Paul Klee, Angelus Novus (1920) |
"The catastrophe that marks the current historical moment no longer wraps itself in the mantle of progress. On the contrary, the storm brewing in the United States and other parts of the globe represent a kind of anti-progress, a refusal to think about, invest in or address the shared responsibilities that come with some vision of the future and "the good society." Composing meaningful visions of the good society that benefit citizens in general, rather than a select few, are now viewed as "a waste of time, since they are irrelevant to individual happiness and a successful life."(9)Bounded by the narrow, private worlds that make up their everyday lives, the American public has surrendered to the atomizing consequences of a market-driven morality and society and has replaced the call for communal responsibility with the call to further one's own interests at all costs. The social and its most significant embodiment - the welfare state - is now viewed as an albatross around the neck of neoliberal notions of accumulation (as opposed to "progress"). Society has become hyper-individualized, trapped by the lure of material success and stripped of any obligation to the other."