Postmodern Millennialism and its Globalization
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Postmodern millennial beliefs, prophecies, pandemics, disasters, apocalypse, pseudo-science weigh on our civilization at a global level which I assume an impact taking into consideration:
a) Transnationalization and globalization
b) Cultural industries
c) Cyberspace) Uses and appropriations
The characteristics of postmodern millennialism, which I understand as a millennial belief, but which develops under the characteristics of postmodernity. I propose that there is something that we could define as postmodern millennialism, which I understand as a belief that represents the feeling of the time based on some fundamental features of postmodernity:
• Uncertainty as an ontological feature of postmodernity and the fragmentation of great stories. The opposition to modernity is what Augé also conceived as “super-modernity”: the social situation in which the world finds itself marked by excess events, speed, and individualism. And that is also characterized by “non-places” (places of anonymity, circulation, such as airports or supermarkets), “no time” (presenteeism thanks to the means of communication and transportation), and the “not real” ( virtuality, internet).
In addition to the fall of the great stories, the subject generates a kind of ontological uncertainty where millennialism finds fertile ground for development. The great truth is fragmented into individual truths that can be made up of various beliefs. Postmodern millennialism is a global narrative that meshes cognitive bridges with spiritual isotopies that encompass the idea of the universal. It is an eclectically shaped belief of juxtaposed bits and pieces of narratives that give it a hybrid and eclectic and even ecumenical character. However, despite these mixing and reconfiguring operations, the resulting discourse still makes sense to the subjects.
• Transnationalization and globalization of content through cultural industries. As indicated, postmodernity is characterized by the globalization and trans-nationalization of the economy, which leads cultural industries to generate dynamics of relationships through different nations and contexts, developing the media and favoring the rapprochement of different cultures.
