Plagues And Epidemics Essay, Research Paper

Plagues and Epidemics

Humans are remarkably good at finding a religious scapegoat for their

problems. There has always been someone to blame for the difficulties we face in

life, such as war, famine, and more relevant, disease. Hitler blames the Jews

for economical woes in a corrupt Germany long after the Romans held the

Christians responsible for everything wrong in a crumbling, has-been empire. In

the fourteenth century, when Plague struck Europe, it was blamed on “?

unfavorable astrological combinations or malignant atmospheres?” (handout p2),

and even “?deliberate combination by witches, Moslems (an idea proposed by

Christians), Christians (proposed by Moslems) and Jews (proposed by both

groups).” (H p2) The point is, someone was to blame even when the obvious

reasons, flea ridden rats, were laying dead on the streets. As time progressed

to the twentieth century, there have been few if any exceptions made to this

phenomena. In the case of Oran, the people raced to find a culprit for the

sudden invasion of their town, which became the unrepentant man. This is one of

Camus? major themes; The way a society deals with an epidemic is to blame it one

someone else. Twenty years ago, when AIDS emerged in the US, homosexual men

became the target of harsh and flagrant discrimination, and even today are still

held accountable by some beliefs. While we may no longer lynch in the nineties,

we do accuse innocent groups, like the gay male population, for the birth and

explosion of AIDS in our society. Given, there are some differences between each

respective situation, but there are striking similarities that cannot be ignored.

As the Plague invaded the town of Oran, the people quarantined within

its walls began to look to their leaders for answers. Most likely these people

had trouble believing that such an awful thing was happening to them, and needed

someone to point the finger at. In the meantime, Father Paneloux was preparing a

speech to answer the questions and fears that surrounded him, and probably vexed

him as well. The truth is, his speech was as much therapeutic as it was didactic,

and in winning the opinion of the public he could calm his own fears. ” If today

the plague is in your midst, that is because the hour has struck for taking

thought. The just man need have no fear, but the evildoer has good cause to

tremble.” (p95) Paneloux is passing the blame, but in a very intriguing way.

“You believed some brief formalities, some bendings of the knee, would

recompense Him well enough for you criminal indifference. But God is not

mocked.” (p97) He has found the blame, the weak observer of Christ, but in the

end, especially in a heavily religious town like Oran, believes they are that

person? Who in the city, after reflecting upon their record of attendance at

church, could find it possible to blame themselves? In his sermon, Paneloux did

not point out a specific group as the cause such as the lower class, but

associated the plague with a general group that is fundamentally vague. It is an

interesting way of passing the blame, in such a manner that puts no certain

group in danger. The fact is that taking into consideration the townspeople?s

manic state of paranoia, to accuse one particular group would be murder. If

Paneloux told the masses that the street cleaners brought the Plague, each and

every one of them would be strung up on the closest available tree. It seems

that Oran provided the blueprints for the AIDS epidemic, relative to how even

today, parts of our society still blame who we feel is a lesser group for the

disease.

In the late seventies, AIDS began its invasion of the US population. For

years it confined itself to the gay community, but as the new decade arrived it

was spreading much more effectively, as heterosexuals, dirty needles, and

infected blood transfusions became efficient avenues for the virus to change

hosts. However, at this time the public was hardly educated about AIDS. They

knew little if anything about how it was spread. In fact, all they really knew

was that the disease is one hundred percent fatal, contagious, and carried

mostly by gay males. Interestingly enough, until the AIDS virus broke into the

heterosexual community, in general no one really bothered themselves with it.

This may be because so little was known about it, even in medical circles, but

there is a definite connection to a “hear no evil, speak no evil” attitude. The

virus was not affecting the straight community, so why bother? However, when

people in the workplace, friends and family began to get sick, panic struck

swiftly. Someone was to blame, and many found specific groups, like homosexuals,

junkies and prostitutes excellent focal points for a certain frustration that

comes from a state of helplessness. These three groups, representing the gutter

of society, were an easy target because the had no leverage in society. The

general public needed a scapegoat, and they had found it. Gays were the foremost

to be blamed, mostly because sodomy is defined In the bible as a grievous sin,

following the story of Sodom. People called the disease “God?s revenge”, His way

to erase an abomination of his creation. Again, this case is remarkably similar

to Oran, because while Father Paneloux blamed it on a much more general group,

it was still a group that angered God, and brought forth his wrath. Even

industry supported this absurd theory, as an infamous T-shirt, using the RAID

bug spray logo, read instead, “AIDS, kills fags dead.”, as opposed to “RAID,

kills bugs dead.” In short, society had found its scapegoat, and would not let

it go. E ven today, after all we?ve learned about the disease, all we?ve found

to be true and untrue, gays are still blamed by some for bringing AIDS into

society, just as the unrepentant man was blamed for bringing the Plague into

Oran.

When an epidemic like AIDS or the Plague attacks a city, state or

country, society deals with it by finding someone to blame it on. People stab in

the dark for the reason problems like AIDS befall them, and religion often

dictates who they will blame. It is a never ending tennis match, where the ball

is the blame being bounced back and fourth, while little or no effort is made to

remedy the situation. The Japanese have a saying, which translates, “when an

archer misses a target, he can only blame himself, and not the target.” This is

a great expression, and makes a lot of sense. However, it is rarely followed in

our society, especially when an epidemic strikes. While we should be finding

ways to cure it, prevent it, learn about it, and come to terms with it, all we

seem capable of doing is finding someone to blame for it.