Emotional

Seoul International Marathon came and went. On the night before, Sofi and I decided to run only the first ten kilometres – which, conveniently, would deliver us straight to the doorstep of a local Starbucks :-) Given the chronic lack of sleep, this proved to be a wise decision: we got a taste of the Korean marathon experience without any of the subsequent physical pain.

And now, little more than ten days later, I find myself back in the United States for two conferences together with Anna and Eddie. The first, the annual meeting of the Western Political Science Association, has long been a favourite of mine, taking me over the years from Portland to Las Vegas. This year it convenes at the Loews Hotel in Hollywood, allowing for a short escape to the Getty Center.

Yesterday morning I chaired a panel on “markets and morals”, and later presented my “Modernity as a Runway” paper (still under review, despite having been submitted almost a year ago). Both sessions went well, yet today I had a less triumphant moment, once again finding myself in that familiar, slightly lonely defence of progressive politics.

As before, I tend to become more emotional than is strategically helpful. After all, it is unrealistic to think that one can persuade others about a fundamentally different understanding of politics, history, and the future of human civilization in the space of two minutes. And yet, simply staying quiet – accepting the prevailing academic nihilism – also seems wrong. My worry, however, is that in pushing back I end up making my own position a disservice.