The stakes are not only personal but also political — just take a look around you.
 | By Max Strasser Sunday Opinion Editor |
Astra Taylor sees the world differently. Her books, films and articles — not to mention her activism — don't rest on the assumptions that most of our politics take for granted. That's what makes her work so interesting, so thoughtful, so mind-expanding. If you want to see what I mean, read her latest guest essay. |
Astra was part of the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011, which helped propel the issue of inequality into the national conversation. Now she thinks we should be talking about something else, too: insecurity. |
In her Sunday Opinion cover story this week, she argues that it's insecurity that shapes political, social and economic life in America today. "Where inequality encourages us to look up and down, to note extremes of indigence and opulence, insecurity encourages us to look sideways and recognize potentially powerful commonalities," she writes. "If inequality can be captured in statistics, insecurity requires talking about feelings." |
What does insecurity look like? Once you start to see it, you'll realize it's everywhere: It's the anxiety that makes you want to buy a flashier car to impress your neighbors; it's the constant fear you feel about losing your job; it's the fact that much of the middle class is one medical emergency away from indigence. Our society is structured around insecurity. Or, as Astra writes, "Capitalism thrives on bad feelings." |
But maybe if we can recognize that insecurity is a condition we all share, it can help us join together and fight back. The conversation about inequality pitted the 1 percent against the 99 percent and called for leveling the playing field. On the other hand, a focus on insecurity, according to Astra, acknowledges that even "Silicon Valley's parade of billionaires" are driven to "jockeying for fame and dominance" by this system. The solution, if we're looking for a metaphor, isn't a level playing field on which to compete; it's a net that can catch us when we fall, one that we all can knit together. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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