COVID-19 has exposed weaknesses across all aspects of society. What can it tell us about the reality of Western civilization?
What if there is something to the notion of "the decline of the West" after all? For all our enlightenment faith in reason and progress, there are structural features of our existence that raise the question of whether it's all just an extended dream. Has the COVID-19 pandemic finally snapped us out of it, and into the waking reality of a much poorer and less illusioned existence?
Andrew Potter is an associate professor (professional) at the Max Bell School of Public Policy. A former journalist, between 2011 and 2016 Andrew Potter was managing editor and then editor in chief of the Ottawa Citizen, and from 2006 to 2011 he was a public affairs columnist for Maclean’s Magazine. He is also a former Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. Potter is the author of The Authenticity Hoax: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves, and the co-author, with Joseph Heath, of the best-selling book The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can’t be Jammed.
Praise for Andrew Potter’s The Authenticity Hoax
“Potter’s broad-ranging survey makes a good case that the authenticist fantasy is deeply embedded in the culture.”—Wall Street Journal
“[Andrew Potter] offers a shrewd and lively discussion peppered with pop culture references and a stimulating reappraisal of the romantic strain in modern life.”—Publishers Weekly
“Potter weaves elements of history, philosophy and pop culture together in a book that will leave an impression even if it doesn’t necessarily show us the path. Is Andrew Potter one of the great thinkers of our age? He may well be: this is great stuff.”—January Magazine