COVID-19: Who do you blame a pandemic on?
Every crisis needs a good scapegoat. In the case of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, we seem to have found multiple ones.
We linked this pandemic to various causes — from bats and Chinese culinary adventurism, to natural habitat destruction and industrial food production — each championed by its own chorus of archangels ranging from environmental scientists to first-world Gaia-worshipping vegans.
While we must never deny anyone the glory of their ‘I told you so’ moments, this seems to be as far as many of us are willing to go.
The role played by global economic structures that fomented this pandemic is obscured behind our small indignations.
When we hear concerns expressed about the effects of the pandemic on the economy, we don’t realise we have it all backwards. Diseases are not a threat to the economy.
