

Doomscroll 02: Catherine Liu
10 snips Oct 23, 2024
In this chat, Catherine Liu, a professor at UC Irvine and author of 'Virtue Hoarders,' dives into the origins of trauma studies and the depoliticization of trauma in today’s narrative culture. She critiques the professional managerial class and its disconnect from the working class, examining how moral superiority shapes politics. Liu addresses the evolution of leftist thought, the impacts of neoliberalism, and the cultural implications of job precarity in the medical field. A fascinating exploration of class, authenticity, and the shifting landscape of American ideology!
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Trauma Studies Depoliticize Suffering
- Trauma studies emerged from academia and popular culture in the 1980s, especially tied to Holocaust memory and child sexual abuse exposés.
- Trauma as a depoliticizing lens individualizes suffering, making it a middle-class experience and obscuring collective working-class exploitation.
Individualizing Holocaust Narratives
- Holocaust and trauma narratives became individualized, focusing on personal suffering rather than historical context.
- Popular fake Holocaust memoirs exploited this dynamic, gaining audiences through alleged personal trauma stories.
Social Media Commodifies Trauma
- Public trauma sharing on social media serves as a tool for authenticity and branding, especially among elites.
- This commodifies suffering and replaces real therapeutic recovery with performative acts online.