I was talking the nurture/nature debate with one of my friends (my date!) the other night before ART FEST. As with most things, I’m a fence sitter on this one. He pointed out that fence-sitting out of fear is a great post-modern way to say nothing because postmodernism has taught us, if nothing else, that there is no way to identify objective reality, so why bother? (Well, that was bold at least! I just summed up an entire social, intellectual and political movement in half a sentence!). But in all seriousness, this is something that plagues me in my writing, and it’s been something I’ve been actively working through as I trudge through the thesis-writing process. When the chips are down, I don’t believe I have much authority. So I’m afraid to say anything…which doesn’t make for very good writing. Check out these two articles on the very same subject.
What’s Wrong With the American Essay?
and
Anyone else have this problem?
I identified so well with the quote “The next best thing to a good sermon, is a bad sermon”. However, I would add an addendum to that for stability. “The next best thing to a good sermon, is a bad sermon in which the preacher can adapt to new information.” In other words we shouldn’t hold on too tightly to our beliefs but by no means should believe in nothing.
I think we would be well served as writers to get rid of the self-doubt that we write into our essays and let the fact that we are human (and therefore fallible) be assumed. The only good recession is one that you plan on attacking and defeating. That is, if you know of a counter-point strong enough that you can’t defeat it then shouldn’t you adjust your thesis? Let the reader be provoked and offer counter-argument. Gather your information, apply good reason and let the rest shake out as it may.
If taken too seriously, the post-modern mentality can only serve to reduce an essay to a boring and narrow thesis in which the writer feels comfortable with all possible Discourses produced. I’ve started to view deconstructive theory as a meter-maid; necessary in some cases but highly limiting in others. Apply it to your writing if you feel it to be necessary, but don’t let it force you out of writing on what you are passionate about. The moment deconstruction stops you from expressing your passions and true beliefs is when it has went from being useful to being limiting.
Here’s some slam that talks about the problem directly 😉