Bernard Henri Levy’s latest book, The Virus in the Age of Madness, contains a striking quote from Rudolf Virchow, the 19th century father of pathological anatomy: ‘An epidemic is a social phenomenon that has some medical aspects’. He was right. Catastrophes are society’s great illuminators. From Pompeii to coronavirus, the governing axiom is clear: if you want to discover the essence of something, stress test it. As we start to emerge from the first chapter of what will be, I suspect, a long coronavirus saga, what has the virus taught us about ourselves?
There are several answers. It has revealed how divided we are; and posed the question of how much influence in political affairs we should give to the medical experts we defer to. Most immediately, if the virus has made one thing clear it’s that the culture war we have been fighting ever since we decided to answer a yes-no question along almost 50-50 lines remains very much alive.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in