the challenges of postmodernism.
The period of modernism is usually referred as a interval that begins from 1870-1910, and runs by means of the current occasions. The period describes the assorted domains of Euro-American cultures that emerged from the ideas of ‘Enlightenment’ (a European mental motion of the 17th and 18th centuries during which concepts regarding God, motive, nature, and humanity have been thought of the ‘grand narratives’). The period of modernism strongly believed within the meta-narratives primarily based on the core precept of goal pure actuality, the idea of absolute fact and grand ideologies which have been to not be questioned. In response to Hayden White, an American historian, this period noticed emergence of 4 grasp narratives that derived the world cultures and societies for many years: the Greek Fatalism, Marxist Socialism, Bourgeois Revolutionism and Christian Redemptionism. For hundreds of years, societies outlined their socio-economic, non secular and political boundaries round these meta-narratives. The ideology of the nation state, industrialization, rise of capitalism, urbanization, mass literacy, proliferation of mass media, upsurge of consultant democracy, revolution within the area of science & expertise, colonization by nice empires and so on. have been a few of fundamental traits of the fashionable period. Briefly, folks believed that the issues in societies world wide might be resolved and managed by means of a system grounded on logic, motive, objectivity and time-tested theories.
Then got here the postmodern occasions; the period that rejected the ideas of meta-narratives and criticized the long-held beliefs concerning society’s worth methods, the traits of human nature, moral and ethical boundaries and above all the target actuality. Briefly, postmodernism means there isn’t any absolute fact and there’s no absolute falsehood, all the pieces is debatable and each doctrine is questionable. For a very long time, humanity believed on varied socio-economic, non secular, political and cultural ideologies which gave them a real which means of life on this worldly world. However each ideology which we held for thus lengthy appears to be falling aside round us. We problem and criticize the veracity of those claims and have a look at these perception methods with skepticism throughout these postmodern occasions.
So, how is all of this related to us? We dwell in these postmodern occasions and see its true manifestation unfolding in entrance of us. The rise up towards the usually accepted grand narratives have completely modified the way in which our societies at the moment are functioning. What was believed to be unethical, towards the norms and immoral, few a long time in the past, is now being acquiescently practiced underneath the garb of a ‘new normal’ as advocated underneath postmodernism. Folks across the globe now brazenly query the non secular beliefs, the actual which means of life, the as soon as unquestionable code of conduct of pluralistic societies, the significance of human relationship, the worth of jurisprudence, and above all of the which means of freedom and liberty. It has impacted every area of our socio-economic, political and cultural lives. Artwork, creativity, language, content material writing, media, film-making and so on. all have gone by means of a radical change within the title of so known as ‘innovation’ or considering ‘out of the box.’ Movies like ‘Pulp Fiction,’ ‘Inception,’ ’eight ½,’ and ‘Blade Runner’ are among the examples of postmodern period which might be aimed to sabotage the extremely regarded expectations of the viewers, attacked the very fundamentals of orthodox movie making whereas experimenting with the mixing of varied genres. ‘Pastiche,’ ‘Distortion of Time,’ and ‘Hyperreality’ are additionally among the fascinating traits of postmodern period. On this regard, Jean Baudrillard (thought of to be high-priest of postmodernism) argued that hyperreal is “more real than real.” Folks world wide, now, rely extra on the hyperreality than the truth. That’s why the picture or the copy of authentic is extra highly effective, engaging and has extra which means than the unique in postmodernism. The high-resolution illustration of a juicy burger as marketed by a fast-food chain seems to be extra engaging and convincing to the shoppers as in comparison with the unique in at this time’s hyperreal world.
Postmodernism is making ripples world wide. It’s altering the way in which, we used to take a look at our world underneath the solace of as soon as ‘universally accepted’ metanarratives. We don’t have that luxurious anymore. It has impacted all of the nations, societies, cultures and religions throughout the globe and Pakistan in no exception. Over final a long time, we’ve seen a basic shift in our cognitive considering, attitudes and behaviors concerning each side of life. We’ve got began to query the very fundamentals of our non secular ideologies, the two-nation idea and our time-tested ethical, moral and cultural values which remained the binding power of our pluralistic society for hundreds of years. Not solely restricted to society as an entire, even our particular person character traits like the way in which we costume up, the way in which we work together with aged and younger ones, the style we sort out our duties on the home ranges, all has gone by means of a radical shift. Now it’s ‘OK’ or extra exactly ‘cool’ to be shabbily and weirdly dressed up whereas visiting a complicated or costly restaurant, crossing all boundaries of moral and ethical values when it comes all the way down to being profitable, one thing we by no means even imagined couple of a long time again. And we do that underneath the garb of freedom and liberty as advocated by the postmodern theorists. Ever rising voices for transgender rights, feminism, worrying improve within the numbers of atheists, stereotyping, anti-globalism and so on. are among the examples which we see taking place in modern occasions, nevertheless, by no means imagined earlier than. There have been occasions when dialogue on the chances of Pak-Israel relation was thought of crossing the crimson line, nevertheless, it’s brazenly debated in all private and non-private spheres. Individualism, materialism, consumerism, isolationism and hyperrealism in varied societies at massive are among the merchandise of postmodernity. Right here one other query arises. What about postmodern mass media and its function in current occasions? Most likely the theories of Marshal McLuhan can be the most effective place to search for such solutions. When in 1960’s, his idea of ‘Medium is the Message’ took the world by storm, only a few understood what he truly meant. We are able to see his prophecy coming true in current occasions. The digital media platforms, technological developments and our ever-growing independence on them are the actual manifestations of postmodern period.
Postmodernism and its underlying theories are just the start, a tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot to return within the types of post-postmodernism, publish hyperrealism, publish structuralism, publish materialism and so on. In the event you suppose that we might quickly be out of the clutches of those mind-boggling and ever difficult ideas; I wager you higher suppose once more!
–The author is a PhD scholar and might be reached at theprezenter@gmail.com
