Mike of Modernity (or post?) 09_09

If I had any lingering doubts that the study of post-modernism has altered my perceptions of the world, they are no longer lingering...they are gone. A rather surreal conversation I had with my current employer on Friday was the catalyst for this realization.I must first explain that I have already fulfilled my Critical Approaches credit, and was so intrigued by post-modern theory that I signed up for this class as an elective. I remember my first teacher, Jennifer Henton's gave an opening speech containing a strikingly similar warning to the one given two weeks ago by Dr. Rog. Something to the effect of "This class will mess you up big time. You will never be able to watch TV, movies, or read a book or magazine in the same way again. If you're not O.K. with that, you should probably drop this class."
"Blah, Blah, Blah." I said to myself at the time. How cavalier I was. In the two year interim my mind has yet to revert back to its former state. And I am grateful for that. This class has once again stirred the hornet's nest of thought in my mind, and I can't wait for the next piece of insight to strike me.
But I digress. My current mode of income is as a full time contractor for the IT department at Bright House Networks. My job gives me unique perspective, near the forefront of the ever-expanding frontier of technology and information. My supervisor, also a Mike, had asked me if I would be willing to stay late on Tuesday, just a half hour or so to help complete a large computer deployment project. "Can't do it Mike, Tuesday is bad for a late day, I'm meeting my Post-Modern class in Downtown Orlando at 6:45." I told him in the most apologetic tone I could muster without sounding like a pushover. The blank look I received back reminded me of Macherey's insistence to study the "unsaid". What his look "unsaid" to me was that he had never heard of post-modernism, nor did he care to. Or so my examination of the "tmesis" that had occured in our conversation led me to believe. To my surprise he said "Field trip? For what?", as if he actually held some interest in the subject. I replied in a manner befitting one who is excited about such adventures: "We're essentially decoding the post-modern symbology present in the architecture of Downtown Orlando. We're reading buildings."
Any glimmer of comprehension or interest that may have crossed his face before now melted away, "Uh... okay...have fun. We'll survive without you." he replied, as he returned to his monitor; the doorway to the virtual world he spent his working hours repairing and managing. It struck me that his lack of interest and/or comprehension about the subject was not through any particular fault of his own, nor did it mean he was not intelligent enough to comprehend its complexities. He simply lacked, as De Saussure would say, the proper context to understand the concept of post-modernism; much less it's importance. Perhaps he did not want to comprehend it, feeling that such philosophies were better left to academics and intellectuals, harboring some sub-conscious desire to repel information that might otherwise taint his present vision of "life, the universe and everything" (Adams, Douglas). To work for a company who's very existence depends upon and encourages the consumption of mass media and information, and then to be granted the knowledge of how this consumption affects our society - both for well and ill - could come as quite a shock. Maybe he was just too busy to hear more about this "post-modernism" thing. Maybe he has a signed copy of Jean Baudrilliard's "Simulacra and Simulacrum"... but probably not. I considered attempting to explain the "Procession of the Simulacrum" to him while noting that his employer (and mine) was but one cog in the great machine of simulation responsible for the "destruction of the real", just to test him. Then I thought better of it. He didn't have the benefit of being warned that these theories will change your life forever. Maybe next time i'll just get Dr. Rog. to text him a disclaimer.