The following is the script for my presentation at St. Louis University on 01/31/2025 at 2pm. My slides with alt text can be found here: Crip-pessimismDownload “The true philosophy of history thus …| BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Do you remember the avocado toast guy? I read Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus recently (you should read it, it’s great), and I learned that someone1 has come up with a name for this sort of modern reinterpretation of “let them eat cake”: cruel optimism. Cruel optimism, the way Hari interprets it2, boils down to the folly of suggesting personal solutions to systemic problems. It’s about advice given from a position of privilege to people who will never be able to apply it to their own liv...| Tegowerk
