Modern Times Cafe, Minneapolis, MN 12/12/2013
Built in 1909, the Modern has had an interesting past. Most recently as a restaurant in an ethnic neighborhood. But before there was the Modern Times Cafe there had been:
- Meat Market
- Dry Cleaners
- CFC Restaurant and Cafeteria
- El Plebe Restaurant
- La Isla del Kora
- Mogadishu Restaurant
The sign is in the manner of Art Deco or Style Moderne that was popular after World War I. It was installed by the Modern Dry Cleaners. At some point, the dry cleaner left, the sign was removed and stored in basement. By some miracle, it wasn’t destroyed and eventually the folks of the current Modern Times Cafe returned it to its rightful place.
What’s in a Word
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary the word Modern refers to something that is of the present or near past, contemporary, up-to-date or new. Thus we in the United States live in the modern world.
Yet some crave a post modern world. Postmodern, again defined by M-W, relates to a movement or theory in reaction to modernity. This takes the form of returning to more traditional practices and beliefs. Most importantly, M-W says that post modern is, “… relating to, or being a theory that involves a radical reappraisal of modern assumptions about culture, identity, history, or language <postmodern feminism>. ”
Today, our society is in a wirrwarr (1). There are two political philosophies engaged in a tug-of-war. One is the postmodern Tea Party which wants to return to a time of harsh religious certitude, racial and economic oppression that was the Dickensian dog-eat-dog society of the Victorians. The postmodern Tea Party draws its strength from unchanging 19th century religious dogma and early 20th century economics.
On the other hand, the modernist Liberal-Progressive movement looks to the past and present for ideas and values to build a better future. These modernists are identified by a continued growing social awareness that led in the past to the development of the labor movement, women’s suffrage, civil rights, environmental awareness and more. Today they are involved in protecting these gains from encroachment by the postmoderns.
The Tea Party is ultimately doomed to fail because it represents an inflexible world view that strictly relies on limited moral and social model. They will fail because they are trying to take away hard-won liberties and freedoms gained over a hundred years of struggle. For the post modernists, change is only good when reverting to a previous, idolized age.
On the other hand, the Liberal-Progressive movement embraces the need for society to change into something new and better. They are building on the foundations of the past but are also willing to evaluate and incorporate the latest sound ideas. History is on the side of the Liberal-Progressives. Its arch bends towards growing social justice and expanding personal opportunity.
With the immense crisis facing the modern world, it will take modern thinking to pull our bacon from the fire. We must evaluate the successes and failures of earlier movements and develop a knowledgeable approach to solving our problems.
The modern dilemma is how to stop our headlong rush towards environmental and social destruction while protecting individual liberties, overhauling capitalism so that we keep its positive aspects, such as incentives, yet eliminate the excesses, i.e. the sequestration of wealth and power amongst a few.
Caveat
In the short-term, no outcome is assured. What happens in a week, month or a year depends on which group, post modern or modern, is able to better express their view of the future and engage their cohort most effectively.
(1) Wirrwarr, pronounced virvar, and meaning, “A state of confusion or disorder; (also) a confused mass, a jumble.” Derived from 15th century German, it first appears in English usage about 1876 with a treatise by J. Grote, Moral Ideals, (1876) on page 392, “The wirrwarr of the Newtonian or true view of the material universe.”