Although there were clearly many other factors at work, World War II served as a flashpoint for the change in thinking from modernism to postmodernism. Although modernism was pessimistic about the world, it didn't go to the lengths of apathy that postmodernism does. The war was a horrible, tragic event that caused many people to rexamine their beliefs. How could people do such awlful things to one another? What kind of world do we live in? Postmodernism took this doubts and fears and turned them on their heads into a theory where nothing really matters so we might as well go out and mess around with convention. If life and death aren't sacred anymore, what else can be?