Ebola: Why is it this disease we fear?

Disclaimer--This is my first real thread about something. Constructive critiques welcome.

|-| Source: BBC News Article |-|


Memento mori, is a Latin phrase which here means, remember that you will die.

This article focuses on the world's fear response to this current outbreak of Ebola. The point is made that it is not the fact that Africans are dying that scares us, but instead is the idea of not being in control of a situation. In the post-modern era, various medical advances have made it possible for us to control diseases that were historically impossible to subdue. Death, in the past, wasn't nearly as feared as it is today, due to the fact that most children tended to die off before reaching maturity. Whether killed by vengeful wet-nurses or by disease or misadventure, mortality rate was high for infants in especial. Death was even celebrated and revered in some cultures due to its seemingly insurmountable nature.



Today, however, people--at least in the Western world--view death as something to be avoided at all costs. Being able to avoid what would have once been certain death is a marvel of modern medicine. So when something evades that control, panic ensues.

Ebola is not the exception, but rather just one example of the terrible norm...The fact is while Ebola means a painful and isolated death, away from loved ones, there are other diseases that are horrific and equally deserving of both our fear and respect; diseases which, like Ebola, are still dreaded in West Africa and beyond, and which regularly kill hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world's poorest countries.

However, in wealthy countries, thanks to the availability of modern medicines, many of these diseases can now usually be treated or cured, and thanks to vaccines they rarely have to be. Because of this blessing we have simply forgotten what it is like to live under threat of such infectious and deadly diseases, and forgotten what it means to fear them.

So, when an outbreak like this comes along, from the comfort of our relatively disease-free surroundings it is only natural to look on in horror and be terrified by the prospect of something like Ebola making its way to our shores.

The article goes along to say that the mass of attention that the Ebola crisis has received is a great thing because it highlights that more needs to be done on a global level in terms of treating deadly afflictions. Outcry from the Western world has made the prospect of an Ebola vaccine more likely than if we had not been fearful of this disease.

I would like to discuss two aspects of this article:

1) how remembering death (Memento mori) has become a struggle for those of us living in the post-modern era

2) why remembering death is imperative in order for us to move forward

Everybody wants to go to heaven but no body wants to die.

a reply to: rukia

I view death as something to be avoided. Like Faux News, the plague, Pakastani bus stops etc.

If you get your information from diverse sources and have the patience to process it all, you won't be paralyzed by fear of Ebola or decapitating, blood eyed Islamists at the city gates. Or Ebola infected Islamic immigrants flooding across the southern border. The Fascists understand the recipe of mass control very well. It would serve everyone to learn about mass control.

The media, the US CDC, politicians have locked on to Ebola as the next boogie man in focus. People need the next distraction to prevent the collapse of confidence in the state and state supported corporate entities. You know, too many on line searches for 9/11 truth. Stuff like that really gets them nervous.

a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

what this article is saying is exactly that, but that the over-hype--while totally excessive for the reasons that you cited--is ultimately a benefit. I always choose to view news from legitimate sources, one of which is the mainstream media. However, this article denies b.s. and tells it like it is, while highlighting the fact that our views on death have changed drastically. While your point about the boogie man holds some water, I could think of other current events that would be more suitable for being a straw man. Perhaps we have to consider that not everything is a conspiracy and that not paying attention at all can prove even more damaging than falling prey to disinformation.

I, for one, do not and have never feared Ebola. Possibly due to the fact that I know that it could be so much worse--like the Bubonic Plague for example. Or like infant death in antiquated times.

I was asking more along the lines of why do you think that the current consensus is is that death is something to be avoided when in the past it was not (is modern medicine the only reason for this change or do you think that there are other reasons)? Do you feel that that is a mistake due to the increasing panic that one feels due to aging? Is that why we no longer revere the old in Western society? --and soforth

This is not a thread about the ebola crisis at all, but about death and our perception of it. I suggest reading the full article.

Good Morning, Rukkia:
That's an awful good new haircut you're sporting there and what is a "shinigam?"
Good new first thread, imho, I think you're showing a real talent for making them, for a first "real" one, whatever that means: (Pics included, so it does happen, on death? lol)

That's my first hypothetical posed within what are they called---I feel so old this morning I can't remember parentheses, even though I remember pathenthetical, and I'm not pretending.

I think you've posed a good question, on many levels, and I say it that way because on first glance, it may appear we are being encouraged to just remember that we die, when in fact, it's telling us--that latin phrase--to remember that we die and remember our death, all at the same time, which, in point of fact, includes an allusion (all is correct here, rather than ill, as in illusion) to reincarnation, as well, in the use of remember as members hererabouts, are alive or they wouldn't be typing. I'm also trying to get us all to laugh, as someone pointed out to me already today, it may be all some of us have left.

Anyway, it tells us that even historically, they were concerned about death, and to remember that, too.

a reply to: tetra50

Bonjour! haha and thank you very much! :3

[shinigami means 'soul reaper' or 'death god' in japanese and is what this one chick, rukia, is in this one manga/anime that i like. I couldn't think of a custom title so i went the easy route to 'keep to character' ]

And thank you for making a wonderful point: by remembering death we must also remember life.

So on the flip-side, forgetting death means forgetting life. Maybe that is why the Western world is sick currently, because of a lack of ideas and creativity and an excess of people who are content with just sitting back and consuming mass media and culture.

a reply to: rukia

When we received the schools notice about ebola one thing stood out to me that was very concerning, they said to keep you children feeling safe and away from harmful media coverage.... The bullet points:

* They are safe

* Our healthcare system is among the best in the world for healthcare

* Ebola is rare and does not exist everywhere. WHEN CASES ARE FOUND, THE PERSON WITH THE INFECTION IS TAKEN TO A SAFE PLACE TO BE CARED FOR SO THAT HE CAN GET BETTER AND NOT MAKE ANYONE ELSE SICK.

It goes on but my point is the indoctrination of taking sick people away for their own good and for the health of others close to them...

It does not state "A healthcare facility or hospital" only to "a Safe place".

Taken away...

a reply to: rukia
But I am doing both, and currently reside in America.
tetra

a reply to: rukia

what this article is saying is exactly that, but that the over-hype--while totally excessive for the reasons that you cited--is ultimately a benefit.

"…ultimately a benefit." But keep children away from harmful media coverage. So which should we believe, since we know this from media coverage, too.
tetra

a reply to: antar

It does not state "A healthcare facility or hospital" only to "a Safe place".

You understand that those are talking points to be discussed between a parent and child, right? For a 6 year old a "safe place" would be better than "an isolation ward", don't you think? For a 12 year old the parent would use different terminology but the idea is the same.

they said to keep you children feeling safe and away from harmful media coverage

Good idea. But keeping kids from sensational media coverage is not really practical. So, would you rather have your kid terrified that their family is going to catch some terrible disease (after seeing some idiot on youtube, or some conservative rant on TV) or have them understand that there is little to no chance that will happen?

Me, I prefer to provide my child with comfort, not fear.

I have to disagree that people weren't afraid of death in the past; I'm sure they were just as terrified as we are today, probably more so since IV morphine and any means to avoid a long painful descent into death wasn't available; while they understood that many children would never make it to adulthood, I'm sure every child was mourned just as much as they would be today, maybe more so because life and death would have seemed so random. Men understood that getting their wives pregnant could easily result in the loss of both child and wife; imagine the horror of worrying about that, or the guilt feelings involved.

I agree with Woody Allen's take on death, 'I'm not afraid of dying, I just don't want to be there when it happens.'

As far as Ebola goes, it's a pretty horrific way to die and there's little treatment for it after it's acquired, thus the higher level of fear. If Ebola ever gets loose out into the general population, which may be happening right now given the unclosed borders and air traffic, it's going to make HIV, the flu and a dozen other diseases look like amateur hour. How would daily life change if you knew that that person standing next to you in the checkout line could have a simple cold, or could have Ebola, and there's no way of knowing which?

a reply to: signalfire

How would daily life change if you knew that that person standing next to you in the checkout line could have a simple cold, or could have Ebola, and there's no way of knowing which?

Actually, there is. People with Ebola don't tend to do much standing. They are too busy puking and crapping and bleeding and, if not well cared for, dying. People with a simple cold, not so much.

originally posted by: rukia
I, for one, do not and have never feared Ebola.

I don't fear Ebola either. It's a disease in Africa at the moment and whose spread would be prevented in a society (like mine) with half decent public health. I don't fear a whole host of diseases that afflict other countries, such as malaria or tetanus, either because they have been eradicated, or I have been vaccinated.

Ebola is a newsworthy disease because it's particularly nasty, makes headlines and plays on people voyeurism for the unusual. Only the ignorant and misled think it'll sweep through Europe or the USA!

I am more concerned that my end of life disease will be a lost mind, through dementia. Dementia is not a disease that is rife in countries where most people have died before they are 60, which is basically the whole of Africa.

You are right to point out "memento mori".

Regards

a reply to: Phage

I agree, in my home it is this way. I even received several calls from friends and family with my take on the situation and did just that. Funny I even found myself using the same terms as the CDC used to quell any unfounded fears that were running rampant in the first couple months after we discovered Americans returning having been infected.

My deepest intuition is that "if" an outbreak of Ebola or any other potentially deadly strain hits globally and spins out of control, hospitals will be the last place to take any patients with the illness, instead places like the dreaded FEMA camps will fill up with the infected and become detainment facilities more so than healthcare centers.

Try explaining that to your 6 year old, why they are being taken away from their home and loved ones because they became infected. Children know that a hospital is the safe place to go when you are ill, this is as I said before indoctrination into how things will be in the Orwellian future you so fear and fight to normalize as it happens. I sense you have very deep fear of reality and so make up excuses for the rose colored glasses that keep you blinded to the incremental approach of the worst case scenarios. An asteroid would be an easy out and you know it, like a pacifier or little blankie, our future is far worse at the current path we are taking.

a reply to: antar

My deepest intuition is that "if" an outbreak of Ebola or any other potentially deadly strain hits globally and spins out of control, hospitals will be the last place to take any patients with the illness, instead places like the dreaded FEMA camps will fill up with the infected and become detainment facilities more so than healthcare centers.

Your intuition requires several contingencies (ifs) to occur before it would come into play. If this happens, if that happens.

Hell, if a big asteroid hits us we won't have to worry about anything. There are things that are manageable and things that are not.

a reply to: Phage

Groucho!!!

My intuition requires me to leave this thread and the argument that you are creating.

On Topic: The media has swayed this into a fear campaign to illicit a response to whatever end they wanted to prove would happen if the truth was shared with the general public.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: signalfire

How would daily life change if you knew that that person standing next to you in the checkout line could have a simple cold, or could have Ebola, and there's no way of knowing which?

Actually, there is. People with Ebola don't tend to do much standing. They are too busy puking and crapping and bleeding and, if not well cared for, dying. People with a simple cold, not so much.

NOT AT FIRST. Geeze.

Instead of focusing on the minutia of the article, I would appreciate keeping this to the overarching theme of the article. This was not intended to be a discussion about ebola, or about media, but instead (as outlined above):

1) how remembering death (Memento mori) has become a struggle for those of us living in the post-modern era (/or not & provide reasoning)

2) why remembering death is imperative in order for us to move forward

a reply to: signalfire
Very quickly.
And until they do they are not contagious.

a reply to: antar

On Topic: The media has swayed this into a fear campaign to illicit a response to whatever end they wanted to prove would happen if the truth was shared with the general public.

The media did what they always do, sensationalize anything they can in order to sell more advertising. Because of the election, conservatives saw a wonderful opportunity to pound on the administration over their lack of action. Trouble is, without making ebola sound really, really, really dangerous that wouldn't work very well. Trouble is, the reality of the situation has become more and more apparent. But not before the election.