March 2 - Post Presentation

I presented on Slattery today and thoroughly enjoyed engaging with Baudrillard. Sometimes I don't know what I have learned from studying and talking about ideas until something seemingly unrelated happens. That happened tonight.

Near the end of class Diane sumarized some of her feelings about this postmodernism business by saying that the fractured, idiosyncratic and autobiographical tone of postmodern theory casts doubt on the ability of schools to create a sense of the commons. By commons I mean a sense of a society that shares values and works towards common goals. The thing is that I felt exactly the same way as she did when I finished my presentation. I criticized Slattery for being too focused on autobiography and thus too unclear about how to accomplish the goals of a more plural and just society. I left the presentation thinking exactly the same thing Diane said. However, by the end of class I understood things differently.

The idea of simulacra is powerful. I don't pretend to understand it but I do get the aesthetics of it. Rather than believing that what you are looking at is real believe it to be believed to be real. Diane, like me, believes in the value of a society that is inclusive and plural working towards common goals. The postmodern shift starts with a simple premise: there is not one truth but many. It is easy to see this as a challenge to the idea of a just society. Societies are based on laws which are in turn based on consensus reached after debate that involves all members of society, right?

See, that's the problem. They aren't but we believe them to be. When Diane made her comment I completely agreed and became tense because there is so much about postmodern theory that makes sense to me. Then I relaxed. We view our societies as being democratic but the evidence is that they are not. Are prisons are packed with people of colour. Our schools do not graduate all equally - the schools themselves are not equal. There is ample evidence of the failure of our society to deliver on the promise of democracy but we still believe ourselves democratic.

We are a simulacrum. We believe ourselves democratic and that belief allows us to ignore the abuses our non-democratic society perpetuates. Postmodernism does not make it impossible to yearn for a commons - it merely points out that we have been believing we are working towards one in vain - what we call democracy is a veil supported by the modernist belief that there is one answer when the multiple realities we know exist show us there is not one but many.