I might add that modernists have had naïve trust in liberal tolerance, which has enabled racists and religious fundamentalists to act as parasites in so-called modern societies. The hope was that our cultures would progress like science and technology. Instead, with the Trump cult (and with the fascist movements of the last century, for example), we see a resurgence of premodern, regressive tendencies.

So what does it take for cultures to progress, or is the notion of cultural progress oxymoronic?