Postmodernism Scaremongering

The strategic use of exaggerated threats about postmodernism to justify intellectual orthodoxy, dismiss critique, and shut down legitimate inquiry. Postmodernism scaremongering treats any questioning of grand narratives, any attention to language and power, any skepticism about universal truth claims as the first step toward nihilism, barbarism, and the destruction of civilization itself. It's the op-ed warning that teaching Derrida will lead to fascism; the pundit who blames every social ill on "postmodern relativism"; the academic who uses "postmodernism" as a slur to dismiss any approach they don't like without engaging its actual arguments. The scaremongering serves power by making critique itself seem dangerous—painting those who question foundations as enemies of reason, when they might just be asking reasonable questions about whose reason counts.

Example: "He blamed postmodernism for everything from political polarization to declining test scores—never defining what he meant, just using it as a bogeyman. Pure Postmodernism Scaremongering: fighting shadows instead of arguments."

Postmodernism Scaremongering by Dumu The Void March 14, 2026