Critical Theory

[Alexander Thaut]

I'm going to powerlevel a tiny bit and say that I'm an incoming grad student who suddenly has to buy a textbook on Critical Theory. As far as I know in a layman's terms that it appears to be a way to hammer in a subject in relation to politicizing it. All I have heard are criticisms regarding this theory for not being objective and for being an academic monolith. Could I get some insight from Kiwis that are more familiar with this theory and directions to the non-insane major works surrounding it so I may read without getting infected by this?

 

[KFU]

Check out newdiscourses.com. They are very critical of critical theory from an objectivist perspective. They call it "applied postmodernism" which to me is a useful framing. Some of the writers bloviate a bit, sometimes they are a bit alarmist, and they attract some hard-core conservatives, but in conjunction with other reading it can help provide balance and unpack some of the assumptions in modern critical theory works. Good luck.

 

[ADHD]

I'm going to powerlevel a tiny bit and say that I'm an incoming grad student who suddenly has to buy a textbook on Critical Theory.

Would you mind sharing the title/authors of the book for those of us who might want to take a peek at the crazy for ourselves?

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Is that the philosophy where you criticize modern systems by pointing out obvious compromises, but don't actually put forward any practical replacements, serving as useful idiots for globohomo and others?

 

[Getting tard comed]

Is that the philosophy where you criticize modern systems by pointing out obvious compromises, but don't actually put forward any practical replacements, serving as useful idiots for globohomo and others?

This is your answer OP. Critical theory is destructive for the sake of being destructive so degeneracy can take its place and be defended without using critical theory to break down degeneracy.

If you are pro degeneracy it's great. But critical theory ends up being self defeating most of the time with gems like "language and words are social constructs that have no meaning". Books using words in a specific language were/are written to refute the idea that they all have meaning. It's the type of idea you need a PhD to believe.

 

[Jimmy Durante's Ballsack]

Let me give you some real advice: don't waste your money on the textbook, it was probably obsolete before it even went to print.

Critical Theory will be whatever your graduate-level professor decides it is on any given day. They probably wrote the book you're required to buy; you already paid them once.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Would you mind sharing the title/authors of the book for those of us who might want to take a peek at the crazy for ourselves?

https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Theory-Literary-Cultural-Studies/dp/0199797773

Let me give you some real advice: don't waste your money on the textbook, it was probably obsolete before it even went to print.

Critical Theory will be whatever your graduate-level professor decides it is on any given day. They probably wrote the book you're required to buy; you already paid them once.

Yeah but I just kinda need the formulaic stuff so I can just slide in papers giving them what they want to see, kind of just framing what I want to write about in a way that lets me get away with it instead of having to go deep into some offbeat interpretation of -isms.

 

[Jimmy Durante's Ballsack]

https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Theory-Literary-Cultural-Studies/dp/0199797773

Yeah but I just kinda need the formulaic stuff so I can just slide in papers giving them what they want to see, kind of just framing what I want to write about in a way that lets me get away with it instead of having to go deep into some offbeat interpretation of -isms.

This post will be better than any textbook and probably save you some time and money.

You want this episode of JRE that goes in-depth on a lot of Critical Theory:

You want this lecture by Evan Sayet that discusses leftist mindset:

And if you're really into the political angle of it, Pat Caddell ties it all up into a nice bow:

You now owe me $10,000. Pretty good deal! If you need a loan I can furnish that for you as well, but you won't like the terms nearly as much.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

This post will be better than any textbook and probably save you some time and money.

You want this episode of JRE that goes in-depth on a lot of Critical Theory:

You want this lecture by Evan Sayet that discusses leftist mindset:

And if you're really into the political angle of it, Pat Caddell ties it all up into a nice bow:

You now owe me $10,000. Pretty good deal! If you need a loan I can furnish that for you as well, but you won't like the terms nearly as much.

Given I'm not white or Chinese/Jap/Korean, I can legitimately play the race card.

 

[Jimmy Durante's Ballsack]

Given I'm not white or Chinese/Jap/Korean, I can legitimately play the race card.

BLAST! MY ONE WEAKNESS WAS CRITICAL THEORY ALL ALONG!!

 

[Alexander Thaut]

BLAST! MY ONE WEAKNESS WAS CRITICAL THEORY ALL ALONG!!

Mixed race, lived in country that said mixed race is from for a great number of my adolescence/adult years, said country is an Asian shithole with an idiot president and just passed a bill that apparently infringes on human rights.

Now I'm not that kind of Olympian, but it'd probably let me get through certain types of people in a typical University environment that would look to fuck with the normal heterosexual white dude.

I mean, I'm getting better at playing my cards in life. I just need to figure out which critical theory writers said what so I can plug in my shit into a framework.

 

[schizoid PD]

This is your answer OP. Critical theory is destructive for the sake of being destructive so degeneracy can take its place and be defended without using critical theory to break down degeneracy.

If you are pro degeneracy it's great. But critical theory ends up being self defeating most of the time with gems like "language and words are social constructs that have no meaning". Books using words in a specific language were/are written to refute the idea that they all have meaning. It's the type of idea you need a PhD to believe.

It makes me wonder. How do we break this down?

Because from my impression, Social Justice, the Progressive Stack, Intersectional Feminism, Wokeness, etc etc... To me, are basically Cultural Marxism under different names. How does Critical Theory slot in there?

 

[Getting tard comed]

It makes me wonder. How do we break this down?

Because from my impression, Social Justice, the Progressive Stack, Intersectional Feminism, Wokeness, etc etc... To me, are basically Cultural Marxism under different names. How does Critical Theory slot in there?

Because most of those concepts are irrational critical theory is used to tear down the concept of rationality and logic. That's all critical theory is and it's in the name. Everything is subjective and a social construct therefore traditional concepts and institutions being implemented/enforced/adhered to is wrong and unjustified.

Reality fucked over left leaning concepts once the Soviet Uniom got exposed for the hellhole it was. So naturally what was necessary was a way to attack reality. That's Critical theory.

Sorry OP I know this isnt helping you.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Because most of those concepts are irrational critical theory is used to tear down the concept of rationality and logic. That's all critical theory is and it's in the name. Everything is subjective and a social construct therefore traditional concepts and institutions being implemented/enforced/adhered to is wrong and unjustified.

Reality fucked over left leaning concepts once the Soviet Uniom got exposed for the hellhole it was. So naturally what was necessary was a way to attack reality. That's Critical theory.

Sorry OP I know this isnt helping you.

So you're basically saying I can use Critical theory as filler.

 

[Fapcop]

Critical theory has its roots in the Frankfurt school of the 30ies/40ies. Basically some old Marxists got together and asked a very good question. Namely:

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG?!?? The revolution STILL isn’t here, and nothing is happening the way that Marxist theory predicted?!”

The answer they came up with was critical theory. Which had since spread like a cancer throughout multiple disciplines.

The best way you can describe it, is that Critical Theory is Marxism outside the realm of economics. (Marxism is fundamentally an economic theory.)

CT takes the Marxist dichotomy of oppressed vs. oppressors and uses that as the fundamental framework. (Which is also why it’s really fucking dumb)

Critical Race theory is a good example of this, but far from the only one.

Hope this helps.

 

[schizoid PD]

Because most of those concepts are irrational critical theory is used to tear down the concept of rationality and logic. That's all critical theory is and it's in the name. Everything is subjective and a social construct therefore traditional concepts and institutions being implemented/enforced/adhered to is wrong and unjustified.

Reality fucked over left leaning concepts once the Soviet Uniom got exposed for the hellhole it was. So naturally what was necessary was a way to attack reality. That's Critical theory.

Sorry OP I know this isnt helping you.

So it basically links into the redefining of words. White Supremacy is called that today by many woke adherents, but actually means "destroy western civilization" but they never say that outright. It's often more like "dismantle the oppressive racist systems created by white people"

 

[Getting tard comed]

So it basically links into the redefining of words. White Supremacy is called that today by many woke adherents, but actually means "destroy western civilization" but they never say that outright. It's often more like "dismantle the oppressive racist systems created by white people"

You got it.

 

[Jimmy Durante's Ballsack]

Mixed race, lived in country that said mixed race is from for a great number of my adolescence/adult years, said country is an Asian shithole with an idiot president and just passed a bill that apparently infringes on human rights.

Now I'm not that kind of Olympian, but it'd probably let me get through certain types of people in a typical University environment that would look to fuck with the normal heterosexual white dude.

I mean, I'm getting better at playing my cards in life. I just need to figure out which critical theory writers said what so I can plug in my shit into a framework.

Make sure you learn which dicks to suck because Critical Theory is a fad and doesn't have staying power like Pogs or Members Only jackets.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Make sure you learn which dicks to suck because Critical Theory is a fad and doesn't have staying power like Pogs or Members Only jackets.

Apparently there's only one on-staff, on-campus Professor in my Masters so that makes it extremely easy.

How is critical theory a fad though? It's been popular for almost 40 years or so?

Most of my stuff is a mix between mythology, classics, the matter of britain/france, and their relation to pop culture. I kinda resorted to shilling Joseph Campbell hardcore for term papers in undergrad and it worked out amazingly.

I'm starting to think that having a focus on the classics/myth/victorian literature/classic american literature is the way to go tbh. I live in the south so a focus on folklore and Uncle Remus isn't out of the question.

 

[Jimmy Durante's Ballsack]

How is critical theory a fad though? It's been popular for almost 40 years or so?

Popular with smelly Marxist losers. They are not going to win this current fight. Ultimately they're posh, coddled pussies that are used to the finer things in life. Higher education simply facilitates those unrealistic expectations.