SOCIAL PANDEMIC 03/08/21
If you want to paint a picture of time, you might want to gather images and characters to represent moods and expressions of reality of that time. The mural may depict natural unseen phenomena of time.
If social reality is social realism, then the aspects of reality is socialism. My Social Relations seeks to validate these aspects into objective outcomes towards the stability of society. And the social endeavour is to depict images to represent what is not readily visible. So an artist or sociologist might learn not only to read expressions and postures, but also attempt to explain social phenomena that are not readily visible.
This is different from media images of stories for some media agents are paid to promote images and characters relating to a political party or business and corporate venture. They deploy such methods as sensationalism by the application of colour and tone to attract the audience.
Politicians themselves use popular images and issues to influence popular opinions. And they hire the media to signpost their advertisements in public.
That is why I like to think that sociologists are true artists in bringing about phenomenal events to reality.
Say the period in question is post pandemic era. It is a global trend that right wing leaning governments favour businesses to open and for employees to go to work. This opinion has a political following of anti-vaxxers and protesting against lockdowns.
The paid media would obviously capitalise on anti-vaxxers' sentiment by zooming in on anti-protest to lockdowns. They capture an item of trauma by repeated images of rioting subtly recorded in the subconscious. And the subject remembers a sad event that helps change his/her opinion.
And in so doing, they have in fact misrepresent information and distort reality to achieve their desired outcome. This is true of fake news and delved into polarisation of society. It's designed to achieve the desired outcome favouring right wing nationalists who happened to be anti-vaxxers anti-lockdown.
The paid and privately owned media may have indirectly weaponised the virus by presenting the one side of reality. At the same time, an artist may depict an image of an invisible struggle in the family brought about by the pandemic.
So what they don't show you is the other half or reality. And this usually involved employees. The most common feeling shared among employees especially working parents is guilt. A parent obviously has a family and maybe a couple of kids.
He/she feels guilty when work is under lockdown, but the guilt is minimised by MSD support for workers affected by lockdowns. However, should a parent is forced to work under pandemic conditions, he/she is surely fearful for the security of his/her family. That is; should a parent catches the virus and subjected to serious infection and maybe death, the guilt becomes a heavy burden. And he/she could be suffering not from the virus itself but from a mental illness.
During a period of lockdown, there might also be an economic slowdown. And working parents also blamed themselves for the slowdown to add to their guilt.
While we are aware of safety conditions to protect ourselves, visitors are the ones bringing the virus into the country. In here, immigration is put under pressure by the anti-vaxxers right wing camp by not issuing visas to allow immigrants and their families in to fill employment positions.
Considering the changing nature of covid-19, the best way to protect oneself is to be fully vaccinated. According to WHO, there is a small chance of someone who is fully vaccinated to catch the virus. That's why it's important to mind the spaces in large crowds, in indoor; wear a mask in some areas and wash hands regularly.
The sooner we are all vaccinated the quicker we are back to work and drive the economy at full speed again.
The publicised symptoms of the virus include, fatigue, shortness of breath, joint pain, chest pain, coughing, loss of sense of smell, confusion, headaches, and muscle pains. Now, you can add social /psychological effects of fear, heavy heart and guilt to the symptoms.
I know, political doctors may tell you it's all in your head or don't worry about it it's nothing. But a good doctor may spend the time or refer you to a therapist for a chat.
Like paid media which reflects only half of reality, a conventional medical examination only diagnose the physical condition, but deprived the mental and social conditions that makes up your whole being.
So the social pandemic is a state by which the spread of the virus is related to misinformation, political opposition and confusion. As a result, individuals breach a space threshold that droplets may be passed on to the other by simply breathing. The initial state of the spread is either contained by protective and medical measures, but failure has given rise to severe outbreaks.
It is then that a pro-vaxxers group came to being and demanded the resignation of those in charge.