The Politics of Amnesia

“Human history is now post-collectivist and post-individualistic.” We have evolved from the time of the great cultural theoreticians, tested their philosophies, built upon them and moved on. We now live in a very different world, void of the very instigators of the mid-century theory. Political stability, reduced class struggle and decades of relative economic prosperity have created a complacent generation with numbed ideals (“quietly spoken middle class students”). On top of this, developments in communication technologies have led to a hyper-connected society in which we are constantly saturated by information. Absolute truths falter under the constant relay of fluctuating knowledge. So, added to our already weak ideals, we are also unable to make up our minds.  The bigger picture has become so indefinable and uncertain we decide not to attempt to grasp it any longer. 

So, we look away from this unfathomable world around us, and shift the focus down onto our naval. “Structuralism, Marxism, post-structuralism and the like are no longer the sexy topics they were... interest in French philosophy has given way to a fascination with French kissing.”  Terry Eagleton does not seem to think this is necessarily a bad thing. He recognises the fact that “human existence is as much about fantasy and desire as it is about truth and reason”. And fair enough, if the world around us has become so unfathomable, maybe a bit of self observation might make us understand it better. 

But this shift in cultural theory hides a much sadder reality. It is a symptom of an ever more egocentric society. We have become selfish self centred beings through the cult of the individual, ushered by a consumerist capitalism that imposes us to “indulge our senses and gratify ourselves as shamelessly as possible”. It appears the self-study is not in pursuit of a deeper insight (in a maybe meditative kind of manner) but it is because it’s all we are interested in. It is as far as our short sightedness will go.

This narcissistic society is also a product of the “disintegration of old fashioned bourgeois society into a host of sub-cultures.” The common enemy has dissipated, and with it its inspiring rebellious solidarity, “you can no longer have bohemian rebels or revolutionary avant-gardes because they no longer have anything to blow up”. Being subversive has now become a fashion, a manifesto of one’s individuality, and so people will reject and rebel against almost anything that is the norm, with no real grounds to do so, the non-normative has become the norm.

So what next for this disorientated child-like generation? Has this latest financial crisis and economic recession caused us to look up from our naval? I certainly hope so.