Ironically distanced postmodern attitude is sold as protection from fanaticism and terror

Evidence

In claiming, as Badiou puts it, to have ‘delivered us from the “fatal abstractions” inspired by the “ideologies of the past”’, capitalist realism presents itself as a shield protecting us from the perils posed by belief itself. The attitude of ironic distance proper to postmodern capitalism is supposed to immunize us against the seductions of fanaticism. Lowering our expectations, we are told, is a small price to pay for being protected from terror and totalitarianism. — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 16

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Capitalism functions without anyone believing in it, unlike fascism — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 29; Postmodernism abandons ideology critique for cynical reason — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 21; Terrorism is framed as irrational fanaticism rather than political response (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Postmodernism abandons ideology critique for cynical reason #expands (0.85) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 21
• Postmodern theory’s claims of abandoned meaning serve an ideological role masking its own dominance #expands (0.85)
• Postmodern ironic distance from visionary engagement can secretly reproduce political quietism. #expands (0.82) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 609
• Terrorism is framed as irrational fanaticism rather than political response #corroborates (0.80)
• Islamophobic ideology self-perpetuates as natural and normative #corroborates (0.78) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 836