Navigating the Postmodern Labyrinth

Yascha Mounk got mugged by reality, but he's not quite ready to embrace tradition.

Following yesterday’s piece on postmodernism, it seemed like a good time to re-up my review of Yascha Mounk’s The Identity Trap, a (former?) leftist critique of wokism. Mounk is one of those figures reminiscent of the neo-cons who started on the left, got “mugged by reality” and moved somewhat right… but maybe not all the way to a full-blown conservatism or traditionalism.

I found his book quite interesting in some ways and frustrating in others. It’s admirable when a person is willing to critique their own team. And as someone with experience of that world, he was able to give some real insight into what it was like on the ground when postmodern activism marched “into the C-suite” as he put it. That was useful.

He supplies a kind of intellectual map of wokism, though he calls it “the identity synthesis” in the interests of avoiding inflammatory or prejudiced language. (Having noted that, I’ll just call it “wokism” because… that’s what everyone calls it. I salute his effort, but I think this is one of these cases where relabeling doesn’t actually help.) It was interesting to muse on, and fairly helpful for thinking through the lineage of the pathologies infecting (say) university campuses right now. It does feel like he’s pretty fixated on one particular strain, though, without a very clear grasp of the broader context. That being the case, his advice for reform didn’t seem particularly helpful. “Let’s all play nice now,” seemed to be the gist. Friend. That won’t work. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Effective remedy will have to involve a strong dose of tradition. Throw in some truth and reason, too. Postmodernism has a strong tendency to descend into insanity because it’s not tethered to anything real. Appeals to common sense won’t get you anywhere until those ties are reestablished. Thinking about that, one notices something further: Mounk reiterates again and again his willingness to share the country with impoverished white Appalachians, but he doesn’t have much to say about, say, pro-lifers or marriage traditionalists. So, hmm. You can find something nice to say about people who are floundering, struggling to find meaning, but what about the ones who’ve already found something? Ready to link arms with them too?

It was a worthwhile book. Gave me some insights into particular “postmodern psychoses.” The thing about postmodernism, though, is that it mutates very easily. “Wokism” seems to be waning at this point, but unless people find better sources of meaning, its successor (Third Worldism, perhaps?) will probably be no better.