As first pointed out by Theodor W. Adorno (1951), Alice Lagaay shows in her numerous works that and how human apathy, paralysis or inactivity shape up in relation to the very qualities of the hardships of a certain historical time and society. 

In the Western world, we today face a war on the European peninsula and climate crisis worldwide. In terms of paralysis, not only increasing disenchantment with politics can be spotted, but also some notorious blind eye to social and ecological responsibility, as well as e.g. a school system that produces rows of functional illiterates (in Germany every 7th adult). In some nation states (e.g. United States), the shift to virtual education has been criticized for having produced a learning loss in reading and math, with greater losses reported in rural and poor communities (source). The philosopher Byul-Chul Han (2010) traces what he calls a “burnout society” (Müdigkeitsgesellschaft) back to growing competition and consumption.