Ian Bruma: Virus of fear

Ian Middot; Bruma

In September 1923, the Great Kanto earthquake in Japan destroyed most of Tokyo, mainly due to the fire caused by the earthquake.The rumors have been circulating around, and it has repeatedly appeared on the mainstream media, accusing North Korea of the contempt and poverty ethnic minorities, and plans to use this disaster to launch a violent rebellion.The Japanese Volunteer Army held a long sword, bamboo spear, and even firearms, and then began to attack the appearance and accent like a Korean.As many as 6,000 people were murdered, the police watched their sleeves and sometimes participated.

This phenomenon is by no means unique to Japan.The unpopular ethnic minorities who are unpopular of mobs are still very common.Soon when Hindu began to kill Muslims in Delhi, the Indian policemen were standing on their sleeves like the Japanese authorities in 1923, and even thought that Muslims should be punished.Or the history of Europe and the American history that is not too long, you can find similar or even more serious criminal and massacre cases.

Irrational violence is often caused by panic.Panic is likely to follow a natural disaster or sanitary crisis.The lack of real public information can lead to conspiracy theories. When politicians or media deliberately incite, conspiracy theories will cause fatal losses.

In Japan in 1923, the Ministry of Internal Affairs asked the police to be vigilant about the seemingly troublesome Koreans.In Delhi, Kapil Mishra, the local Politicist of the Indian People's Party, pressured the police to severely suppress Muslim's peaceful protest assembly in advance, otherwise he would incite the people to destroy the rally.

At present, does the panic caused by the 2019 coronary virus disease have similar consequences?Fortunately, so far, the massacre has not yet erupted.But at least it can be said that the behavior of some politicians is worrying.In Italy, Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Right -wing opposition, said immigrants were both carriers of viruses and threats to the country, and criticized the government to rescue the behavior of African refugees.Right -wing nationalists in Greece called for the establishment of refugee concentration camps to protect the people of the country from infection.

There is also US President Trump.He mainly worried that panic caused by coronal virus would hurt the US stock market.Therefore, the first thing he did was to blame political opponents for the politicalization of this infectious disease.This is obviously not the best way to let the public fully understand the information, but leave a solid foundation for the conspiracy theory.

Trump's son Trump further claimed that Democrats hope that this disease will kill hundreds of millions of Americans, just to drag his father.Tom Cotton, a potential presidential candidate, and the Republican senator of Arkansas, repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly demolished rumors, saying that the Chinese government created coronary virus as biomonettes.

When such ridiculous remarks cause strong public protests, sometimes it is temporarily eased, but it has caused damage.A friend in New York saw a large white man last week, how to blame two women who look like Asian, saying that he hopes that they can be killed by the coronal virus, just like the people who kill you in Hiroshima.

This person is obviously confusing.Most Americans, including most white men, are shocked by this behavior.The problem is that when the famous senators and other senior officials start selling malicious conspiracy theories, these mental chaos will feel that they can say something that cannot be said, and do something that is usually unavoidable.There is no mental disorder in society to appear mobs.

Therefore, it is wrong to blame those who are madly killed in the name of race, politics or religious ideology.Anders Breivik killed 77 people in Norway in 2011, claiming that the purpose was to save Western from Marxism, multiculturalism, and Muslims. People like him may indeed be the only wolf.However, at least some kind of responsibility to spread conspiracy theories to ignite such killer thinking.This is also applicable to Muslim extremists who call on the jihadic battle against evil heterogeneous battles, or those who claim to carry terrible diseases are political people who are threatening their country.

Like all diseases that can lead to large epidemic diseases, crown disease is a threat.However, Trump tried to cut the budget of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and did not replace the team of the National Security Council responsible for responding to epidemic diseases.President and his supporters do not trust experts, and Vice President Pence, who accepts the battle to lead the leadership of crown disease, is suspected of science at all.

To curb disease that threatens global, it is necessary to rely on science, not prayer.Building high walls or driving people into concentration camps is neither humane nor effective remedial measures. Using crisis incite hate may also lead to fatal consequences.At this moment, what is needed is professional knowledge, international cooperation, and political leaders enough to soothe people's words.Unfortunately, there are too many places in the world, and we are witnessing exactly the opposite behavior.

Author Ian Buruma is a writer, and the latest book is Tokyo Romantic History: A Tokyo Romance: A Memoir)

English Title: The Virus of Fear