Can We Break Out of Our Hyperpolitical Moment?
In Western democracies today, intense political polarization is the norm, and mass protests are not uncommon. Yet ordinary people remain far from the levers of power.
The past decade saw the Left fail to make major policy gains despite massive protest waves. Anton Jäger’s Hyperpolitics explains why. (Kevin Mazur / Getty Images)
In a particularly memorable scene from Eddington (2025), set during the George Floyd protests of 2020, high school student Brian (Cameron Mann) is attempting to explain his newfound racial consciousness to his parents at the dinner table. Brian — who, like his parents, is white — tells them about the need for “changing institutions, dismantling whiteness, and not allowing whiteness to reassert itself.”
“But we’re pretty much light-years away from that,” he concludes.
“What the f — k are you talking about?” Brian’s father replies after a long pause. “You’re white.”
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