Believing in the liberal utopia promised by post-war politicians is a form of cruel optimism; treating it as a guaranteed destination brings only disappointment and despair.
However, that the situation appears hopeless should not prevent us from doing our best. Pessimism is not the opposite of action or solidarity.
Instead, the pessimist wields utopia as a strategy for change and imagination, not as an end in itself. We use the image of a better world not because we expect to arrive there, but as a tool to expose the inadequacy of the present and to keep our capacity for difference alive.
In this pursuit, we find a hope without hope. We require no paragons of virtue, no heroes of the revolution, and no demonstration of utility or worthiness. And even if there is no “we” that might act in solidarity with, we can still act—contingently, tenderly, locally, and temporarily—without needing to become legible or useful. Even the most isolated and lonely dreamer still dreams.
We act simply because the imagination of a different world compels us to care for this one.t
#stuffiwonderabout #tingjegspørgermigselvom
