The pandemic has made public a form of necessary punitive-justice-through-scission that has previously been pervasively experienced only in the private dimension of liberal society around liberals' careerism and moral sanctimony1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
After Djokovic was released from detention and his visa cancellation quashed, the entire conversation has become about the immigration minister's 'god-like powers'. It's never been more clear what the COVID world is becoming.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Although Djokovic may have lost the 2021 US Open, what happened that day will leave a lasting memory in anyone who experienced it. Much like Bernie's loss in 2020.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Or are the homeless of San Francisco a better reflection of the decency of the global liberal American? Towards a recovery of America's unique, becoming-forgotten solidarity. For the nation yet to come.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Politics masquerading as film. The spectacle and affective allure of cinema redefines the traditional (liberal) political operation of art: from coincidental serendipity to hysterical mass-mobilization. It highlights concerns with the current state of climate politics based on the COVID19 model.xxxx
An article in the NY Times argues for the legitimacy of forced compliance with vaccine mandates and, in so doing, seems to express a fundamental change in Western Liberalism's religious orientation.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On the one hand, the development of the Omicron narrative indicates concealment that points to important considerations for fighting the virus. On the other hand, its speed of change points to the need for a new (or old) praxis for action.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What began as a typical excuse to moralize about China's repressive response to the virus, has turned into the performative meaning of being for overly regulated and hopeless liberal societies that had lost their traditional political and moral authority.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Uprooted from the dense European social context from which it originates, post-structuralist philosophy becomes, in its transmission to North America, a stunted, impoverished ideology, made worse through its alloy to liberal culture.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
COVID-19 has accentuated the split among progressives that began with #ForceTheVote and highlights more fundamental disagreements whose consequences open-up a vast expanse of political ambiguity that requires actual thought rather than the continued application of ideology to respond to.xxxxxxxxxxxx
As COVID-19 endlessly drags on, an uncanny analogy has begun to take shape. And rather than being an extreme ideology restricted to neocons and neoliberals, it now counts a large segment of the progressive left as its most faithful adherents.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
There is indisputably a new pathogen circulating the globe. But the real and lasting damage doesn't come from the virus itself, but the people responding to it.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A recent headline in the New York Times initially warning shoppers about the risks from unvaccinated workers was subsequently changed and articles extolling shopping on Black Friday were added to the front page.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It's almost vanished beyond the horizon of acceptable thought now that vast percentages of the Western world have been double or tripple vaxxed. But rejecting gratuitous displays of forced compliance isn't dead just yet.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Moral hypocrisy is fundamental to the sociology of human-being. But nowhere and in no time has it been more pronounced than in the liberal West during COVID-19.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
'Tis but a world to love, madame.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg's most recent film asks us to take seriously the pervasive consumption of alcohol and to see within it the potential for transcendent societal liberation and new forms of communal engagement.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Vegetarianism, like so many liberal virtues, has, today, less to do with the benefits to human-kind and the planet than it does about the mind and culture of vegetarians themselves.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
For a progressive left politics that has any genuine interest in the principles necessary for creating an alternative future, it is important to reflect on the perversity of incentives in our culture and society that are only amplified through Twitter.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Movements, like human relationships, are nearly unfathomable. And while they persist, we need to consider the morality of decisions that may undermine them and alter their relationship with themselves and the world they seek to reshape.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx