Postmodernism: A Strategy for the Imposition of the New Orthodoxy

There was much discussion about the “relativism” of universities in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., as found in Allen Bloom’s, The Closing of the American Mind), but it turns out this was a mirage. Relativism was not a conviction (can relativism even be a conviction?) but the most effective way to quickly sweep away the old orthodoxy in favor of a decidedly non-relativistic new orthodoxy. The “tolerance” and “open mindedness” talk, it turns out, was nothing but an effective tactic for weakening the old orthodoxy in preparation for sliding a new orthodoxy into the recently vacated space. Postmodern “relativism” has now turned into postmodern dogmatism.