Révolution A La Metamoderne

In the fallout after the general election, with every news story of the day concerning the president-elect making it seem like America is headed to hell on wheels, I have been nostalgic for those days of yore; the comedic folly of the 17 clown circus of the GOP, the hopeful gleam of the primaries. Mostly though, I have been missing Bernie Sanders. In the stretch between April 30th 2015 when Sanders announced his candidacy and early May 2016 when Clinton was crowned the presumptive nominee, everything seemed possible. Folks were gathering together all across the nation to metrics as large as 28,000 people at a given rally in the spirit of what seemed like a 1960’s redux, tinged with the sober focus of a whole generation who had suffered through the great recession of 2008. A single man had gotten new voters all across the country to become politically active, engaged, and I was as sure as he was that it was time for a change and that the change was happening now. It was the real honest to God American dream — democracy in action. But as the primary season drew to a close with the super delegates piled high like the devil’s poker chips, and the DNC made what many would argue to be a fatal choice, I was left wondering as I apathetically observed the general election: “where’s my revolution?” While idly scanning the philosophy circuit of Wikipedia to take my mind off the current political turbulence, I was surprised to discover that many aspects of dear Bernie Sanders’ approach to the political arena lined up quite closely with the tenants of a newly emerging philosophy called metamoderninsm. It spoke of “collapsing the distance between things that seem to be opposites,” of “optimism so out of fashion that it is radical,” (Abramson, Metamodernism: The Basics) and especially after witnessing Bernie’s recent All in America town hall, I realized that metamodern thinking was instrumental to executing that sought after revolution in our modern era.

Before addressing Bernie’s approach and the significance of metamodernism in contemporary revolution, it is imperative to acknowledge why it’s predecessors; modernism and postmodernism, failed in regards to radical political change. Modernism, which came to prominence in the early 20th century, was a “belief in progress, freedom, and equality,” driven by the pursuit of objective truth garnered from “the application of reason based on study.” Modernists believed that “virtually everything could be submitted to reason: tradition, customs, morals, even art.” and to that point, that reason could “correct problems and improve the political and social condition of humankind” (Witcombe, Modernism: The Roots of Modernism.) There was a strong belief among modernist thinkers that by being exposed to objective scientific truth and reason humans could be freed from the oppressive shackles of “religious and secular authorities [who] had constructed their own truths and manipulated them to their own self-serving ends,” (Witcombe, Modernism: Modernism and Politics) and move collectively in the direction of utopia. Though a noble sentiment, modernism was unfortunately by design too naively optimistic in it’s application of reason as the answer to all things, and more importantly it’s belief that the application of reason will lead to one answer. Modernism’s habit of resting on the laurels of goodwill made it too diffuse to produce a revolution, and especially after the atrocities of World War Two, the existence of a definitive truth and an inherent goodness in humans seemed a pipe dream. This gave rise to the postmodern philosophy, which in contrast asserted that reason did not produce one truth, but rather that any truth was subject to a multitude of interpretations based on unique social, historical, cultural, and political contexts. Especially in it’s deconstructive strain, postmodernism sought to highlight the irony of single and often conflicting societal narratives that were once though by modernism to contain a single declarable truth. Absolute subjectivity made postmodernism almost simplistically fool-proof, and has thus crowned it the prevailing philosophy even into our modern era. However, as noted by professor and metamodernist poet Seth Abramson “Looking back, we can see that postmodernism had sixty years to bring about real political change in America, rather than becoming merely the province of a small cadre of academics and its offered us little to no revolution outside the ivory tower of academia.” Postmodernism’s cover-all ideological pluralism, which at first helped people to take a step back and examine issues from a more diverse point of view that acknowledges inherent subjectivity, has abstracted many of the concepts of truth to the point of non-action. Far from bringing about revolution in the face of the optimistic naivety of the modernist narrative, postmodernism has facilitated a great degree of alienation and isolation between fellow human beings by barring an emphasis on collectivity. In a modern revolution, and a world marked by greater polarization that ever, we cannot afford distance. In addition, the evolution from modernism to postmodernism had also created a troubling dichotomy wherein truth is either an absolute, or completely subjective. This, is where metamodernism interjects.

The “meta” in metamodernism comes from Plato’s “metaxy” (Notes on Metamodernism) which denotes a movement between opposite poles as well as beyond them and offers a direct challenge to the all or nothing dichotomy of modernism and postmodernism. The term metamodernism has come to be philosophically emblematic according to the Metamodernist Manifesto of “the mercurial condition between and beyond irony and sincerity, naivety and knowingness, relativism and truth, optimism and doubt, in pursuit of a plurality of disparate and elusive horizons,” a sort of third way between absolute objective truth and absolute subjectivity. Metamodernism is the answer to a 30 year cultural binge of post-modernist nihilism, to the tune of a re-imagining of the “we can do it” attitude of classical modernist thought shed of it’s naivety and faith in objective truth. The philosophy emphasizes the principle of “collapse[ing] distances, especially the distance between things that seem to be opposites, to recreate a sense of wholeness that allows us to in the lay sense transcend our environment and move forward with the aim of creating positive change in our communities and the world” (Abramson, Metamodernism: The Basics.) No person better than Bernie Sanders in MSNBC’s All in America town hall showcased the ability to bring together two seemingly incompatible distances.

During this town hall, Bernie spoke to self proclaimed Trump supporters about a variety of topics including trade deals, free college tuition, and social security, and was able to bring them over to his side simply by doing something precious few had done during the election season: speak to them like human beings. Suddenly the discussion was not in terms of right or left, conservative or progressive, but in terms of common sense. It was a discussion between working class Americans who were quick to agree on the disastrous quality of the TPP and other trade polices which had taken their jobs and given a serious blow to American industry. After a spirited exchange in which Sanders asked: “do you think it’s inappropriate to start asking those people to pay their fair share of taxes so we can adequately fund Medicaid and make public colleges and universities tuition-free? Is that an unfair thing to ask?” Trump supporter Suzanne Sparks easily agreed to the traditionally liberal policy of universal health care and college, responding: “I don’t think it’s an unfair thing to ask. They got rich off of us, so it’s time they put back.” In the vacuum of the town-hall Sanders, through nothing more complicated than frank discussion, had created that sense of “wholeness” because he “treat[ed] old untrendy human troubles and emotions in U.S. life with reverence and conviction” (Wallace, E unibus pluram: television and U.S. fiction.) Even Bernie’s campaign throughout the primary season showed glints of a metamodernistic platform that maintained a down-to-earth cynicism coupled with a reconstructive ambition. Metamodernism has an “aim toward a reconstruction of ourselves and our culture — however problematic or illusory it might turn out to be — that could also form part of a plan for healthy living and great creativity and even new forms of political action,” in stark contrast to the postmodernist philosophy which is more likely in deconstructing norms to produce disparate clutch of jaded individuals rather than an inspired collective. Bernie Sanders in his campaign was skeptical to endorse the credibility of superpac funded candidates and the ability of Wall Street banks to regulate themselves honestly, but far from being only being able to call out the problems of politics, was able to define real solutions such as the re-institution of Glass-Steagall and major campaign finance reform that did not include a reliance on corporate donations. His solutions were what 30 years of politically post-modern philosophy had failed to provide, and this no-nonsense way of approaching politics was obviously attractive to countless people across the U.S. because “Bernie’s inspiring ‘Yes we will’ optimism” (Weis, Why Bernie Sanders Is the Democratic Party’s Best Hope to Win the White House in November) felt like action.

That feeling of action was nice wasn’t it? Well the election may be over, but if Sanders’ continued post campaign-activism has anything to prove to us, its that there’s always time for a revolution. Environmental crises may seem at an irrecoverable tipping point, the U.S may seem on the brink of some bizarre neo-cold war, the progress that may have been amiable under Clinton may seem impossible under a Donald Trump presidency. However, in the words of the Metamodernist Manifesto “existence is enriched if we set about our task as if those limits might be exceeded, for such action unfolds the world.” The metamodernist rebel acknowledges in full the imperfectability of the human fix, the impossibility of a utopia, but it still yearns for it. Let us set about the steep hill of political change as if we may win the day. I challenge you to collapse distances between violently opposed odds even when you disagree on ninety-nine things, because the one thing you agree on may be all it takes to move it to two. I challenge you to be optimistic, “too sincere. Clearly repressed. Backward, quaint, naive, anachronistic” (Wallace, E unibus pluram: television and U.S. fiction) even when the political arena seems fatalist and corrupt. But more than that I challenge you to be involved as if all you do will make a difference. Run for senator, run for governor, run for head of the PTA, run for every God damn office you can think of. Post online not only to express your opinions, but to reach out to those who think differently from you. Protest, demonstrate, spread awareness through art speech and action. Reconstruct. In the words of Bernie Sanders “do not go quiet into that good night,” because the progressive platform is the people’s platform, and it does not have to go on hold for four years of a Donald Trump presidency. Let us see that the dire straits we face only galvanize our fight, and that our révolution a la metamoderne begins today.

Works Cited

Abramson, Seth. “Metamodernism: The Basics.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Oct. 2014. Web. 20 Dec. 2016.

Wallace, David Foster. “E unibus pluram: television and U.S. fiction.” E unibus pluram: television and U.S. fiction. — Free Online Library. N.p., 22 June 1993. Web. 20 Dec. 2016.

Weis, Tom. “Why Bernie Sanders Is the Democratic Party’s Best Hope to Win the White House in November.” Common Dreams. N.p., 7 Mar. 2016. Web. 23 Dec. 2016.

Witcombe, Christopher L.C.E. “Modernism: The Roots of Modernism.” Modernism: The Roots of Modernism. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2016.

Witcombe, Christopher L.C.E. “Modernism: Modernism and Politics.” Modernism: Modernism and Politics. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2016.

“Notes on Metamodernism.” Notes on metamodernism | Vermeulen | Journal of Aesthetics & Culture. N.p., 2010. Web. 22 Dec. 2016.