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The Dark Secret of Postmodernism
What happened to the totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century and where did they go? When the Soviet Union collapsed towards the end of the century, what happened to its ideological remnants? It collapsed in on itself and all that seemed to be left was smoke. The last of the brutish authoritarian experiments of the century, the Soviet machine ground to a halt and been delivered a swift and decisive blow. The Marxist rhetoric that had been permeating the country (and many others over the century — think Mao’s China) now seemed embarrassingly erroneous. The utopian dreams attached to the ideal of Communism had utterly failed to materialize.
What was supposed to result was equal distribution — a precise shaving-down of advantage to produce an equitable society characterized by sameness and distanced from the alleged diseases of Western liberalism and capitalism. But what resulted instead was a beast of destruction.
In the name of constructing a utopian, equitable future millions of people were slaughtered and millions more yoked with the looming threats of violence and their lives streaked with paranoia. How could it be that an ideology advertised as perfection itself, touted as the incomparable optimization of people and resources so that everyone might be happy — how could it be that underneath this veneer was a reality unfathomably savage?
