SHOW NOTES:
The idea for these strips came from a book called "Conspiracy Theory in America," by a professor out of some Florida university. Specifically, out of the "Ruben D. Askew school of public policy" department, or something like that. That "Askew" seems like a bit of a joke, because I think I've seen other "pro conspiracy theory" books/ writers come out of that place.
In any event, it's not a hugely useful book, very "low level" analysis, sort of mildy self-critical of history and sociology departments, and of government and media. It's ostensibly in favor of "conspiracy theory," or at least asking questions and looking critically at official narratives. But one chapter gave an interesting overview of the various camps represented by these three guys --- Leo Strauss, Karl Popper, and Charles Beard --- and their influence on "the academy." So these strips try to summarize or boil down the camps to some extent. Probably not 100% accurately, it's hard to condense that much. I do recommend the book, at least that one chapter, to anyone interested in how the university system has changed its presentation of "history" over the past 100+ years.
As far as the title of this post, "neocon postmodernist," that's based on past reading about Strauss. If you look into postmodernism, his name comes up, as he (somehow --- it's very convoluted!) represented the "right-wing" branch of "postmodernism." As I recall, according to Giacomo Preparata, Strauss was highly influenced by early postmodernist Georges Bataille, and copied his ideas but with a right-leaning slant. Meanwhile, better-known academic Michelle Foucault popularized Bataille's ideas for the "leftists."
If anyone's interested. I know one can also make a case that "postmodernism" is a virtually meaningless word...
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