The article "How Postmodernism Created the Opioid Crisis," published on Contra by an anonymous author, argues that the opioid epidemic in the United States is not merely a public health failure but a symptom of cultural and ideological decay rooted in postmodernism. It traces a historical arc from the unified intellectual tradition of the Enlightenment to the fragmentation caused by the Industrial Revolution, the rise of postmodernism, and its psychological and societal consequences, culminating in widespread despair and addiction. This account summarises the article's key claims, examines the development of these ideas within intellectual history, and evaluates supporting evidence and critiques, drawing on provided sources and related research.

Summary of the Contra Article

The article posits that postmodernism, by dismantling shared truths, moral frameworks, and cultural cohesion, created a psychological void that fuelled the opioid crisis. Its argument unfolds in ten sections:

1.Fragmentation of Intellectual Unity: The Western intellectual tradition, unified by a pursuit of truth during the Enlightenment, was disrupted by the Industrial Revolution. Applied sciences (STEM intellectuals, or SI) gained dominance due to their economic and military utility, marginalising humanities intellectuals (HI), who lost societal relevance.

2.Intellectual Class Warfare: The rise of SI left HI resentful, prompting them to resist industrial society. Initially, HI adopted Marxism to critique capitalism, but its failures in the 20th century led to a new strategy.

3.Shift to Postmodernism: By the mid-20th century, HI embraced postmodernism, which rejected objective truth and universal narratives. This undermined industrial society's legitimacy by portraying knowledge as a construct of power.

4.Psychological Consequences: Postmodernism's rejection of meaning left individuals adrift, fostering nihilism, depression, and alienation. Without shared values, people turned to escapism, including substance abuse.

5.Empirical Link to Drug Abuse: Societies lacking moral or communal structures show higher addiction rates. The U.S. opioid crisis, with deaths rising tenfold from 1999 to 2022, coincided with the decline of traditional institutions.

6.Public Health Perspective: The opioid crisis reflects cultural decay, not just medical failures. Communities with strong social bonds have lower addiction rates, highlighting the role of meaning in resilience.

7.Reform Proposal: To counter postmodernism, societies should restore objective inquiry, and public institutions should promote faith, family, and community to rebuild meaning.

8.Future Vision: A post-postmodern society must reject relativism and reaffirm truth, duty, and purpose to avoid civilisational collapse.

9.Financing Reconstruction: Religious and artistic institutions, which reduce addiction risk by fostering resilience, should be supported as public health assets.

10. Urgency of Renewal: Postmodern nihilism threatens societal collapse. Without restoring meaning, the West risks joining history's failed civilisations.

The article frames the opioid crisis as a cultural emergency, blaming postmodernism for eroding the structures that once prevented despair and addiction.

Development of the Argument

The article's thesis builds on a historical narrative of intellectual and cultural change, weaving together several strands of thought:

1. Enlightenment and Intellectual Unity

The Enlightenment (17th–18th centuries) unified scholars across disciplines under a shared pursuit of truth, blending reason (e.g., Descartes, Locke) and empiricism (e.g., Newton, Hume). Universities, as centres of knowledge, assumed that sciences and humanities served a common goal: discovering the true, good, and beautiful. This unity persisted despite debates, such as rationalism versus faith, providing a stable epistemological framework.

2. Industrial Revolution and Schism

The Industrial Revolution (1760–1840) shifted societal priorities toward technological and economic progress. Applied sciences gained prestige as drivers of industrial power, with figures like James Watt and Michael Faraday symbolising progress. Governments and industries prioritised STEM, sidelining humanities disciplines like philosophy and literature, which lacked immediate utility. By the late 19th century, this created a divide between SI, aligned with power structures, and HI, struggling for relevance.

3. Marxist Response

HI, alienated by industrial capitalism, turned to Marxism in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Karl Marx's theories offered a critique of economic systems, positioning HI as moral arbiters of class struggle. However, the failures of Marxist regimes—e.g., the Soviet Union's economic collapse and Maoist China's Cultural Revolution—discredited this approach by the mid-20th century, forcing HI to seek new strategies.

4. Emergence of Postmodernism

Postmodernism, emerging in the 1960s–1970s through thinkers like Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Jean-François Lyotard, rejected universal truths and metanarratives. Lyotard's The Postmodern Condition (1979) argued that knowledge is a product of power, not objective reality. This allowed HI to challenge industrial society's legitimacy without proposing alternatives, undermining science, morality, and history as social constructs. By the 1980s, postmodernism dominated humanities academia, reshaping cultural discourse.

5. Psychological and Social Impact

Postmodernism's relativism eroded shared frameworks—religion, tradition, national identity—leaving individuals to construct meaning alone. Studies, such as Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone (2000), document declining social capital in postmodern societies, correlating with increased mental health issues. The National Institute on Drug Abuse notes that U.S. opioid deaths rose from 8,048 in 1999 to 80,411 in 2021, paralleling cultural fragmentation.

6. Opioid Crisis as Symptom

The opioid crisis, driven by prescription painkillers like OxyContin, reflects this despair. Purdue Pharma's aggressive marketing, coupled with regulatory failures, flooded communities with opioids, but the article argues that cultural nihilism made populations vulnerable. Historical parallels, like post-Soviet Russia's alcohol epidemic, suggest that ideological voids exacerbate addiction.

Supporting Evidence

The article's claims are bolstered by empirical and historical data:

Addiction and Social Structure: A 2018 study in The Lancet found that communities with strong religious or civic ties have lower opioid addiction rates. Religious attendance reduces drug abuse risk by 33%, per a 2016 Social Science & Medicine study.

Mental Health Trends: The CDC reports a 60% rise in U.S. adult depression rates from 1990 to 2020, aligning with postmodernism's cultural dominance. Youth suicide rates increased 57% from 2007 to 2017, per the CDC.

Historical Analogies: Post-Soviet Russia's alcohol mortality peaked at 30.5 per 100,000 in 1994, per The Lancet, following ideological collapse. The Qing Dynasty's opium crisis in the 19th century coincided with cultural decline.

Postmodernism's Influence: A 2019 Journal of American Studies analysis notes postmodernism's role in promoting moral relativism in academia, influencing education and media.

Critiques and Counterarguments

1. Oversimplification of Causality

The article attributes the opioid crisis primarily to postmodernism, downplaying other factors like Purdue Pharma's misconduct, economic inequality, or healthcare access. The 2016 American Journal of Public Health study highlights how opioid overprescription, driven by pharmaceutical lobbying, was a primary driver, suggesting a multifactorial crisis. Rebuttal: While economic and medical factors matter, the article argues that cultural despair amplifies vulnerability, a claim supported by higher addiction rates in fragmented communities.

2. Postmodernism's Scope

Critics argue that postmodernism, largely an academic phenomenon, has limited direct impact on broader society. Most Americans are not exposed to Foucault or Derrida. Rebuttal: Postmodern ideas have trickled into education, media, and policy, promoting relativism and scepticism of authority, which the article claims undermines resilience.

3. Idealisation of Pre-Postmodern Era

The article romanticises the Enlightenment and pre-industrial society, ignoring their flaws, such as exclusionary moral frameworks or limited scientific rigour. Rebuttal: The article acknowledges imperfections but argues that shared narratives provided stability, unlike postmodern nihilism.

4. Feasibility of Reform

Proposing to restore meaning through institutions like churches or universities assumes these can regain influence in a secular, digital age. Rebuttal: The article cites data showing religious and artistic engagement reduces addiction, suggesting these institutions remain viable if supported.

Development in Intellectual Context

The article engages with ongoing debates in cultural criticism:

Anti-Postmodern Critiques: Thinkers like Jordan Peterson and Roger Scruton have argued that postmodernism erodes Western values, aligning with the article's thesis. Peterson's 12 Rules for Life (2018) advocates for meaning through responsibility, echoing the article's reform call.

Social Capital Decline: Robert Putnam's work on declining civic engagement supports the article's claim that fragmented societies are prone to despair.

Public Health and Culture: The 2020 American Psychologist journal links cultural factors to mental health, reinforcing the article's framing of addiction as ideological.

The argument also reflects a conservative backlash against progressive ideologies, seen in movements like Nigel Farage's Reform UK, which reject "woke" relativism. However, it avoids partisan rhetoric, focusing on cultural renewal.

Implications and Future Directions

The article's call for cultural reform—reinstating truth, community, and purpose—faces practical hurdles in a pluralistic society. Yet, its emphasis on meaning as a public health asset is novel. Policymakers could explore:

Funding Community Institutions: Grants for religious or artistic programs, as the article suggests, could reduce addiction risk, per The Lancet data.

Educational Reform: Curricula emphasising critical inquiry over deconstruction could rebuild trust in truth, though this risks ideological battles.

Public Health Campaigns: Framing resilience as a cultural goal, not just medical, could shift addiction prevention strategies.

The Contra article offers a provocative thesis: postmodernism, by eroding shared meaning, created the cultural conditions for the opioid crisis. It traces this from the Enlightenment's unity to the Industrial Revolution's schism, Marxism's failure, and postmodernism's nihilism, supported by data linking cultural decay to addiction. While it risks oversimplifying causality and idealising the past, its focus on meaning as a public health issue is compelling. The argument builds on critiques of postmodernism and social capital decline, urging a cultural renewal to combat despair. Whether society can rebuild purpose remains uncertain, but the article's warning—that nihilism breeds collapse—demands attention.

https://www.readcontra.com/p/how-postmodernism-created-the-opioid

"The Western intellectual tradition maintained a coherent structure for centuries. It unified scholars across disciplines within a shared framework of truth-seeking. The Enlightenment reinforced this unity by embedding within universities the assumption that both the sciences and the humanities pursued a common goal: the discovery of the true, the good, and the beautiful.

Whether one studied philosophy, history, mathematics, or engineering, the underlying assumption was that truth existed and could be known through reason and empirical inquiry. This harmony was imperfect—debates between rationalism and faith, empiricism and idealism persisted—but intellectual work, regardless of discipline, was seen as a means of furthering human understanding.

The Industrial Revolution disrupted this balance. It moved societal emphasis toward technological advancement and material progress. As economic power became increasingly tied to industrial capability, applied sciences—physics, chemistry, engineering—gained unprecedented social and political influence.

These disciplines were no longer valued solely for their intellectual merit but for their ability to drive economic and military dominance. Consequently, the humanities—history, philosophy, literature—saw their role diminish in perceived societal importance. This transformation fragmented the academic world. Technical disciplines ascended to positions of power while the humanities struggled to retain their historical significance.

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this division had produced two intellectual factions: STEM intellectuals (SI) and humanities intellectuals (HI).

STEM intellectuals, grounded in empirical observation and measurable outcomes, became increasingly aligned with industrial and governmental interests. Meanwhile, many in the humanities found themselves alienated from the mechanisms of societal relevance. While some attempted to maintain their role in shaping public morality and cultural discourse, others responded by seeking alternative avenues for intellectual influence.

This schism in the intellectual class set the stage for deeper epistemological crises. As the humanities lost their traditional role in guiding objective moral and historical narratives, many scholars began to abandon the premise that objective truth even existed.

The transition from a universalist intellectual order to a fractured one was not merely an academic shift but an epistemic rupture. Where scholars once debated what was true, many now questioned whether truth itself could be known. It was in this climate of uncertainty that postmodernism emerged, a philosophical movement that would go beyond critiquing power structures to dismantling the very foundations of knowledge itself.

II. The Rise of Intellectual Class Warfare

If you can't outbuild the engineers, just convince people that bridges are racist.

The Industrial Revolution reshaped the hierarchy of intellectual authority. As scientific and technological advancements became central to economic power, SI gained prestige, funding, and institutional influence. Governments and industries prioritized technical knowledge, viewing applied sciences as the foundation of progress.

Meanwhile, HI, once regarded as the stewards of culture and morality, found their relevance diminishing. Lacking direct utility in an industrial economy, they faced an existential crisis: if knowledge was valued by its material contributions, then where did that leave philosophy, literature, or history?

They became resentful. While some in the humanities sought to adapt by aligning with governance and ethics, others turned to ideological resistance. Rather than competing within the framework of industrial society, they sought to dismantle it.

Marxism became their first major weapon, offering an intellectual justification for overturning capitalism and positioning scholars as interpreters of social struggle. Through academia, HI, as a group, promoted class conflict narratives, portraying industrialization as a system of oppression. However, the catastrophic failures of Marxist revolutions in the 20th century damaged the ideology.

By the mid-20th century, Marxism had lost credibility. The Soviet Union, Maoist China, and other communist states had proven that class revolution did not lead to liberation but to economic ruin and authoritarian rule. The failure of these experiments disillusioned many intellectuals who had championed Marxism as the key to dismantling industrial capitalism. Yet, rather than abandoning their ideological struggle, intellectuals in the humanities sought a new strategy—one that would not confront industrial society directly but erode its foundations from within.

With Marxism exposed as unworkable, HI needed a new strategy. Rather than attacking industrial society outright, they would undermine its foundations. Their solution was postmodernism, a doctrine that did not confront power directly but dissolved the very idea of truth itself.

III. From Marxism to Postmodernism: The Shift in Strategy

The problem with class struggle is that eventually, someone wins.

Postmodernism is a doctrine that rejected universal truths and objective reality. Unlike Marxism, which offered a structured theory of history and revolution, postmodernism dissolved the very concept of a coherent metanarrative. It did not propose an alternative system but instead attacked the legitimacy of systems themselves. Rather than inciting class struggle, it introduced radical skepticism: science was merely a social construct, morality was subjective, and historical narratives were tools of oppression.

This shift was profound. By undermining truth itself, postmodernism disabled industrial society's ability to justify itself. If knowledge was nothing more than a product of power, then expertise, merit, and objective inquiry were illusions. The intellectuals riding these currents no longer needed to replace the industrial world with a new system; they only had to convince people that no system was valid at all. The consequences of this ideological shift would prove catastrophic.

IV. The Psychological Consequences of Postmodernism

Nothing is real. Nothing matters. Also, here's your student loan bill.

Postmodernism did not merely reshape intellectual discourse—it altered the psychological landscape of society. By rejecting universal truths, moral absolutes, and shared meaning, it left individuals without a stable foundation for understanding themselves or the world. Where once societies provided coherent moral frameworks—rooted in religion, tradition, or philosophical ideals—postmodernism deconstructed all narratives, offering nothing in their place. The result was a crisis of meaning.

Without objective moral standards, individuals were left to construct their own ethical systems, a task few are equipped to handle alone. The loss of shared values led to nihilism, where life itself seemed arbitrary and purposeless. As existential despair spread, so too did its psychological consequences: rising rates of depression, anxiety, and social alienation. Corroborating studies show that societies experiencing cultural fragmentation and moral relativism exhibit higher rates of mental illness and substance abuse.

Postmodernism did not create suffering, but it removed the structures that once helped people endure and avoid it. Religion, national identity, and community provided resilience in times of hardship, but postmodern thought dismissed these as constructs of oppression. In their absence, people sought escape—through consumerism, digital distraction, and, increasingly, chemical oblivion. The stage was set for the opioid crisis. A society convinced that nothing is true and that nothing matters becomes a society primed for self-destruction.

V. The Empirical Link Between Postmodernism and Drug Abuse

Postmodernism told people nothing mattered. Heroin gave them something to do.

The opioid crisis is often framed as a public health failure, but its roots lie in cultural and ideological decay. Societies that have abandoned shared moral frameworks, embraced radical individualism, and rejected objective truth have experienced higher rates of addiction, depression, and self-destructive behavior. Postmodernism, by dissolving the structures that once provided meaning—faith, family, tradition—created the psychological conditions necessary for widespread substance abuse.

Empirical data supports this connection. Studies show that countries and communities with strong religious or communal structures have significantly lower rates of drug addiction. Conversely, regions where secularism and relativism dominate tend to experience higher levels of existential distress and substance dependency. The decline of metanarratives has coincided with rising opioid deaths: between 1999 and 2022, opioid-related fatalities in the United States surged tenfold, paralleling the weakening of traditional moral institutions.

Historical parallels further support this connection. Post-Soviet Russia, after the collapse of communism, experienced an alcohol epidemic as millions of people lost their ideological framework overnight. The late Qing Dynasty, facing cultural dissolution, was consumed by opium addiction. The modern opioid epidemic is no different.

People seek escape from themselves when they feel as though their lives are meaningless. Whether through heroin, fentanyl, or synthetic opioids, a society untethered from truth becomes a society prone to self-destruction. The evidence suggests that postmodernism did not merely accompany the opioid crisis—it created the void into which addiction rushed.

VI. The Opioid Crisis as a Public Health Issue

Turns out, 'everything is meaningless' is not a great public health policy.

The opioid epidemic is commonly treated as a failure of pharmaceutical regulation, economic hardship, or inadequate healthcare. While these factors play a role, they do not explain why certain societies succumb to addiction more than others. The crisis is beyond medical. It is ideological. Widespread drug dependency emerges where cultural decay, existential despair, and the erosion of shared meaning leave individuals vulnerable to self-destruction.

Public health data reinforces this argument. The sharp rise in opioid overdoses from 1999 to 2022 coincides with a broader decline in traditional social structures. Communities with lower levels of religious belief, family cohesion, and civic participation have suffered the highest addiction rates. Their rapid ascent shows the opioid crisis is not simply about the availability of drugs; it is about the absence of resilience. A society that lacks purpose is a society primed for self-destruction.

Addressing the opioid crisis requires more than treatment programs and law enforcement. It requires restoring meaning—rebuilding faith, community, and purpose. Without these, no public health intervention will ever be enough. But first, the problem must be attacked at its source.

VII. The Case for Reform: Rebuilding Meaning in a Postmodern Society

Strong communities and families are more effective than government pamphlets.

If postmodernism has contributed to the opioid crisis by eroding truth, morality, and social cohesion, then reversing its influence is not simply a matter of intellectual debate—it is a matter of survival. The restoration of meaning in society requires deliberate cultural and institutional reform. Public policy, education, and social institutions must shift away from the relativism that has dominated academic and cultural discourse and instead promote frameworks that encourage purpose, responsibility, and resilience.

One approach is curricular reform in universities. Higher education must return to a foundation of objective inquiry rather than ideological subversion. Instead of dismissing metanarratives as tools of oppression, academic institutions should engage with them as essential structures for meaning. The humanities should not be abolished but reoriented—toward teaching history, philosophy, and literature in ways that inspire rather than deconstruct belief in truth and moral order.

Beyond academia, public institutions and communities must reclaim their role in shaping meaning. Churches, civic organizations, and families must counteract the atomization postmodernism has encouraged by fostering deep, enduring social bonds. Governments should recognize that addiction prevention is not only about restricting supply but about addressing spiritual and existential poverty.

The opioid crisis is a symptom of a broader crisis of meaning. The antidote is not merely medical treatment—it is cultural renewal. Without a deliberate reconstruction of shared purpose, the cycle of despair and addiction will continue.

VIII. The Future: A Society Beyond Postmodernism

Life finds a way. With or without you.

Again, the opioid crisis is not an isolated public health emergency; it is a symptom of a civilization in decline. Societies that lack shared truth, moral purpose, and communal identity inevitably breed despair. Postmodernism, by dismantling the very structures that once provided meaning, has left individuals adrift in nihilism, searching for escape in substances like opioids. The challenge ahead is not merely to treat addiction—it is to rebuild a culture that crafts resilient people.

A post-postmodern society must reject the relativism and deconstruction that have dominated intellectual life for decades. Instead, it must restore a sense of higher purpose, reinforcing the values that sustain civilizations: faith, duty, family, and truth. This shift requires more than policy changes—it demands a cultural renewal. Education, media, and governance must once again emphasize human purpose rather than cynicism, collective identity rather than hyper-individualism.

There is precedent for such renewal. In times of existential crisis, societies that have rediscovered their moral and philosophical foundations have endured, while those that failed to do so have collapsed. The opioid epidemic is a stark warning. If Western civilization does not reclaim its lost narratives, the crisis of despair will only deepen. The alternative to postmodern nihilism is not a return to blind dogma but a reaffirmation of truth, meaning, and human dignity.

IX. Financing the Reconstruction: Rebuilding Meaning as Public Health

Churches and symphonies do more for mental health than SSRIs.

If the opioid crisis is a symptom of cultural collapse, then its solution must go beyond medicine. Treating addiction without addressing the underlying despair is akin to prescribing painkillers for a broken limb without setting the bone. Religious and artistic institutions, long dismissed as relics of the past, must be reframed as essential to public health. These institutions do not merely offer aesthetic or spiritual enrichment—they provide psychological resilience, social cohesion, and existential meaning, all of which are critical for addiction prevention and mental well-being.

Public health data supports this argument. Studies show that individuals who participate in religious or artistic communities have lower rates of depression, suicide, and substance abuse. Regular religious attendance is associated with a 33 percent reduction in drug abuse risk, while engagement in the arts has been linked to improved mental health and social connectedness. These findings make a strong case that religious and cultural organizations should not be seen as private lifestyle choices but as public health assets deserving of institutional and financial support.

Lobbying efforts should emphasize this link. If governments allocate billions to mental health and addiction treatment, why not invest in preventative measures that strengthen communal and existential well-being? Religious and artistic institutions should advocate for grants, tax incentives, and policy support by positioning themselves as pillars of resilience against the epidemic of despair.

X. The Other Side of Nothing

We laughed at the past, we deconstructed the present, and now we have no future.

Postmodernism has gutted the soul of the West, leaving behind only addicts, cynics, and wanderers in search of oblivion. Societies do not die in flames—they rot from within, collapsing under the weight of their own emptiness. When a civilization forgets what it stands for, it does not need an enemy to destroy it. It destroys itself.

If society is to recover from postmodern nihilism, it must fund the institutions that can restore meaning. This means financing religious institutions, art galleries, and communal work projects. Because the antidote to nihilism is not another policy or program—it is the reconstruction of civilization itself. A people who abandon truth will not simply drift into irrelevance; they will collapse into ruin, forgotten even by history. If meaning is not restored, if faith and duty are not rekindled, then the abyss will consume all that remains.

We are now faced with the final choice: rebuild or perish. Either the West restores its moral and philosophical foundations, or it joins the long, unbroken graveyard of civilizations that once thought themselves eternal.

Truth must be defended as if civilization itself depends on it—because it does. Meaning must be reclaimed as if human survival depends on it—because it does.

A people who refuse to believe in anything will find that they are nothing. And the time for delay is over. Our somnolence approaches an eternal coma, and the choice is simple: wake up now or not at all."