Allegories

[Dig-the-Man]

Here is my first post of acadamia here on NG.

One has to wonder whether or not our postmodern culture is over-run by allegories. Think of it this way. Our past has become our present and our present is becoming our past. With the increase in technology adn communication our world is being over-run with images which are symbolic of the times they were taken. Slowly, our culture seems to be enveloped by this symbolism and now history as we know it will be revolutionized forever and perhaps even forgotten.

This is not a bad thing however, as allegorical discourse may be essential for the survival of the postmodern democratic state, even though the use of such discourse could also destroy the democratic state.

Political communication is constantly changing and it seems the allegories, rhetoric and discourse is increasingly becoming part of political communication.

Agree/Disagree? Never want to see this kind of post ever again?
(Some of the ideas contained in this post are fueled by the original ideas of Robert Hairman, in his piece Allegory and Democratic Public Culture in the Postmodern Era contained in Philosophy and Rhetoric 35.4 (2002) 267-296,

[MuscleHed]

I believe allegories are very important to a sociality. It represents progress, progress of the mind, progress in the language, progress in communication. I don’t think we are “over-run” by allegories. I think they add in getting our points and ideas across.

[NEMESiSZ]

::waits for someone to say "omg al gore"::

[OlenWhitaker]

I think the effect you noted is caused by the exponential increase in the amount of information that is available to us in the world today. So much is being thrown at us that we almost have to use allegory and other associative methods to keep track of it all.
I also think you may be reading too much into it. I don't think it is going to, as you said, destroy the democratic state. It's an effect, not a cause, I say.

[JMHX]

At 3/24/03 10:57 PM, NEMESiSZ wrote:

waits for someone to say "omg al gore"::

I'm not letting you turn this one in to a flame war. Don't make me turn you into my allegory woman. Hehe, it sounds like Al Gore.

DAMNIT!