And then came Covid19 in 2019…
Comparing the black plague and the coronavirus may seem far-fetched or inappropriate given the differences in the era in which they each occurred and the technological advancements of our 21st century compared to the very rudimentary life style of the Middle ages.
Yet, even a surface look at both pandemics reveal similarities in the way the two pandemics were handled.
Societal responses to both pandemics are much alike. Panic, misinformation and scapegoating were rife just as they were in the middle ages. The society searched for answers and fingers were pointed at possible causes. It’s apparent that the progress made by science has not done much to change our reactions to unexplained and overwhelming world situations.
Like the great Plague of the middle ages, Covid19 is also a world pandemic whose origins and exact nature are still hotly debated.
Opinions on the origins and modus vivendi of the coronavirus continue to differ according to whom one speaks to. Explanations go from the highly improbable to the frankly ridiculous and even downright dangerous. Doctors, political figures and leaders contradict themselves when explaining the possible causes of the virus or how to stop it. In some parts of the world, people have taken to drinking salt water or even subjecting themselves to very high temperatures. The declaration of the former President of the most powerful country Trump who in 2021 opined that disinfectant could be used to cure Covid19 has to be ranked as one of the most dangerous proposed cures!
Is the situation really different from the misinformation swirling around the current Covid19 pandemic?
With this exhibit, the students wanted to highlight that despite having several precedents (Spanish flu of 1918 being one of the latest) which should have given the world a chance at controlling today's global pandemics, the world was completely ill prepared to handle this pandemic.
In both pandemics, existing prejudices and racial bias are repurposed by dominant and influential groups and countries to target other vulnerable groups (human or animal) who are scapegoated and become the target of hatred and of racist abuse. Like for the Black Death, the coronavirus pandemic is accompanied by propaganda, misinformation and fake news. People from China, Japan and Korea have been the target of racist acts in the US and elsewhere, because of the theory that the virus is man-made and was created in a laboratory in Wuhan. Asian restaurants and businesses in the West have been boycotted. Asians have been the target of online vitriol. Six 5G masts have been burned down in locations ranging from Birmingham to Belfast. Other theories claim that Asians are set on reducing the world’s population or that Bill Gates is using the coronavirus as a means to control population growth in Africa and Asia by embedding computer chips into the bodies of their population using vaccination as a smokescreen, in order to enslave parts of the humanity. In the face of something that they cannot control, humans beings resort to easy answers, no matter how far-fetched, while looking for someone to blame.
Information regarding how to cure the plague and reduce its propagation differed according to whom one spoke to. The clergy, physicians and ordinary town folks each had their theory.
Physicians tried bloodletting, boil lancing, or sitting patients next to blazing fires or even completely immersing them in essential oils to reduce the swelling that were present on the patients’ bodies. Authorities advised towns people to dip themselves in vinegar, or simply carry strong smelling flowers. All to no avail. This pestilence was so virulent, rapidly spreading from one person to another; its “malignity appeared all the more terrible because its victims knew no prevention and no remedy” (Tuchman, 1978). It was no magic that it caused so many deaths as it attacked the host’s lymphatic system which then spread into the blood and other vital organs subsequently causing death. With several conflicting information sources most of which were untrue and sometimes dangerous, the plague continued to spread, killing more than one-third of the world’s population.
Based on research findings the 19th century (thus centuries after the pandemic), we now know that the great plague was caused by a bacillus called Yersinia pestis, named after Alexandre Yersin (1863-1943), the Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist who co-discovered the bacillus responsible for the bubonic plague .
Crisis, wars and pandemics breed fear. In response to fear, human beings look for possible explanations both rational and irrational. Hence, conspiracy theories arise because people prefer easy and neat explanations, whether scientifically proven or not, just to hold on to something tangible and to find a scapegoat. With the bubonic plague, not too long after the ships arrived and the death toll started to rise, the population searched for answers.
Doctors, without proper research, or tools were running out of options. People decided to turn to several “possible” solutions to their problems.
Rats? Ridding the town of them could help reduce the contamination.
Jews? Because of their differences from everyone else, they were suspected of poisoning the remainder of the population so they were killed. As part of the Black Death persecutions, the burning of hundreds of Jews were burned in what came to be known as the Strasbourg Massacre in the North East of France between 1348- 1349).
An Act of God? Yet others believed that the plague was God’s punishment. Hence, people took to publicly flogging themselves (flagellants) so as to atone for their sins. In the Middle ages, the Church and religion wielded much power and many phenomena were assigned supernatural causes.
The dangers of communication overload and of ambiguous communication cannot be overstated. It increases social panic and has damaging effects on the population’s mental health which could worsen the situation. When people cannot tell which information is true from that which is false, society falls into a state of entropy. Norbert Wiener’s 1950 book ‘The Human Use of Human Beings - Cybernetics and Society’, emphasised the importance of "good" communication to the wellbeing of society. The lesson these two pandemics teach us is that accurate information delivered to the general public on a daily basis but most especially in crisis times can help equip the population with the right tools. In contrast, the presence of ambiguous, contradictory information could cause chaos and entropy which according to Wiener is an evil that needs to be combated at all costs.