pandemic 2

MONITOR AND PUNISH? YES, PLEASE!
and China to make him lose the election, while some on
the Left denounce the measures proposed by the state and
health apparatuses as tainted by xenophobia and therefore
insist on continuing social interaction, symbolized by
still shaking hands. Such a stance misses the paradox: not
to shake hands and isolate when needed IS today’s form
of solidarity.
Who, going forward, will be able to afford to continue
shaking hands and embracing? The privileged few,
that’s who. Boccaccio’s Decameron is composed of stories
told by a group of seven young women and three young
men sheltering in a secluded villa just outside Florence to
escape the plague which afflicted the city. The financial
elite will similarly withdraw into secluded zones where
they will amuse themselves by telling stories in the manner
of The Decameron, while we, ordinary people, will
have to live with viruses.
What I find especially annoying is how, when our
media and other powerful institutions announce some
closure or cancellation, they as a rule add a fixed temporal
limitation, informing us, for instance, that the “schools
will be closed till April 4.” The big expectation is that, after
the peak, which should arrive fast, things will return to
normal. In this fashion, I have already been informed that
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