On why the COVID-19 pandemic has not changed the world

Abstract

Abstract This paper reacts to the proposal of Virgilio Rivas with respect to the role of art as a response to the threat of meaning that was brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be argued that the purported new normal in which changes in the ways of life of people had been expected never actually occurred post-pandemic as power and economic interests still dominate the global order. The pandemic, in this regard, was simply a short pause from the hegemonic relationship among nations in the global order. The paper maintains that, in the end, people must continue to pursue human decency.