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Before I begin I would like to issue a warning concerning the content of this post. The story posted contains profanity, illusions to pedophilia and overt violence. If this isn't for you please use your discretion. I am confident that Saunder's work is not meant to exploit or be exhibitionist but he often writes about the underbelly and macabre of society, so it comes with the territory.

Adams is a story rooted in 'postmodernism'. It bucks convention style and formal linguistic choices and has a strong political message underneath the text. In the story, the narrator finds Adams in his house standing outside his children's bedroom and then proceeds to beat him and subsequently become paranoid about Adams after he returns to his house. The story then unravels revealing the narrator's own hatred and his proclivity to violence.

Within this short story, Saunders tackles some of the troublesome aspects of human nature. How we enact revenge, How we learn to dehumanize, and how we justify our actions and but a few the reader is left to wrestle with. The postmodern nature of the story allows the reader to respond as freely as they wish and the subject matter is a deconstruction of popular narratives. Furthermore, Adams is also an embodiment of postmodern literature's leftist temperament. As a keen reader might realize the similarities between Adams and the invasion of Iraq. Simply move the 's' in Adams to the front and you get 'Sadam'. This is no coincidence, Adams was written during the intensity of the Iraq war and Saunders was clear to draw the reader to questions about America's conduct in the war.
Regardless of your politics, Saunders has difficult questions to be grappled with and casts them in splendid voices and unique projections. Harkening back to our Thursday, I reflected on Gadot and what makes art 'postmodern'. It is a tricky line and I am bereft to classify any literature but one could make a case for Saunders as the clear American voice writing post-post-modern fiction.

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I never could stomach Adams and then one day he's standing in my kitchen, in his underwear. Facing in the direction of my kids' room! So I wonk him in the back of the head and down he goes. When he stands up, I wonk him again and down he goes. Then I roll him down the stairs into the early-spring muck and am like, If you ever again, I swear to God, I don't even know what to say, you miserable fuck.

Karen got home. I pulled her aside. Upshot was: Keep the doors locked, and if he's home the kids stay inside.

But after dinner I got to thinking: Guy comes in in his shorts and I'm sitting here taking this? This is love? Love for my kids? Because what if? What if we slip up? What if a kid gets out or he gets in? No, no, no, I was thinking, not acceptable.

So I went over and said, Where is he?

To which Lynn said, Upstairs, why?

Up I went and he was standing at the mirror, still in his goddam underwear, only now he had on a shirt, and I wonked him again as he was turning. Down he went and tried to crab out of the room, but I put a foot on his back.

If you ever, I said. If you ever again.

Now we're even, he said. I came in your house and you came in mine.

Only I had pants on, I said, and mini-wonked him in the back of his head.

I am what I am, he said.

Well, that took the cake! Him admitting it! So I wonked him again, as Lynn came in, saying, Hey, Roger, hey. Roger being me. And then he rises up. Which killed me! Him rising up? Against me? And I'm about to wonk him again, but she pushes in there, like intervening. So to wonk him again I had to like shove her back, and unfortunately she slipped, and down she went, and she's sort of lying there, skirt hiked up-and he's mad! Mad! At me! Him in his underwear, facing my kids' room, and he's mad at me? Many a night I've heard assorted wonks and baps from Adams's house, with her gasping, Frank, Jesus, I Am a Woman, You're Hurting Me, the Kids Are Watching, and so on.

Because that's the kind of guy he is.

So I wonked him again, and when she crawled at me, going, Please, Please, I had to push her back down, not in a mean way but in a like stay-there way, which is when, of course, just my luck, the kids came running in-these Adams kids, I should say, are little thespians, constantly doing musicals in the back yard, etc., etc.-so they're, you know, all dramatic: Mummy, Daddy! And, O.K., that was unfortunate, so I tried to leave, but they were standing there in the doorway, blocking me, like, Duh, we do not know which way to turn, we are stunned. So I shoved my way out, not rough, very gentle-I felt for them, having on more than one occasion heard Adams whaling on them, too-but one did go down, just on one knee, and I helped her up, and she tried to bite me! She did not seem to know what was what, and it hurt, and made me mad, so I went over to Adams, who was just getting up, and gave him this like proxy wonk on top of his head, in exchange for the biting.

Keep your damn, I said. Keep your goddam kids from-

Then I needed some air, so I walked around the block, but still it wasn't sitting right. Because now it begins, you know? Adams over there all pissed off, saying false things about me to those kids, which, due to what they had seen (the wonking) and what they had not seen (him in his underwear, facing my kids' room), they were probably swallowing every mistruth, and I was like, Great, now they hate me, like I'm the bad guy in this, and all summer it's going to be pranks, my hose slit and syrup in my gas tank, or all of a sudden our dog has a burn mark on her belly.

So I type up these like handbills, saying, Just So You Know, Your Dad Was Standing Naked in My Kitchen, Facing My Kids' Room. And I tape one inside their screen door so they'll be sure and see it when they go to softball later, then I stuff like nine in their mailbox, and on the rest I cross out "Your Dad" and put in "Frank Adams" and distribute them in mailboxes around the block.

All night it's call after call from the neighbors, saying, you know, Call the cops, Adams needs help, he's a goof, I've always hated him, maybe a few of us should go over there, let us work with you on this, do not lose your cool. That sort of thing. Which was all well and good, but then I go out for a smoke around midnight and what is he looking at, all hateful? Their houses? Don't kid yourself. He is looking at my house, with that smoldering look, and I am like, What are you looking at?

I am what I am, he says.

You fuck, I say, and rush over to wonk him, but he runs inside.

And, as far as cops, my feeling was: What am I supposed to do, wait until he's back in my house, then call the cops and hope he stays facing my kids' room, in his shorts, until they arrive?

No, sorry, that is not my way.

The next day my little guy, Brian, is standing at the back door, with his kite, and I like reach over and pop the door shut, going, Nope, nope, you know very well why not, Champ.

So there's my poor kid, kite in lap all afternoon, watching some dumb art guy on PBS saying, Shading Is One Way We Make Depth, How About Trying It Relevant to This Stump Here?

Then Monday morning I see Adams walking toward his car and again he gives me that smoldering look! Never have I received such a hateful look. And flips me the bird! As if he is the one who is right! So I rush over to wonk him, only he gets in the car and pulls away.

All day that look was in my mind, that look of hate.

And I thought, If that was me, if I had that hate level, what would I do? Well, one thing I would do is hold it in and hold it in and then one night it would overflow and I would sneak into the house of my enemy and stab him and his family in their sleep. Or shoot them. I would. You would have to. It is human nature. I am not blaming anybody.

I thought, I have to be cautious and protect my family or their blood will be on my hands.

So I came home early and went over to Adams's house when I knew nobody was home, and gathered up his rifle from the basement and their steak knives and also the butter knives, which could be sharpened, and also their knife sharpener, and also two letter openers and a heavy paperweight, which, if I was him and had lost all my guns and knives, I would definitely use that to bash in the head of my enemy in his sleep, as well as the heads of his family.

That night I slept better until I woke in a sweat, asking myself what I would do if someone came in and, after shoving down my wife and one of my kids, stole my guns and knives and knife sharpener as well as my paperweight. And I answered myself: What I would do is look around my house in a frenzy for something else dangerous, such as paint, such as thinner, such as household chemicals, and then either ring the house of my enemy with the toxics and set them on fire or pour some into the pool of my enemy, which would (1) rot the liner and (2) sicken the children of my enemy when they went swimming.

Then I looked in on my sleeping kids and, oh my God, nowhere are there kids as sweet as my kids, and standing there in my pajamas, thinking of Adams standing there in his underwear, then imagining my kids choking and vomiting as they struggled to get out of the pool, I thought, No, no way, I am not living like this.

So, entering through a window I had forced earlier that afternoon, I gathered up all the household chemicals, and, believe me, he had a lot, more than I did, more than he needed, thinner, paint, lye, gas, solvents, etc. I got it all in like nine Hefty bags and was just starting up the stairs with the first bag when here comes the whole damn family, falling upon me, even his kids, whipping me with coat hangers and hitting me with sharp-edged books and spraying hair spray in my eyes, the dog also nipping at me, and rolling down the stairs of their basement I thought, They are trying to kill me. Hitting my head on the concrete floor, I saw stars, and thought, No, really, they are going to kill me, and if they kill me no more little Melanie and me eating from the same popcorn bowl, no more little Brian doing that wrinkled-brow thing we do back and forth when one of us makes a bad joke, never again Karen and me lying side by side afterward, looking out the window, discussing our future plans as those yellow-beaked birds come and go on the power line. And I struggled to my feet, thinking, Forget how I got here, I am here, I must get out of here, I have to live. And I began to wonk and wonk, and once they had fallen back, with Adams and his teen-age boy huddled over the littlest one, who had unfortunately flown relatively far due to a bit of a kick I had given her, I took out my lighter and fired up the bag, the bag of toxics, and made for the light at the top of the stairs, where I knew the door was, and the night was, and my freedom, and my home. ♦

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I never could stomach Adams and then one day he's standing in my kitchen, in his underwear. Facing in the direction of my kids' room! So I wonk him in the back of the head and down he goes. When he stands up, I wonk him again and down he goes.

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If you have not seen it yet, CNN released an add attempting to defend their reputation. CNN and other media and news outlets have been been under fire in recent years even being explicatly attacked by the Trump administration as "fake news". This add hightlghts an attempt to reenter the political conversation on factual claims and substantiated reporting. However, this commercial has been parodied counless times by thoose disagreing with CNN's legitimacy. Now it may not be the highminded acedemic postmodernism that makes some distrust current journalism but the legitimacy of authority and the facts they present has rarely seen this scrutuny.  CNN's response echoes enlighment ideology becasue its claim that certain realities can be understood by humans. Rorty or Derrida may be critical of this approcah and take issue on the grounds of subjective language games. Not that this is the belief of the radical right or Trump's administration but it is an interesting case study as to how certain ideologies are co-opted for expedianciency and self protection.

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In his textbook, Hick spends much of his time linking postmodernism and socialism. He argues that the acedemic left and their unsound epistomologies are an attempt to defend the failed notion of socialism. In this video, Noam Chomsky clears some of the muddy waters surrounding traditional socialism. It is also important to remeber that Chomsky is a notable critque of the postmodern movement and has even debated Foucoult as linked in a previous Padelt. Chomsky is not defending or redefing socialism with semantics or postmodern appeals he is using a rather modernistic defense in much of his work. This shows that Hicks' chapter seems to over emphaize this linkage and extrapolates socialism to a postmodern only movement. It also refutes claims made by Hicks that Socialism is akin to Stalinist Russia or Mao's China. Theese regimes, in Chomsky's view are decidely non-socailistic

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Noam Chomsky responds to a caller's request for his thoughts on socialism, during a 2003 interview by Brian Lamb, for C-SPAN's "In Depth" program. He describes how socialism was equated with the Leninist model of the Soviet Union by both the USA and its allies on the one hand, and the USSR and its allies on the other.

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Post Modernism and Fundamentalism are strange bedfellows? 

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Post Modernism and Fundamentalism are strange bedfellows? 

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If one needed proof of postmodernism extant presence in contemporary dialogue they could listen to this podcast published just a few days ago. In Sam Harris' podcast, he interviews author and journalist Kurt Anderson about his new book, Fantasyland. The podcast is a bit lengthy but offers some unique inside into America's propensity for unfounded beliefs. The more relevant aspect of the podcast happens in the middle and back half of the conversation when Harris asks about the role of Postmodernism in America's inclination to capriciously held beliefs. Anderson makes an interesting comparison when he cites postmodernists and religious fundamentalists as 'strange bedfellows', in that each camp makes unverified assumptions about reality. The dialogue is quite engaging and gives food for thought when we learn about postmodernism in a religious context.

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Waking Up with Sam Harris #103 - American Fantasies (with Kurt Andersen)

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In this episode of the Waking Up podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Kurt Andersen about the American aptitude for unfounded belief, the religious lunacy of the Puritans, populist mistrust of authority, the link between postmodernism and religious fundamentalism, the unique history of American religious entrepreneurship, the Trump phenomenon, the effect of fame on politics, and other topics.

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In the light of postmodernism and its effect on modern times, I have to look no further than this excellent song from Bryan John Appleby. Appleby weaves a tale throughout his record 'A Narrow Valley' that threatens western California. This song is his commentary about how American expansion and capitalism have trambled the remnants of the past. He sings about the roads we have built are on top of the bones from the Costanoan Indians. He then relays this to present times in which he visions Abaddon, the Biblical representation of destruction, being visited upon us. The piece is a reflection of the postmodern way of interpreting power structures and not always progress as chronology. Appleby is consistent through his discography of this deconstruction of previous narratives and always a delight to listen too. Below I will include the lyrics to help better understand the song. Enjoy!

Bryan John Appleby - Costanoan Bones

Buried on the valley floor
Costanoan Bones
Are getting pounded by our bright new roads
We always kick it under the rug

Digging deep the roustabouts
Recklessly keep driving down
Now bottlenecked with no way out
I think we might have gone too far

All along we had it coming
Now grab a coat and get in the car
There’s nothing left for us in California
We gotta move on

The winded eucalyptus bend
And snapping in a heavy hand
The bratty child too fat to fend away the wild dogs

And all along we had it coming
Now Abaddon is moving quick
It’s coming down for good in California
We finally fucked it up

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Costanoan Bones The first single by Bryan John Appleby from the full length album THE NARROW VALLEY coming this fall. credits released 10 July 2015 Purchase at https://bryanjohnappleby.bandcamp.com/ Words and Music by Bryan John Appleby. Produced by Sam Anderson. Mixed by Nathan Sabatino.

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This clip is from an interview with Richard Rorty in his own words defining terms like 'Pragmatism' and 'Truth'. This interview is helpful to get a grasp of what Rorty is referring to in his written works. He makes an appeal to drop the lofty notions of previous philosophical traditions and instead focus on the limitations of our knowledge. From that vantage point, the Pragmatic is able to truly come to grips with the world around them. Rorty also gives useful definitions of 'Truth' saying that any objective truth is impossible, rather truth is a word we use to justify our beliefs. Rorty echoes the sentiment of other postmodernists in his focus on subjective truth and his post-structural epistemology. Hopeful this clip of Rorty is of benefit and hearing him define his own terms is certainly helpful for me to grasp his philosophy.

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Richard Rorty discusses his own version of pragmatism, neopragmatism.

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Not to belabor George Saunders' work, but I thought it necessary to include another selection of his. The linked passage comes from the novella Pastoralia and is written toward the end of the story. The selection comes in the form of a fax from the head of the corporation to the employees because rumors have been going around. This passage strikes in the same vein as Nietzche because it correlates truth with cohesion among a group. Truth in this context is whatever makes the company look good and helps them 'win'. Saunders in his fiction masterfully displays these rich philosophical topics in such imaginative stories and bitingly satirical scenes.

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One of the issues with Hicks' portrayal of postmodernism is his sweeping portrayal of modern academia. Certainly, Postmodernism was/is a popular philosophy among leading academics, however, this does an injustice to the public intellectuals in opposition to postmodernism. In the debate linked, Noam Chomsky is debating the postmodern idea of Foucault as it pertains to human nature. Although the debate is hosted in Dutch and the answers are in French and English, the subtitles are available for the entirety in English. Though lengthy, this debate gives a nice taste of two prominent 20th-century arguing from vastly different epistemological assumptions. Foucault, a Postmodernist, and Poststructuralist, is against Chomsky's premise that human nature is something we could study and define. Chomsky a blatant detracter from his Postmodern colleagues has gone as far as calling Postmodernism as an 'obstructionist' philosophy. This debate posits two interesting and well-respected positions going head to head in their proponents own words. If you have the time it is a great resource.

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Debate Noam Chomsky & Michel Foucault - On human nature [Subtitled]

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With the midterm this week and having already posted on Marx, I took the liberty to share my favorite short story. A mere 392 words, Sticks evokes better than anything I have ever read, the feeling of the Absurd. The story is written by Syracuse creative writing professor George Saunders and comes in his collection, Tenth of December. Often considered a Post-postmodernist, George Saunders' fiction grapples with the meaningless apathy that dwells within us. Having been a disciple of Tobias Wolfe and David Foster Wallace it figures that his writing is coated in 'philosophy' and poignant questions about the nature of existence. The story linked is a wonderful example of the view that some contemporary philosophers seem to be hinting at; that life is an utterly meaningless pursuit and even when meaning is constructed it is gone, just like the stick in the yard.

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In the contributor's notes in "Story" magazine, George Saunders writes, "For two years I'd been driving past a house like the one in the story, imagining the owner as a man more joyful and self-possessed and less self-conscious than myself. Then one day I got sick of him and invented his opposite, and there was the story."

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As mentioned in class there is a sense that Jesus' message was fundamentally opposed to capitalism. This interpretation runs in stark contrast to much of western Christianity and particularly the Christianity Weber links to Capitalism's rise. The below clip offers an interesting look at what an ex-Soviet believes about that question. It seems from his anecdote that Jesus' teachings were more in line with the economics of the USSR rather than the materialism in the US. Now, this may be a gross overreach but there are some verses that seem to indicate the sheer wickedness of wealth in Jesus' view and offer the only prescription being total devotion to God. This is in some ways how a Marxist views the world. A Marxist would agree that to better form a cohesive society we should give up some material comfort for a greater goal, that goal being the society at large. It is interesting how much of modern Christianity insists on maintaining more wealth and comfort than billions of less fortunate individuals, this seems to be in direct contradiction to the New Testament's warning to the rich oppressors.

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He Feels That Jesus Was The First Communist

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This is a clip from my feature documentary, Sputnik Mania - the story of what happened in America after the launch of Sputnik in 1957. Sergei Khrushchev was an amazing interview subject in this comment particularly shocked me. To see my entire feature Doc visit https://www.createspace.com/206142

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Considered by many to be among the forefathers of contemporary psychology, Sigmund Freud is both inseparable from the public perception of psychology while his theories are seemingly rejected by most modern psychologists. The video linked below helps to understand the major error in Freud's methodology. As the philosopher, Karl Popper would point out, Freud was creating an irrefutable theory in which past experiences could always justify his present hypothesis. This, however, is not in step with the proper scientific methodology. Fortunately, modern psychology has moved in part to resemble the more stringent process of its academic neighbors and dropped the flimsy and oftentimes inconsistent methods of its forefathers. Now the modern psychological research paper must follow a rigorous process that operationalizes variables, makes falsifiable predictions and is necessarily replicable. Karl Popper gives a clear distinction between science and pseudoscience and provides a foothold to better understand the validity of information.

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Karl Popper, Science, & Pseudoscience: Crash Course Philosophy #8

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As noted in the classroom discussion, Darwin remains a polarizing figure. Beloved by many secularists and equally scorned by fundamentalists, Darwin's theory is both divisive and groundbreaking. The example noted below demonstrates this principle quite succinctly. .The article in reference comes from the organization 'Answers in Genisis'. The article is a defense of Ken Ham's made up holiday, 'Darwin Was Wrong Day'. The new holiday happens to fall on the federally proposed "Darwin Day". It seems as if both sides make Darwin into a larger than life figure. Those in favor tend to fetishize his work and make it the figurehead of science, while his detractors tend to believe Darwin was an 'Anti-god' bigot hellbent on destroying religion. Neither of these is fair to Darwin. His work in undoubtedly important, but it is neither an infallible gospel of science or an anti-god polemic that will lead to the unraveling of society as we know it. Darwin was more simply a naturalist who observed the world and made predictions and theories as to why he encountered the evidence he did. The polarization of Darwin is entirely unnecessary and hinders thinkers on both sides from seriously engaging with his ideas.

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The Delaware governor and a resolution in the US Congress seek to formalize Darwin Day on February 12, but Ken Ham declared Darwin Was Wrong Day in response.

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A contemporary of Sartre, Albert Camus is often included among the swath of existential philosophers. Although he rejected this title, there are several themes of his philosophy that draw from if not embody existential underpinnings. In Camus' most accessible work of philosophy, The Myth of Sisyphus, he portrays human existence as ultimately futile. Drawing from the Greek myth of the same name, Camus portrays humanity as condemned to pushing a boulder up a mountain only to have it roll back for them to repeat the task the next day. This is life says Camus, a perpetual struggle against a meaningless and indifferent world. In his essay, Camus opens with one of the most evocative lines in literature, "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide". Camus spends the rest of the essay examining why the world is "Absurd" and subsequently defends the will to live and rejects suicide as a viable alternative. To Camus suicide represents an Absurd action and instead of escaping our fate we must enjoy the struggle. We must rebel against our status as creatures devoid of purpose and meaning. Instead, we should live life in such a way to acknowledge the absurd and rebel against it. To this end, Camus concludes that we must imagine Sisyphus and by extension ourselves as happy. For this is the only control we have, we have the undeniable freedom to be happy, to scorn the gods with our rebellion and ultimately become absurd heroes, but heroes nonetheless.

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SUICIDE | THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS BY ALBERT CAMUS | ANIMATED

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Audible - Get 2 FREE audiobooks of your choice | http://amzn.to/2b9GBJr ___ Subscribe 💪 http://bit.ly/illacertus Buy "The Myth of Sisyphus & Other Essays" in the USA - http://amzn.to/2aVdlmS Buy "The Myth of Sisyphus & Other Essays" in CA - http://amzn.to/2btwY7m Buy "The Myth of Sisyphus & Other Essays" in the UK - http://amzn.to/2aWuL8I "One must imagine Sisyphus happy."