ELCS0091: Crisis 2020/21 UG Class Blog – Page 6 – Just another Reflect

Fiction and Reality – Jai

"Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures." 
                                         – Jessamyn West

When thinking about the word fiction, the first thing that comes into one’s mind might be words on the lines of fantasy, fabrication, and creative writing. Nevertheless, such association between fiction and fantasy is suggested to be inaccurate for various works of fiction (1). Both the reflection theory and the social control theory provides the concept of an evident relationship between works of fiction with the societal reality in the time period the fiction was written in.

The reflection theory suggests the view of literary works as a tool in reflecting the social phenomenon within a given time period (1) . A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe is an example of literary works, specifically a fiction work, that reflects the social phenomenon during the bubonic plague in 1665 London. The novel is written as an account of the narrator’s experience and lies between the borderline of fiction and reality with its use of factual evidence and detailed recounts from individual characters within the novel (2). The uses of descriptions such as ‘removing the dead Bodies by Carts’, and ‘the living were not able to bury the dead'(3) illustrates virtual imagery of hopelessness of humanity against nature as the number of the deceased gradually increase and outnumbering the number of people alive in London with no signs of stopping. This illustration of hopelessness is further strengthened in Defoe’s description of the death of ‘a maiden’ and her mother, where on the discovery of her child’s symptoms of the plague the mother ‘fainted first, … then ran all over the house, …and continued screeching and crying out for several Hours, void of all Sense.'(3). The detailed account of the mother’s actions presented to the readers the immense amount of pain the mother or any individuals at the time felt when discovering their loved ones was doomed by the plague. This sense of hopelessness and pain targets the reader’s empathy towards the characters and presents horrifying but real imagery of the society within the bubonic plague during 1665 London. Such emotions of individuals in the time is often obscured by the reality as numerical values shown in the forms of death accounts demonstrates little about the emotions of the deceased and the impact of their death on their close relatives.

In addition to the reflection theory, the social theory suggests fiction plays an active role in shaping human societies through revealing the truth at a given time period (1). Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House is an example of a work of fiction that reveals the truth of the position of women in a patriarchal society and created controversial thoughts on the roles of women and men within the Norwegian societies since its premier in 1879 (4). The continuous metaphor of the protagonist, Nora the housewife of Torvald, with small fragile animals such as “little songbird”, “squirrel” and “skylark”(5) symbolises the position of women during 19th century Norway as creatures that require the protection of their male counterparts. The climax of the novel where Nora “slamming”(5) the door on her husband and family at the end of the play suggests the release of long-oppressed emotions of women at the time. These illustrations of Nora’s position within the Norwegian society prior and in the 19th century demonstrates the truth of the circumstance of all married women as they remain under the guardianship of their husband until 1888 (6). Furthermore, the creation of fiction characters based on the positions of married women in reality, allowed Ibsen to express the emotions of married women in 19th century Norway.

Through the description of the emotions of individual personals, fictions reveal additional truths within a period of time that reality presented through numerical values and emotionless reports obscures.

Reference list

Inglis, Ruth A. “An Objective Approach to the Relationship Between Fiction and Society.”American Sociological Review, vol. 3, no. 4, 1938, pp. 526–533. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2083900. Accessed 1 Feb. 2021.
Mayer, Robert. “The Reception of a Journal of the Plague Year and the Nexus of Fiction and History in the Novel.”ELH, vol. 57, no. 3, 1990, pp. 529–555. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2873233. Accessed 2 Feb. 2021.
Defoe Daniel. “ A Journal of the Plague Year.”E.Nutt at the Royal – Exchange; J. Roberts in Warwick-lane; A. Dodd without Temple-Bar; and J.Graves in St. Jame’s – street. 1722
“Henrik Ibsen : A Doll’s House”, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2001 Norway, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/henrik-ibsen-a-dolls-house/
Henrik Ibsen, “A Doll’s House”, translated by Peter Watts, PenGuin Books, 1965
Heffermehl, Karin Bruzelius. “The Status of Women in Norway.”The American Journal of Comparative Law, vol. 20, no. 4, 1972, pp. 630–646. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/839034. Accessed 4 Feb. 2021.

“Journal” of a Plague Year – Jenna

Daniel Defoe’s “Journal of a Plague Year” is an intriguing piece of fiction for several reasons. To start, while it was published in 1722 and therefore counts as a historical source for us, it was also a piece of historical fiction when it was published, given that the event chronicled occurred half a century before (1). According to Professor John Mullan, its existence marked the beginning of the genre of “novel,” but the religious slant we see throughout the work is the closest we come to seeing a non-factual bias from Defoe. It was published under a pseudonym as a genuine account of the plague outbreak that killed tens, even hundreds, of thousands in London and the surrounding areas, and Defoe pulls his authenticity from the use of the very real and jarringly objective Bills of Mortality, which he cites throughout the work as the narrator HF watches his corner of the city crumble before his eyes (2).

17th Century London

(3)

The Bills of Mortality themselves are an impressive feat. Realistically, collecting the information would not have been overly difficult, but compared to the Medieval period, with its vague and heavenly artwork, the official data collection from every parish coupled with printing and copying capability was a significant and helpful shift in human advancement. However, medical knowledge continued to trail behind, giving rise to similar mentalities that spurred the rise of the Bianchi. Self-flagellation may have been out of style in the 17th century, but HF notes that several of the more religious families observed periods of fasting to appease the heavens. For the masses, rather than dramatic processions, con-men rose out of the shadows, promising expensive cures and talismen to cure the sickness or keep it away altogether. Perhaps they knew that if their customers died, they wouldn’t be held accountable anyway. Regardless, the desperation after seeing so many drop dead forced people to try what they could in hopes of avoiding acquaintance their local mass grave.

The mass graves were certainly real, though Defoe’s exact account of it must have been fictional. His commitment to the factuality of the year, and the interviews and research he must have done to construct such novel are truly impressive. Though accounts of specific people may have been embellished or created, like the one of a man watching the bodies of his whole family be tossed into a mass grave, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that events transpired similarly in real life. His pride in London certainly seems to be real, with the quote “it was never to be said of London, that the living were not able to bury the Dead. (4)” This is quite a broad statement that is not plague-specific, but maybe more humanity-specific. After so many pages of death and horror, it re-sensitizes the reader to mortality and a continued sense of community in the city.

The process of writing an accurate fictional work about a real event removes the bias of a single real person experiencing it, instead replacing it with the observations of many. Defoe’s foray into a new form of literature is appropriately marked by choosing a topic as significant as London’s plague.

References

Kavanagh D. Daniel Defoe: A Journal of the Plague Year [Internet]. London Fictions. 2020 [cited 1 February 2021]. Available from: https://www.londonfictions.com/daniel-defoe-a-journal-of-the-plague-year.html#
Jordison S. A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe is our reading group book for May [Internet]. the Guardian. 2020 [cited 1 February 2021]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/apr/28/a-journal-of-the-plague-year-by-daniel-defoe-is-our-reading-group-book-for-may
Company of Parish-Clerks of London, 1665. Bills of Mortality. London.
Defoe D. A Journal of the Plague Year. 1st ed. New York: E. Nutt; 1722.

The human plague – Amélia

It is commonly acknowledged that the Black Death has killed between 30 to 60% of the world population. However, it is forgotten that, as well as suffering from the Black Death, some communities were also undergoing the loathing of the rest of the world.

The irrational and unexplainable origins of such a destructive disease highlighted mankind’s necessary need to find culprits – or its use of the irrational to inflict pain upon those they already hated.

For several reasons, it appeared that Jewish communities did not suffer as much from the Black Plague as the rest of the population: one of them is that they did not use the water from common wells of towns and cities. Jews were isolated in ghettos, reducing infection rates, and as their religion promoted cleanliness more than any other, such as hand-washing and bathing, the disease did not attain them as much as other communities. Resentment against the Jewish community was very strong in a time of religious uncertainty; people believed God’s anger had inflicted such torment, and in their minds, God could only be mad at the Jewish community who negated Jesus’ existence.

Thousands of Jews were killed or committed suicide by fear of dying in atrocious circumstances. Most were burned alive, it is therefore impossible to know the precise numbers of the Black death’s consequences on the Jewish communities.

From a 21^st century’s point of view, these mass murders sound barbaric and senseless. Whether the killers truly believed the Jews were responsible, or only used the Black death as a reason to perform what they had always wanted to, we tend to believe that with our contemporary scientific knowledge and moral acuity, such horrendous acts could not happen again. But it can.

The Asian population, whether from China or any other Asian country, has been suffering a huge amount of racism and xenophobia in the past year, to a proportion that Wikipedia now has a page listing all xenophobic and racist consequences of the pandemic.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_of_xenophobia_and_racism_related_to_the_COVID-19_pandemic)

The difference between today’s pandemic and the one happening seven centuries ago is that we belong to countries not allowing us to perform such terrible actions. Even though most of the population has been educated on moral grounds, we have seen that some of us still tend to use the pandemic to excuse forms of violence.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/coronavirus-attack-london-racism-jonathan-mok-b1782233.html

The coronavirus outbreak and our reaction to it show that we have not changed much since the 14th century. We are lucky enough to have built several boundaries, to have received an education, and most importantly to have institutions banning this kind of behaviour. But we have to be careful. It seems like mankind needs to find culprits for something that does not, or in today’s case does, have a scientific explanation. We keep repeating the errors of the past, in a milder way, but we are. We have to keep increasing our awareness, and others’ so that each time, mankind’s consequences on mankind in the middle of a world cataclysm are diminished, lessened, until they cease to exist.

Bibliography

https://indianexpress.com/article/research/coronavirus-black-death-how-jews-were-blamed-for-the-plague-and-massacred-6406282/

Diane Zahler (2009). The Black Death. Twenty-First Century Books. pp. 64

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Jews_during_the_Black_Death#cite_note-:0-4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

Religion and Science – Jai

"Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who sets the planets in motion."  ― Isaac Newton

The conflicts between religion and science are evident in the distinguished objectives of both disciplines, where religion aims to explain both natural and supernatural occurrences, science only concerns itself with natural events (Cruz,2017). One of the most well-known conflicts between religion and science is the debate regarding the beginnings of the earth, where scientists believe in the evolution and big bang theories, while religion provides the theory of god’s creation (Draper,1902). Although both disciplines have their loyal supporters, either side is capable of proving the opposing side as invalidating. Like Newton’s quote, science can only ‘explain the motion of the planets’ to a certain extent. All questions beyond science capabilities can only be explained by theories involving divinities, which science lacks the abilities to prove or disapprove.

The value of religion is established in the sense of relief it provides to its believers. During the medieval ages, people believed that sickness or plague could be sent by God as punishment for not observing the ‘ceremonies and commandments’ set by god (D’Agramont, 1949). Thus people at the time tend to gather in communities and perform prayers hoping to gain forgiveness from god. At the same time, it can also be argued that religion can be used as a way of getting through tough situations, as it helps creates a new narrative, allows the believer to imagine a joyful future, and prevent the believer to enter a mental state of permanent fear and sadness (Meza, 2020).

The value of science lies within its ability to analyze the situation. The concept of science is evident in the medieval periods through the procedures of medical arts. The typical steps within the scientific method consist of making an observation, present a question, form a hypothesis, predicting the hypothesis, and test the prediction. Although testing the prediction might be hard to achieve in medieval times due to their lack of scientific equipment, the ‘Regiment de preserv acio a epidemic o pestilencia e mortaldats’ demonstrates other components of the scientific method. An observation of people getting sick was made leading to questions on the reasons behind the sickness. A hypothesis that changes in the ‘air’ is the cause behind people’s sickness was presented. The hypothesis is further developed by identifying the causes of the changes in the air, such as god’s punishment for human sins. This is supported by chapter 28 within the holy scripture. The prediction is evident through the passage ‘ if the corruption and putrefaction of the air have come because of our sins the remedies of medical art are of little value, for only He who blinds can unblind’ (D’Agramont, 1949), suggesting if the sickness is caused by supernatural powers then it can be only undone by supernatural powers. Hence the people back then would refer back to prayers as their solution to a plague. Although both religion and medical arts reach the same conclusion in encountering plagues sent by God in the medieval ages, the value of medical arts and components of the scientific method lies in its logical thinking process towards creating a solution to the issue at hand.

Thus although religion and science tend to sit on the opposite side regarding issues such as the creation of the world, both disciplines co-exist and provide different beneficial values to the societies.

Reference list

Cruz. H.C (2017), “Religion and Science”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/religion-science/#WhatScieWhatReli

D’Agramont. J (1949) “Regiment de preserv acio a epidimia o pestilencia e mortaldats”,Translated by Duran – Reynals . M. L and Winslow. C.-E., A Bulletin of the History of Medicine, JANUARY-FEBRUARY, Vol. 23, No. 1 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1949), pp. 57-89 https://www.jstor.org/stable/44443424

Draper, J. W. (1902). “Appleton dollar library. History of the conflict between religion and science”. D Appleton & Company. https://doi.org/10.1037/12369-000

Meza, D (2020) “In a Pandemic Are We More Religious? Traditional Practices of Catholics and the COVID – 19 Southwestern Colombia”, International Journal of Latin American Religions 4, 218 – 234, https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-020-00108-0

The Plague: Religion, Scientific Knowledge, and Modern Comparisons – Jenna

The plague is a fixture of medieval history, and conjures up images of doctors in beaked masks and X-marked front doors. The horror of living the reality was likely far greater than anything we can imagine; today’s pandemic, while admittedly mismanaged in many cases, is up against thousands of scientists and advanced healthcare protocols, which removes much (but not all) of its uncertainty and danger.

In 14th century Italy, germ theory was still a couple hundred years away, and microscopy another century after that (1). There were theories as to how it spread, through the air and bad vapors, but the real culprit, rodents, had not yet been identified. As a result, there was a spike in religious fervor, especially in Italy, as penance for the sins that had supposedly brought the disease down on humanity. Self-flagellation and religious parades became common, public ways to express devotion, leading to a variety of new social dynamics. In some cases, they were an opportunity for disputes to be settled and for solidarity to be shown (2). In others, they became destructive, violent, and headed by ambitious laymen instead of the traditional religious leaders. Today mimics it, in a way. The urgency of COVID has revealed the extremes of human existence, bringing about beautiful shows of compassion as much as acts of selfish desperation (3).

On a different note, it’s interesting to wonder what would have happened had the plague really been airborne. Would people have realized and locked themselves away in their homes? It is difficult to put ourselves into that frame of thinking, since our generation has been raised from birth with at least a very rudimentary knowledge of what a germ is, and that washing our hands and covering our mouths to cough stops us from getting sick. However, many of the strategies used in the 14th century are reasonably similar to those that make up preventative care today; exercising, eating healthy, unspoiled food, and maintaining a routine (4). These things do not necessarily require explicit scientific knowledge to understand, and the historical integration of prayer and religion would perhaps have helped solidify the average person’s routine.

The literature and art left behind explain and depict the actions carried out in order to ward off the plague, but there are always limitations. Texts were primarily written from a highly educated point of view, which was not representative of the majority of the population in the medieval era. Art was created heavily featuring symbolism, with images of angels in processions or similarities to Jesus Christ in works concerning self-flagellation (see below).

(5) (image description: mural on a 15th century Italian church depicting an angel mediating and argument or blessing two individuals from a crowd of followers)

As a result, many pieces of art were an idealized version of what the religious acts were supposed to embody, making them a somewhat unrealistic source of information on the events of the time (5). Ultimately, however, these depictions serve to emphasize the role of religion in dealing with the plague, especially in conjunction with society’s relative helplessness to combat it from a scientific perspective.

References

The history of germ theory in the College collections | Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh [Internet]. Rcpe.ac.uk. 2021 [cited 27 January 2021]. Available from: https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/history-germ-theory-college-collections
Horrox R. The Black death. Manchester: Manchester University Press; 1994.
Meyersohn N. Cops in the toilet paper aisle: Grocery stores add extra security [Internet]. CNN. 2021 [cited 27 January 2021]. Available from: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/23/business/grocery-stores-coronavirus-security/index.html
DURAN-REYNALS M, WINSLOW C. REGIMENT DE PRESERV ACIO A EPIDIMIA O PESTILENCIA E MORTALDATS. Bulletin of the History of Medicine [Internet]. 1949;23(1):57-89. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44443424
di Camerino C. Vallo di Nera: Church of Santa Maria; 1401.

COVID-19, Community, and C[K]risis – Jenna

COVID-19 turned the world upside down in the span of only a couple months, though responses differed based on country, economic capacity, and individual responsibility. In many cases, the virus has acted as a trigger, bringing previously hidden shortcomings to light in the moments that crucial services were the most needed.

The global shortage of PPE has been largely forgotten in recent months, but the circulation of images of healthcare workers reusing flimsy disposable masks was a major talking point until supply chains eventually readjusted. Perhaps a pandemic of this exact scale was an unexpected event, but reports that various Western governments (notably the UK and the US) ignored expert warnings that stockpiles were insufficient highlights a lack of preparedness that left essential personnel vulnerable through no fault of their own (1). This is an instance where the many members of the wider community came together to support each other, make masks at home, and shame those in charge for their inaction or incompetence.

(2) (image description: medical professionals wearing patient gowns and improvised PPE due to equipment shortages)

Here we see a return to the etymological origin of “crisis”, the Greek “krisis,” where the people themselves act in difficult circumstances to collaboratively make decisions as needed. As McLoughlin points out, we have seen the same occur in various modern social movements, fighting environmental and racial issues, among others (cannot figure out how to cite McLoughlin). We appear to have gone full circle, and perhaps some of that comes down to the same media that shared those stories of nurses and doctors with red marks crossing their faces after long shifts in COVID wards. It is easier to become an activist these days, and as a result it is easier to become involved in change.

However, media is not always a force for good, as has been readily apparent for at least the last half decade at least. While Caduff cites a lack of hard data surrounding fatality rate and transmission pattern as a chief concern in outlining strategy to deal with COVID-19, the opposite is simultaneously true (3). There already exists a wealth of information and research on areas of society that will inevitably feel the effects of the measures put into place, but deliberate misinformation, unfounded accusations, and skewed statistics mixed in with the reputable sources has created ‘alternative’ groups, including those who consider the pandemic to be an elaborate hoax. Perhaps some of it is a manifestation of existing xenophobia or commitment to personal freedom (to an arguably dangerous extent), but in some cases, the sheer volume of information at our fingertips, difficult to parse through even from a professional research standpoint, must be even more daunting to the average person who simply wants to know what is going on.

COVID-19 has served to widen some of the social cracks we already saw appearing, but have also demonstrated new areas that require improvement. The course of action may not be clear, but at least we know where we should be looking.

References

1. BBC. Coronavirus: UK failed to stockpile crucial PPE [Internet]. BBC News. 2020 [cited 25 January 2021]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-52440641

2. O’Kane C. Exhausted doctors and nurses post images of their bruised faces after long shifts wearing protective gear [Internet]. Cbsnews.com. 2020 [cited 25 January 2021]. Available from: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-health-care-bruised-faces-masks-ppe-hospitals-doctors-nurses-italy-new-york/

3. Caduff C. What Went Wrong: Corona and the World after the Full Stop [Internet]. Anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com. 2020 [cited 25 January 2021]. Available from: https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/maq.12599

Pandemic, Crisis and Paradigm shifts – Jai

Since COVID 19 ‘s first appearance in late 2019, the pandemic has created fear and chaos in various countries worldwide. The virus that causes COVID 19 is named SARS – CoV -2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (Shereen et. al 2020). In 2003 a similar virus SARS – CoV ‘infected 8098 individuals with a mortality rate of 9%, across 26 countries'(Shereen et. al 2020). In comparison, COVID 19 has a larger infection rate and a lower mortality rate, in July 2020 (Shereen et. al 2020).

The association between a global pandemic and a public health crisis is often mentioned simultaneously by the mass media. A crisis defined by the World Health Organization is a ” Time of danger or greater difficulty, decisive turning point”(WHO,n.d). In this sense COVID – 19 pandemics can be classified as a crisis due to the danger of the pandemic on the human population, the difficulty in controlling the pandemic, and a possible paradigm shift within various systems in the human societies.

Mcloughin’s claim of crisis as “the fundamental engine of history” (Mcloughlin, 2020) is evident in the process of encountering COVID -19 within the differentiated and new or adapted policies to the pandemic from different governmental systems worldwide. The lockdown procedures initiated by the Chinese government in Wuhan and other major cities involving 56 million people “is unprecedented in public health history” ,stated by Dr. Gauden Galea (Caduff,2020), is an example of a possible paradigm shift in the established concepts within the international public health systems. This paradigm shift is further enhanced by the implications of similar lockdown procedures by different governmental systems worldwide (Australia, Italy, UK, etc.), despite the criticism of the lockdown approach from various international media during the lockdown in China. Thus it can be argued that the paradigm shifts in the pre-established concepts and policy-making decisions in regards to encountering global pandemics in the international public health systems caused by the COVID -19 crisis, is an example of how a crisis can help the advance of history.
However, it is important to understand that the impacts of COVID – 19 is not limited to the public health systems but all systems and industries in modern society.

The impact of COVID- 19 is not only evident in politics and public health systems but also in the lifestyle of individuals within different regions. The wide use of online platforms for both work and educational purposes provides societies with new living styles. Recent articles have suggested the possibilities of remote working being more effective than office working (Boddy, 2020). Such suggestions demonstrated the possibilities of paradigm shifts within industries outside of public health, thus supports Mcloughin’s claim of a crisis as the force behind the advance of human history as the impact of crisis such as COVID-19 is applied throughout all industries in human society.

Reference list
Boddy, N. (2020) “It’s more productive to work from home”, Financial Review available from https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/careers/it-s-more-productive-to-work-from-home-20200401-p54fwc

Caduff, C (2020) ” What Went Wrong: Corona and the World after the Full Stop”, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, volume 34: 467 – 487 https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12599

Mcloufglin, J (2020) ” In Tims of Crisis”, The London Magazine, pg 25 – 31
Shereen, M, A. Khan, S. Kazmi, A. Bashir, B., Siddique, R.(2020), “COVID infection: Origin, transmission, and characteristics of human coronaviruses,” Journal of Advanced Research, Volume 24, Pages 91-98, ISSN 2090-1232, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jare.2020.03.005.

Who.int. n.d. WHO | Definitions: Emergencies. [online] Available at: https://www.who.int/hac/about/definitions/en/

There is no such thing as a crisis – Amélia

The word crisis is overused and misunderstood. Its etymological root coming from the Greek word “krino” meant “separate”, “choose”, “judge” or “decide” (McIoughlin). It leads us to believe that the word crisis depicts a state in which the human being, able to reflect on what is happening around him, has the possibility to deliver a critical analysis of his surroundings. The very word crisis is inherently linked to the existence of a living soul with cognitive capacities.

Political crisis, economic crisis, sanitary crisis, psychological crisis, and especially existential crisis show us how the term is multifaceted. So multifaceted that, pushed to its paroxysm, it has lost all meaning. The term “crisis” only highlights that there is something wrong and undefinable that our lack of vocabulary pushes us to use the term “crisis”, a term to which everyone in the room will nod to, because they might not really know what we are referring to, but they know that there are many things they would like to change.

The term crisis was the victim of an abuse of language. In Chinese, it embraces a broader definition: crisis, “危机” is the addition of the words danger and engine. And danger is the possibility that something bad or undesirable will happen. Desire is personal and entirely subjective. Therefore, a crisis, whether it is felt by numerous people, or only by one individual, cannot be depicted in a universal way.

However, a general situation, emphasized on with anxiety inducing forms of communication, can lead to a general crisis, in which everybody seems to be drowning in the same fear of one particular danger. Or so does Jim Callaghan said in his interview in 1979, during the Winter of Discontent which put England in the worst recession it had ever known. To him, there was no crisis (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX06xqN6710). The unnecessary tumult was coming from the media. But to the rest of the UK, there definitely was one.

As far as crisis is individual, the anxiety it creates can be transmitted to others, and especially with the rising influence of medias, as Carlo Caduff suggested in What went wrong: Corona and the World after the Full stop” (2020): “today’s fear is fueled by mathematical disease modeling…nervous media reporting”. There can be a general sense of crisis, a consensus on how people feel about a situation. However, it is possible to live in the denial of a crisis, just like Jim Callaghan was hoping to live in denial of the winter of discontent.

But the word crisis does not seem to match the current situation that has caused drastic changes to our lives. The crisis in itself does not imply that there is a change in our lifestyle, but denotes, at most, a sense of uncertainty, anxiety and questioning. Its subjectivity suggests that it is limited in the proportions it can take.

Coronavirus has metamorphosed our lives irreversibly. Calling it a crisis undermines the effects it had on us. Its unstoppable spread has caused a lot of destruction and violent changes. Cataclysm is the word matching these terms. I believe that we are undergoing a global cataclysm. Not a crisis, a cataclysm. In a crisis, many of us could have acted just as this man on Supertramp’s music album released in 1979. But we can’t.

Crisis and Disease in the West – A Blog!

Welcome to the Crisis and Disease in the West Class Blog!

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