Postmodernism & the Desecration of Frosty the Snowman

I know I'm a few weeks behind the times with this post, but I think it's still relevant. As noted in my previous post, I have been reading The Good Life by Chuck Colson. In his book, Colson discusses truth and whether or not it can indeed be known. He also talks about Postmodernism and it's effect on the way people think and seek truth. In a sense, Postmodernism holds that reality or truth cannot be known objectively, but rather that it is constructed by humans and therefore changes depending on a person's point of view. This view of truth is prevalent throughout our society. According to The Good Life, 64 percent of Americans do not believe that there is such a thing as moral truth.

Postmodernist influence has had a crippling effect on our society. Colson remarks in his book that "the present generation's horizon is limited to accommodation to the way things are. They live within the evil enchantment of believing that finding truth is utterly impossible." I find this to be quite sad. In our heart of hearts, all of us long for a deep, all-fulfilling truth. We seem to be always searching for something, yet can't quite explain what it is. We talk about "keeping it real" and getting to the bottom of things. The foundation. The non-negotiables of life. How devastating it must be to be told that one's innate longings for absolute truth can never be satisfied because there isn't such a thing? Truly it has made my generation despondent and lost, cynical and skeptical of any absolute claims. Undoubtedly there are many falsetruths out there that must be questioned. But does that mean that no truth is believable? That there is no absolute moral truth humanity can stand on? I sure hope not.

In her blog, a friend of mine recently stated that she has "always had the need for concrete answers to things" but that she didn't necessarily feel that need anymore. I wonder why? I agree that there are some mysteries that are inexplicable and beyond our human comprehension. But there are some things we can know. The truth of God's word, for instance. Even if truth seems far out of reach, it is still truth, and always worthy of being sought after.

So what does any of this have to do with Frosty the Snowman? Well in case any readers are not aware, CBS recently made a mash-up of their original children's classic with dialogue from a couple of their sit-coms containing rather foul content and humor. I was especially saddened to hear this knowing that many children would stumble across the videos one way or another and lose some of their precious innocence that seems harder to come by in today's day and age. I happened upon an article reflecting on the Frosty news and it really drilled home to me what Chuck Colson was saying about the effects of postmodernism. The writer of the article thought the videos were funny and enjoyed them, yet he felt upset about them at the same time but couldn't figure out exactly why. Here is what he said:

"My problem is more an intangible gut thing. It doesn't offend me. It just makes me sad. Sad in the way that it does when any comfortably staid institution tries to sex itself up. It's like watching grandpa get a fauxhawk and try to date college girls. I realize it's entirely logically indefensible to say that there should be boundaries of propriety as to who is and isn't allowed to make sex jokes involving beloved children's figures. But there should...It's hypocritical of me, yes. So be it. As much as it cracks me up to see someone render Frosty inappropriate, I somehow want to know that there are some places in the world where Frosty is treated with as much dignity as a snow-golem with a corncob pipe can be."

Incredible, I thought. This guy knows in his gut that something is wrong, yet because he can't "logically defend" it then there is no valid explanation for believing that and his judgment must be dismissed.. That is how postmodernism has affected people's ability to think; it is robbing them of their intrinsic ability to discern good from evil and white-washing everything over with gaudy, fake smiley faces. It's a scary charade in my opinion.

Still, these findings merely spur me on to affirm and deepen my knowledge of real, absolute, universal truth.