Is security seen? Is security seen in images of peace and safety, or is it perceived in the troubled images of the horrors of violence and suffering? Vision has played a crucial role in shaping the modern Western preoccupation with, and prioritisation of security. Historically, security has been visually represented in a variety of ways, typically involving the depiction of its absence. In Medieval and Early Modern Europe especially, security and insecurity were presented as coterminous insofar as each represented separate conditions – their shared boundary envisioned in representations of the temporal threshold separating human mortality from divine salvation. This ocular demonstration of thresholds has been heightened by the ‘war on terror’ conducted by neo-liberal states since 2003. Neoliberalism operates as a discourse of constant global circulations (of money, goods and people) premised on a perpetual anticipation and pre-emption of insecurity. In the neoliberal scheme, security and insecurity are no longer coterminous, but mutually sustaining in perpetuity. In that sense, neoliberal security is ‘sight unseen’ - an uncanny presence that is not there. In the reiterated troubled images of horror amplified by the seemingly endless 'war on terror', neoliberal security operates as a terrifying visual reflex: we cannot see it but in new horrors.

中文翻译：

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看不见的视线：我们对不安全的新自由主义视野

看到安全了吗？是在和平与安全的形象中看到安全，还是在暴力和苦难的恐怖景象中看到安全？视觉在塑造现代西方人对安全的重视以及对安全的优先排序方面发挥了至关重要的作用。从历史上看，安全性已经以多种方式在视觉上表示出来，通常涉及对安全性缺失的描述。特别是在中世纪和近代欧洲，安全性和不安全性被认为是同时存在的，因为它们各自代表着各自独立的条件-在将人类死亡率与神圣救赎分开的时间阈值的表示中，设想了它们的共同边界。自2003年以来，新自由主义国家进行的“反恐战争”进一步增强了这种阈值的直观展示。新自由主义作为一种持续不断的全球流通（货币，商品和人员）的话语，其前提是对安全的永恒期待和先发制人。在新自由主义计划中，安全与不安全不再是相伴的，而是永存的。从这个意义上讲，新自由主义的安全是“看不见的”-一种不存在的不可思议的存在。在由似乎无休止的“反恐战争”所放大的恐怖中反复出现的令人恐惧的恐怖画面中，新自由主义安全起着恐怖的视觉反射作用：我们只能在新的恐怖中看到它。新自由主义的安全是“看不见的”-一种不存在的不可思议的存在。在被无休止的“反恐战争”所放大的恐怖中反复出现的令人恐惧的恐怖形象中，新自由主义安全起着恐怖的视觉反射的作用：我们只能在新的恐怖中看到它。新自由主义的安全是“看不见的”-一种不存在的不可思议的存在。在由似乎无休止的“反恐战争”所放大的恐怖中反复出现的令人恐惧的恐怖画面中，新自由主义安全起着恐怖的视觉反射作用：我们只能在新的恐怖中看到它。