vonnegut, it's a meaningless group that takes on a significant meaning. the social psychology term is social identity. once you get into a group of a social identity, that's a very powerful way of determining your thinking. because this is what i believe. and if i want to be a really good traits also want to be more of that. i don't want to be kicked out of the group so i will comply even more. he becomes a very powerful tool for knowing what to say and putting pressure, what to say and think and putting pressure on you to continue in that line. >> next question is on your left. >> my name is ryan and my question is, is it more the problems in media, , is a more f a symptom of postmodernist culture or is it media that is projecting a postmodern culture on to the rest of us? >> that's a great question. certainly like if you're thinking of society as a spectacle, any of those versions of postmodernism as a theory, then yeah, like postmodern critiques the popular culture emerged with the proliferation, saturation of media. but i think what we have today is d

vonnegut, joseph heller also engaged in that absurd genre of literature. essay the myth of sisyphus inaugurated that postwar wave of absurdist literature. i argue it has to do with the absurdity, the threat of nuclear war. the story of sisyphus. he had to lift this rock up a hill only to be told by the dogs and fell back down so he would be forever condemned to do the same task over and over without accomplishing it. for many of these intellectuals of the mid 20th century, the age of nuclear weapons presented such an absurd loop. terms, thel superpowers had to advocate for peace because the use of atomic weapons would destroy their enemy and their own population as well. toy had to constantly signal the adversary they were willing to wage war, even nuclear war. they could not give up nuclear weapons. they could not use them either. foundation of deterrent is fundamentally absurd. it was a catch 22. doomed if you do, or if you don't. term catch 22 exist yet. it came in the 1960's from joseph heller's novel. people immediately recognized this was something t