from the chiasmus archive: "Viruses. Undead pathogens and Societal turmoil." (A.Glass July 26th 2021)

• 

• 

We can see from this water color image by the Russian artist Ivan Alexeyevich Vladimirov (1869-1947), depicting Russian revolutionaries “liberating” patients from a Cholera barrack circa 1920.   In the next image “Cholera in Russia.  The Troubles in Astrakhan” from the Le Petit Journal 6th August 1892 drawn by Henri Meyer.   Once again, in both images, it was this rioting and discord throughout Russia during the Cholera outbreak, that was tuned to the conspiracy theories of the day, of course, instigated by the fear of this disease outbreak within the populous.  And it is the disbelieving of the unseen, a microscopic entity which could cause so much such suffering, utilized through the misinformation and prejudices and used to create the groundwork for political dissension.  To manifest the tangible enemy, which is, as we can see from these images, each other. 

Below is an exceprt from my article “Viruses. Undead pathogens: the borrower and destroyer of life – May 05, 2020.” :

“…As age old as it is, to quarantine as soon as a viral outbreak occurs, is the only known way to suppress widespread infections. But, it has been the most resisted throughout history.  From Cholera riots of the 1800s in Europe, through to misinformation and superstition of plagues and pandemics. Even within the 20th Century of modern medicine, these unknown aspects attributed by fear, have lead to scapegoats and blame, which in turn has always derived from human folly – assiting in the ferocity of a viral pandemic. So there is also a psychological and sociological aspect to the viral outbreak, the inability to understand that possibly our place in nature may need to come into question.  Not as antithesis of human existence or even a philosophical study as such, but how we fit, biologically, within the web of life.  In the sense, it maybe the human race that needs to adjust to the idea of what it is to live amongst nature…”

---

Authored: A.Glass (2021)