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That said, it would help immensely to know why the ancient Greeks decorated the pottery and the techniques done to do so.

Of course. If the black figure on the pot is, ACHILLES, for instance... there's a whole story and myth around that, which if you DON'T KNOW, you don't understand the art. Not really. For you, it'll always be uncle Jimmy. That's not the end of the WORLD, but it is a sort of dumbing down.

Religious freedom operates in a similar way. Sure, we have the RIGHT to cherry pick and choose religious ideas and believe in our own flavor of the divine... take bible verses out of context or whatever... but some Christians would object to that, saying you're not getting the CORRECT message. You're simply making up your message.

And that's the core of postmodernism. It's facile. You can rely on just your own subjectivity, and survive in the world. OK, so you'll appear a dope if you're around people who know more than you, but hey. Them's the breaks.

It's what the people with specialized knowledge DO with their specialized knowledge that matters in the postmodern world. It's POTENTIALLY elitism. If intellectuals have anything, it's specialized knowledge. But they're not correcting errors in fact or history, but instead are often PROMOTING postmodern associations because they gain advantage from them. That's why in education we have things like Leonardo and Michelangelo and Sherlock were GAY... and women and african americans had a primary role in this and that. Political correctness becomes a place where the truth and fact are MALLEABLE. Where the dumbing down is PREFERRED to the actual semi-objective search for truth.

So you kinda have to see postmodernism as a two-edged sword. In art, especially, it's easy to poo-poo art historians and just say, well, I like it... and dumb it down. But art is also a document in intellectual and creative HISTORY, and there are indeed facts that surround it. Even though an artist might be the worst documenter of his work, it's still important to know what he or she said about it, if they said anything. It depends on what your goal is. Hanging a pretty picture, or trying to UNDERSTAND the milieu in which the picture was created.

Everything can lead you to greater learning and truth. That's what people forget. The more you concentrate on, or learn about something... you really can't go wrong. If you're seeking the truth, rather than trying to justify a pre-existing AGENDA.

What I always say is, postmodernism is a movement, but it's also a dessert topping. And an excuse for intellectual and creative LAZINESS.

And pretty much, Obama is the perfect postmodern politician. His charge is variable, people BELIEVE he's giving out free "Obama money" when there is absolutely no physical evidence of that... and they hear what they want to hear, despite what he actually does. He's just a container for the hopes and dreams of his viewers and listeners, who hammer what he says into their particular realities, without checking on his statements, or following up on anything.

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OK, so you'll appear a dope if you're around people who know more than you, but hey. Them's the breaks.

LOL. Oh, funny. It makes you wonder how much of postmodernism is just a permanent face-saving device. Good god, have you ever read some of the reports and writings of a true postmodernist? It's an avalanche of dribble. It's like a secret code. As that article said, it's a get-out-of-jail free card. If I learn the lingo, I can go head-to-head with anyone in the world on any subject in the world. And it's because I've become an expert (I'll give them that) at one thing: bamboozling and dissembling. Note: Listen to any speech by B. Hussein Obama and you'll see his words are a technique, not an intellectual argument. He's learned to parrot a whole bunch of stuff that is really just fancy pre-canned diversions and pleasing-sounding phrases.

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Where the dumbing down is PREFERRED to the actual semi-objective search for truth.

Yes, I think so. And the revision becomes a sort of modern myth-making.

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If you're seeking the truth, rather than trying to justify a pre-existing AGENDA.

That would be a very succinct way of differentiating kool-aid from non-kool-aid.

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What I always say is, postmodernism is a movement, but it's also a dessert topping. And an excuse for intellectual and creative LAZINESS.

Yes, the laziness. Much laziness.

Adobe had some Indian guy call me to try and apologize for my customer service debacle. He left a long message, how they want to restore my confidence in them.

Yeah, sure. My confidence has never been more SHAKEN in them. Especially after getting a load of the CS5 advertising design.

If I ever need customer service from Adobe again, if they don't answer the phone in a minute, fuck them.