Hypermodernity – the political is personal

An overarching approach threading together previous essay topics to form an explanation of the impasse currently faced in most democracies through the analysis of the historical, political, cultural, ecological, and psychological aspects of the deterioration of the modern concept of progress, the current religions of progress, the loss of future, the surfacing of multi-perspectivism in societal discourse, and the socio-cultural effects of digitalization.

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The religion of progress

Part two in a series of (hopefully) four essays discussing different aspects of the dissolution of linear time and progress. This one tries to connect the historical dots and trace how the concept of progress (and, with it, revolution) was infused with an eschatological mindset and monotheistic morality, and how this informs the current political atmosphere and the nature of our disputes. Basically, modern politics as religion.

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The Tragedy of Culture and the Liberalization of the Self

Using ideas from Georg Simmel’s 1911 essay on “The Tragedy of Culture” and the continued influence of neo-liberal thinking to elaborate a paradox at the heart of today’s disjointed and hyper-personal cultural discourse: The mechanism we use to identify ourselves and others in society also presents the biggest obstacle to having a healthy and effective societal discourse.

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