The COVID-19 Conundrum
The current crisis is showing the best and the worst of humanity. Will a new form of solidarity emerge at the end of the tunnel, or will the trends of the last few years be enhanced? The following essay deals with this conundrum and argues that the pandemic has indeed been a catalyst for the worse. There has been gross politicization of the pandemic world over. This aims at encouraging the reader to question his or her own ways as well as develop an attitude of separating oneself from one’s nation occasionally to look at situations objectively. The essay also hopes to display an effective use of the rhetorical devices learned in the preceding classes — chiefly the elements of ethos, logos, and pathos.
“When humans act in cruelty, we characterize them as animals. Yet, the only animal that acts with cruelty is humanity.” — Anthony William Douglas
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and global crisis, the world has witnessed unbelievable empathy as well as devastating cruelty at the hands of our own being. The fact that the media reveals only that which boosts their TRPs added to the fact that humans thrive on drama — implies that it takes no genius to put two and two together to learn that we see veiled and inflated versions of both sides of the same coin. Having said that, as a species we have proved time and time again that when an ‘animal’ is cornered and caged, it is at its most vulnerable and will most definitely lash out. Numerous examples of thoughtless supply hoarding, abandonment of the elderly or infants and pets, economic manipulation and increased domestic violence in the pandemic period, present as the proof in the pudding.
(Source: Editorial Cartoons, (2020). USA Today
For global solidarity, there must exist socio-economic world peace, and as Jimi Hendrix once said — “When the power of love overcomes the love for power, the world will know peace”. Even as we have unanimously declared that this is a global struggle, we continue to veil our intentions with false declarations. This pandemic has revealed itself as a pristine opportunity for economic power plays and political pandemonium. A prime time for jingoism; With supply chains shifting out of China, neighbouring nations are on high-alert as they anticipate increases in international business, a pay-day for the exchequer. As in any earlier crisis, such as World War II, we exploit human vulnerability for human greed. There is the advancement of anti-China propaganda to ensure boycotting of Chinese products and labour-force, thereby increasing the market demand for indigenously produced goods and services. International alliances are at play to deprive a nation’s people simply because of a war with their Government. If we look beyond what we see, we will see our own reflections in the people we want to persecute. We will see our sons and daughters, our friends and families and not foes. How many of us can put our hands on our hearts and say that when a headline is printed of another nation making advances in the cure or vaccine for COVID-19, we have not cursed hoping it was our country who achieved this? We grudge instead of breathing a collective sigh of relief that we are one step closer to all of this being over. Even as situations worsen, ignoring statistics we use this as a prospect to get ahead and prove that our respective motherlands are the best.
This crisis also proves to be the perfect smokescreen for vulturous groups to carry out their insidious agendas outside of public scrutiny whilst media outlets are dominated by the virus. China passed anti-democracy legislation for Hong Kong and made advances into Indian territory, the USA and Iran clashed again in Iraq. The Maltese government has commissioned private ships to push people back to war-torn Libya, and the Greek authorities have been rounding up asylum-seekers and migrants and illegally deporting them back to Turkey. India has promptly and conveniently forgotten the pain of the wounds caused by erstwhile riots and Nepal has redefined their borders to include Indian territory.
In every former crisis — be it WWII, The Spanish Flu, 2008 Lehmann Brothers Real Estate Crash or Ebola — only a few nations have witnessed the causation and the rest have been a part of the fallout. Today, with COVID-19, every individual may not be in the same boat, but we are facing the same storm. The argument that the pandemic has increased the erstwhile trends of xenophobia, nationalism, and religious fervour, is only strengthened by the aforementioned points.
(Source: Acharya. S, (2020), One India. Daily Cartoons)
To come closer to home — India lives in a strange dichotomy of forgetting but never forgiving. We will soon forget our fear of the virus and return to our careless ways as time passes. But we will never hesitate to assign blame to any external locus for our own state of affairs. Will we ever recognize this form of ‘aatmanirbharta’ (self-reliance)? Will we, as Indians, look to ourselves to see what we could have done differently? Or will we forever live in a world where as Tomfoolery would say - when it comes solely to us — “Hindsight is 20/20”. But why must you heed to these views any more than you heed to rabid dogs screaming on your television? I plead that you don’t simply align yourself to this stance. Don’t simply align yourself to any stance for that matter. Shape your own views, evolve your own stance.
