Modernity

We had been discussing modernity this week in class and, while trying to grapple with exactly what modernity and postmodernity mean, I found myself returning back to the list of "schematic differences between modernism and postmodernism" as a reference point. Honestly, these two terms are fairly broad and I am sure this list of characteristics does not even sum up the whole description. One distinction on this list I would like to highlight is the word "design" being associated with modernism, while "chance" is associated with the postmodernism. Could we ballpark a time in our history when we collectively started taking more chances and acting with greater risk in our lives? I feel the word "chance" is not the best way to describe our planning process in a postmodern world. To use a contemporary example, President Obama's widely popularized campaign slogan in 2008 was "Change." Citizens voted for Barack Obama, some of them not even knowing what his political plans were. As a reference, I am posting this video on youtube (pardon the language, its a clip from the Howard Stern Show): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqAiarOhC2U . This situation only focuses on a few African-American citizens in Harlem, but if we had to generalize planning in the postmodern era, "chance" would not accurately describe our decision making. Instead, I would say we have a more apathetic approach towards decision making in our postmodern world. Truth be told, I am not sure and I would love to hear what other people have to say about this.

As a little bonus here, I am posting a stand-up bit performed by George Carlin a few years ago titled "The Modern Man." If you can keep up with his satirical fast-talk, you will hear some adjectives that describe the contradictions of our postmodern society. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkCR-w3AYOE&feature=related