As I was flipping through other Academites’ blogs today, I came upon Jordan’s here and thought I would respond to her most recent post about fear and Ebola.
As Jordan said, ebola is definitely a force to be feared. In fact, the fear of Ebola itself should be feared. Anxiety, if powerful enough, can trick the brain into thinking the body has a certain disease, mimicking the symptoms. This concept, called somatization, becomes a vicious cycle. I remember reading The Cobra Event by Richard Preston in sixth grade and not being able to get through the first two chapters because it scared me so much I thought I was getting brainpox. And that’s me, safe as can be in the USA. I can’t even imagine how terrified I would be if Ebola were a real possibility here. Or how petrified a Sierra Leonean family must be as Ebola spreads all over their town.
So if Ebola is a grave topic, why are Americans being so insensitive? People have been dressing up as plague doctors and other tasteless costumes for years, yet dressing up as cancer or AIDS is a total no-no. So then why are people dressing up as sexy ebola nurses? Plague doctors are more of a historical throwback; large numbers of people haven't been dying from the plague for centuries. But ebola is, for some people, a threat probably more urgent than cancer or AIDS, so why do people joke?
A plague doctor
As far as I’m concerned, one of the top reasons for the insensitivity is denial. Since ebola isn’t likely to reach us here in America (outside of some isolated cases), we can essentially act like it’s not really our concern. Ebola is spreading over there, in Africa, not here. It won’t happen to us.
But then, I’m also reminded of the phrase, “you have to laugh so you don’t cry.” Dark humor, or gallows humor, as offensive as it might be, is in many ways a coping mechanism. So maybe that sexy ebola nurse is a little bit nervous, deep down, about a disease that makes its victims hemorrhage from multiple orifices. So perhaps in one way or another all of us are responding to fear.
Ruxi–
ReplyDeleteI'm really intrigued with your idea of "dark humor" or "gallows humor" to explain why Americans are joking so much about Ebola. I agree with you that it's a little insensitive to joke about it, or at least a little soon; there are still families that are suffering from their losses, both in the US and abroad. I suppose that jokes are the only way that Americans can deal with our worries when a predator is on the lose that is deadly, has no cure, and easily spreadable. This type of humor you speak of reminds me of something we're learning in Psych. Today we began a unit on post-war, or PTSD, psychology: it's effects, how it incapacitates people, etc. We watched a documentary with Vietnam vets recalling their personal accounts during their tours, and while there was the occasional tear and emotional moment, there was this one vet who just couldn't stop laughing. It wasn't a "ha-ha" type of laugh–it was the kind of laugh that made my skin shiver, but because I understand psychology well (thanks to my dad and the fact that I'm in Psych!) I knew the real reason that he was laughing inappropriately: fear. The same reason that Americans are joking about this deadly disease. We don't know how to cope otherwise! Our minds/brains lock away our disturbing association with Ebola in the hippocampus or Frontal lobe (quite the Freudian theory) and place a façade over our fears to mask our insecurities and save ourselves, our own mind, from too much worry, a mask very similar to the one you posted above.
Ruxi,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Ebola is thought of as something that happens over there, with only a few isolated cases in the U.S. You are right, no one dresses up in a cancer or AIDS costume. Everyone knows someone who has fought cancer, or who has died of it. AIDS was seen as a disease of gay people when it first became known in this country, and there was not as much sympathy or even fear of it, as most people who were heterosexual thought that they would not be affected by it, and some condemned the lifestyle and felt it was brought upon themselves. There has been an evolution in the thinking of AIDS, with more sensitivity with the disease, and life saving drugs no longer making it a death sentence. Interesting post.
Ruxi,
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that you point this out as "gallows humor" because I love dark humor, but I find nothing funny about Ebola. I grew up with the world of Tim Burton which is pretty dark, but all those stories have a sense of humanity to them. The Ebola jokes in my opinion are just plain insensitive because they capitalize on fear and ignorance, especially the Ebolaids joke which in my opinion degrades two very serious problems. I hate the USA's attitude towards Ebola especially because while Ebola isn't an American problem, America has the responsibility and ability to contain the disease. Instead of shutting down airports (http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/majority-americans-want-flights-banned-ebola-countries-survey-n221751), we should keep airports open so as to help the transit of doctors and supplies to West Africa. Instead of worrying as to how well equipped our hospitals are to handle Ebola, let's worry about setting up sanitary facilities in Liberia. If we have to act out of selfish reasons, then the rationale should be that containing Ebola now and eradicating the disease in Africa will prevent it from spreading anywhere else. The resources we have need to be spent on strengthening the health infrastructure in the countries that are the hardest hit by Ebola, not our own infrastructure. If we keep telling Ebola jokes, the problem will be dismissed, and Ebola will not be contained. Our language is affecting the quality of our health practices and foreign policy, and it's doing so quite negatively.