The Complex World and Postmodern Sensibility

I doubt anyone can claim that the world is not complex. I doubt anyone can say he has not faced adversity in his life. I doubt anyone can claim that he has not been oppressed by powerful people and/or organizations. I doubt that people or nations’ leaders can claim that they have not been oppressed, either directly or indirectly. Indeed, the world is full of complexities and conspiracies designed to elevate some over others.

Can we blame those who find comfort in oppressing the majority? Who are we to question God’s decision to have some people be followers at different stages of their lives? Who are we to question God’s decision to elevate some people from the stage of followership to the stage of leadership?

He is aware of what we are unaware of. He understands the reasons for making people having both positive and negative feelings. He knows why He created both living and non-living things. However, He gives us the ability to reflect and make adjustments based on our mistakes.

The few in business, politics, and the social sphere have oppressed the majority to death. In the name of international collaboration, a few nations have oppressed the majority of nations through resource exploration. In the name of restoring democratic ideas and ideals, a few nations have oppressed people in ‘less developed’ countries through unnecessary wars.

Through socioeconomic and security partnerships, a few nations are making amends to the ‘less developed’ countries. Few countries are returning cultural artifacts that were stolen or taken by force during colonial rule. Few nations provide aid to ‘less developed’ countries. In the name of international relations and global mobility, a few nations are attracting talent from ‘less developed’ countries. Why these, and others not mentioned in this piece, constitute postmodernism sensibility, an ideology that demonstrates how the people of a few nations feel remorse and believe that their business and political leaders have truly oppressed people in the ‘less developed’ countries.

The structure of feeling is also referred to as postmodernism sensibility by many academics and professionals. Can postmodern sensibility undo the damage done by modernism? Particularly in regards to the return of thousands of cultural artifacts that were forcibly removed from countries like Nigeria, Indonesia, and the Netherlands, among others. As I stated in one of my previous pieces, the structure of feeling evolved when some people felt that their elites (capitalists) and political leaders had greatly wronged others. For instance, “the Second World War, the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, the wars of decolonization, and other negative manifestations of the West’s modern historical project,” are the foundations of postmodernism sensibility.

In my view, giving financial aid, educational scholarship and repatriating looted cultural artefacts to Africa by the Western nations, particularly those that colonized the continent, fit within the postmodernism sensibility or structure of feeling. While this is laudable to some extent for the continent, I am also worried about technologies such as social networking sites and other emerging technologies which are solely owned by capitalists. Indeed, the world is complex!