Postmodernism

Postmodernism refers to a range of currently fashionable notions popular among left-wing academics and sociologists, among them:

• Reality is a "social construct" rather than empirically provable
• Ones choice of language directs how this reality is supposedly constructed (see political correctness)
• There is no one superior culture; Western culture is no more advanced than any other
• Western culture is inherently oppressive against some groups
• This oppression is "systemic" and ingrained in the culture
• Because society is a "social construct" directed by choice of language, these "systems" of "oppression" can therefore be "deconstructed" by deconstructing the language used, and replacing it with different terminology
• The frequent use of irony and humorous wordplay to shift the meanings of words is encouraged as this causes people to rethink their assumptions about culture and language. This often takes the form of ridicule of anything deemed to be part of traditional values or mainstream American culture. American culture of the 1950s is especially ridiculed in this way with such epithets as "white bread". Postmodernism promotes a "hipster" culture in which motifs from pre-1970s America are used in such a way as to ridicule them.
• Gender and so-called gender roles are socially constructed, not inborn traits