The Death of Truth

I read a book a few years ago called The Death of Truth by David McCallum. It is an analysis of postmodern thought and the impact it has on our society.

He explains the impact of multiculturalism as well as the abandonment of absolute truth. There’s a pretty good sample of his argument in an essay entitled, “The Postmodern Puzzle”. The link is: http://www.leaderu.com/real/ri9802/mccallum.html

Here’s a scenario from the article:
You visit an African tribe during their female circumcision ritual and behold a teenage girl receiving a clitorectomy.

To judge the tribal ritual is: Okay? or Bad?

This scenario raises some complicated contradictions for the postmodern thinker. Female circumcision is a manifestation of misogyny and control of women. The procedure guarantees women will never experience orgasm, and therefore will take no pleasure from sex. In the words of one African apologist, the practice “frees women from their bondage to lust, to find their true identity as mothers.” The girls have little or no say in whether they receive the procedure. Viewed objectively, this practice is a savage and brutal violation of women, as feminists have rightly pointed out.

But there’s a problem. Female circumcision is also a time-honored religious rite of passage in another culture—in an oppressed, non-Western, nonwhite culture at that. It is, therefore, off-limits to postmodern judgment of any kind.

I think McCallum takes great pleasure in watching them squirm!

The problem in our society is that we go merrily along assuming that we must accept and embrace all cultures and customs. We have become embarrassed about the white, European, Christian point-of-view and are all too willing to jettison Western Civilization if it gets in anyone’s way.

And the Latino activists and Muslims see this opening and take advantage of it. You can’t blame them for grabbing the reins, especially if it means coming to the United States and getting a piece of the American Dream.

But their lack of sincerity shines through when you see that they carry their own flags, celebrate their own holidays, and fail to respect our laws.

Yet our schools, most of our politicians, and the media continue to portray patriotism as mere jingoism. They go out of their way to protect the rights of intruders. Hooray for the foreign cultures and down with Western thought.

I was at the cemetery on Memorial Day for a ceremony. As they read the names of veterans who had died in the past year I thought, “There goes another member of The Greatest Generation; a man who couldn’t be fooled by political correctness. We’ll miss him, especially on election day.”