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One of the tenets of the Postmodern worldview is the autonomous individual creating his/her own reality and defining words his/her own way. There is a radical hermeneutic to Postmodernism and it is deadly.
Rooted in the deconstructionist movement of post-World War II Europe, the Postmodern hermeneutic (the science of interpretation; how humans interpret and understand the written word) sees words as power; words can manipulate and control. Therefore, this new hermeneutic argues that in communication, there is no final or true meaning to words. The reader or speaker is sovereign; the reader or speaker determines the meaning of the text; the author is nearly irrelevant. Authorial intent goes out the window and the reader/speaker alone determines the word’s meaning. In the words of Alister McGrath (A Passion for Truth, Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1996, p. 186), “All interpretations are thus equally valid, or equally meaningless (depending on your point of view).” In addition to Postmodernism there is the doctrine of the autonomous self. Devoid of all authority, the Postmodern person defines and creates his/her own reality.
Consider how these Postmodern tenets are shaping the current presidential campaign and debate. Few would deny that Hilary Clinton lied about the incident in Bosnia, in which she described landing in a war zone, needing to duck from sniper fire, and running with her head down to avoid danger. This did not happen! As the pilot, news personnel and others challenged her account, CBS then found footage that clearly demonstrated the truth—there was no sniper fire; there was no running for cover; there was no danger. Mrs. Clinton and her daughter walked off the plane and were greeted by a young girl with flowers and a kiss!
But note how Mrs. Clinton responded to her clear lies and distortion of the truth: She said she “misspoke,” that she made a “mistake,” and that she is only “human.” Gene Edward Veith puts it this way: “Mrs. Clinton was following the postmodernist playbook: She constructed a narrative—an entire story, complete with conflict and action—to advance an agenda of power. In this case, using her own jargon, she fashioned her own identity so as to present herself as someone with ‘experience,’ in contrast to her rival Barack Obama.”
Mrs. Clinton is a classic Postmodern leader: Define your own reality in the pursuit of power. Redefine your own words and create something that is not true and make it true. Lying, misrepresentation and distortion are not words in the Postmodern dictionary. And this is a person some want to be president of the United States!
See Veith’s editorial in World (19/26 April 2008), p. 35 and James P. Eckman, The Truth About Worldviews, pp. 1-9. |
