Truth Introduccion

In the past, Truth was the ever-revolving, ever-changing goal of life. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Throughout time, humanity has searched for truths. Truths about life, religion, you name it. It is ingrained in our DNA to obtain truth because we equate truth to salvation. Understanding the truths of the world, will allow us into the "afterlife." This old-style of thinking was very popular until this little movement called Postmodernism came along. It attacks Truth, thus attacking the very core of human existence. Is truth permanent? Is truth appropriate? Is truth even relevant? These are questions that postmodernists started to ask to the world. The three pieces below depict those questions. They force the viewer/reader to question his/her own truths. They ask the very simple, yet very complex question of is this true? To be honest, I do not entirely understand the meaning of truth. But maybe, that is the point. I will leave that up to you to decide.

How to Tell a True War Story

How to Tell a True War Story by Tim O'Brien is another beautiful example of truth in postmodernism. In this text, O'Brien gives the reader what he actually believes about war, his truth, in ironic situations. He sets up fake situations with generals and soldiers to argue a real point about the meaningless of war. When reading this story, the truth is unknown. I was certainly asking myself, "what is really true and what isn't?"
Here, postmodernism is again outlined with the question of truth. Postmodernisms main point about truth is that it does not exist. It cannot be found, and it cannot reached. Trying to put guidlines or truths to life, is merely limiting something that is truly endless. This is what O'Brien has shown in his text. The truth of this is story is endless because nothing is known to be true or untrue.

Truthiness

In the TV program, The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert has outlined the modern way in which postmodernism can be reflected. He uses his humor and satire, to give his real view on political views and stances. Colbert has attracted several million viewers by poking fun of politicians. Colbert uses postmodern antics to give his main point. An example of this, is a word he created called "truthiness". "Truthiness,"means to know or understand something because you can "feel it" or "know it in your gut."It uses absolutely no real fact, just the ideas of a regular person. This is a perfect example of postmodernism ideals. It outlines that truth or facts can really just be ideas from someone else. That words themselves are not always. Just the way in which Colbert displayed this word outlines postmodernism. He satirically poses the word "truthiness," to show that what governments or politicians say may not be fact. In fact, much of what they say is purely from "the gut" without "truth" behind it.

Truth in art

The persistence of memory by Dali focuses entirely on the idea of truth. Specifically what is true about our memory. The folded clocks, loose shapes, blurred lines all point to a misunderstanding of memory. In this case, memory can be related to truth. There is nothing from this painting that can be related to real life. The truth of this painting is that there is no absolute truth when it comes to the past and memory.Thinking and remembering can be altered to fit the criteria of the memory the person wants to remember.

In this way, this painting truly describes what Postmodernism feels about truth.There is no absolute truth. Especially in the case of memory, truth is relative. It changes with each person, each entity. The guidelines of specific times and set rules do not exist because of the relativity of our world.

Conclusion

The main idea that Postmodernism is trying to display is that truth is touchy subject. Nothing in this world can be considered truthful because in doing so you are putting limits on a limitless universe. In the postmodern world, truth does not exist. It is for this precise reason that the postmodern era does not exist. Whether postmodernists believe it or not, there are truths that we all hold to be true. We have guidelines. If we did not, our society would not function and would cease to be fulfilled. But, the postmodern era did offer the next generation something to question. Authority. For ages, authority has been challenged, but now, during our era authority does not have the same power to destroy those challenges. For this reason, I believe the next era will become the era of questions. We will become "Questionists". Those who question the very roots of authority. Postmodernism's question of truth can be related similarly to this new age. My era will rock the foundations of what we consider authority and who we really listen to. The "truth" will be that age and titles will not suffice as an authoritative figure. This questioning will also most likely start at a much younger age and will continue past the teenage years of rebellion. We know from "The Moral Instinct," that kids have a natural instinct to what is right and wrong. This will become more evident in this "Era of Questions" because kids will rely more on their natural instincts when considering moral issues instead of what authoritative figures such as their parents say. While our elders might try and fight this new age from coming about, it is already too late. More and more aspects of life are being questioned, with more questions arising. It is time to welcome the "Era of Questions" with open arms and hope that our society is asked to contemplate as much as we were with Postmodernism.