When the handling of the pandemic is scoped in the language of combat, it means either giving a positivity spin or making it viscerally palpable for people to get ready for triumphalsim. But the language of combat takes the eyes off the ball. The description – inflicting a defeat on the virus – provides an almost scriptural underpinning than that of science, which is both a necessary and sufficient condition for grappling with the pandemic.
The virus never goes away, it always remains in the air. But once herd immunity is achieved, its ability to create mayhem – of infection and mortality – is completely attenuated. In modern science, that is the basis of understanding the virus. It is a new virus and none of the soothsaying and snake oil will work.
What works is the vaccination on one hand and mask and physical distancing on the other. It is akin to dodging the virus, not a direct combat of yore, because it is not a war. Some features of war can be made use of, but conceptualising it as a war is essentially reductionist.
The images of a mythical war hark back to a perfect binary. Righteous versus satanic, right approach versus villainous activity, strong versus less strong and conqueror versus conquered. It creates a complacency on which the virus thrives. What one loses sight of is the preparation and response, which is much needed to grapple with the virus. Simultaneously, it distracts the citizenry from, as Arun Maira puts it, “designing of the aircraft” while flying.
-30-
Copyright©Madras Courier, All Rights Reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from madrascourier.com and redistribute by email, post to the web, mobile phone or social media.Please send in your feed back and comments to editor@madrascourier.com
