A Postmodern wank just sounds cooler

The astute reader may have noticed that in my first Black Bile Box post I declared myself to be a modernist. Why did I use that word? Something that has irked me now for quite some time is the obsession with and flippant application of the term "postmodernism" in today's society. Pseudo-intellectual discussions toss the word around with similar propensity that armchair computer and border security analysts use the term "biometrics" as the solution to all problems.

I use the term modernist not because I reject the criticisms put forward by postmodernist thinkers, but instead to highlight my distaste for the touchy-feely, spiritual, outside-the-box, next-gen, holistic, natural-therapy, can't be explained by rational thought, pentasyllabic (to quote an angry LJ'er), deconstructionist, unjustified pile of fucking wank (to paraphrase Chomsky) that these people extol. You use the term postmodernism because you want to sound hip, not because you know what it means. You use the term postmodernism because you don't have the intellectual grunt required to rationalise a problem, to form cogent, syllogistic progressions and instead wave your hands around and use either enormous words to confuse and shame, or instead claim science can't explain everything so let’s turn back the clock and embrace some form of East-West synergistic bullshit.

On the former, there's nothing wrong with trying to expand one's vocabulary, but there's point beyond which it is done with the sole intent of exclusion and ego-stroking. Listening to the latter case is like listening to the words of religious freaks from a thousand years ago only phrased in a new vernacular. It's been said that death and taxes are the only constants in life, I'd like to add "elitism and blind faith" to that list.