A Tale of Two Plagues

 



"Defoe’s novel shows how far we’ve come medically, scientifically, and technologically, as well as in terms of our collective ability to manage emergencies. But it also shows, if you needed more proof, that people haven’t changed. Quacks and miracle cures, which flourished during the plague, are still with us, despite our far higher levels of education and the existence of real medicine

Defoe’s narrator was ahead of us in another crucial way: He resists the popular idea that the plague was God’s judgment on the unrighteous, noting that good and bad people were equally likely to be struck down. He was smarter than today’s fundamentalists who blame disasters on gays, feminists, and liberals—to say nothing of Trumpies who believe the coronavirus is a Democratic hoax or Rush Limbaugh, who told his millions of listeners that it’s called Covid-19 because it’s the 19th coronavirus, thus obviously something that happens all the time. (In fact, 19 stands for 2019, the year Covid-19 began.)

The fecklessness and selfishness of the rich is another human constant. "
read article by Katha Pollitt​

A Tale of Two Plagues | The Nation