Our Pandemic War

For one and a half years the pandemic war has been haunting us. Instead of coming to an end, cases are undergoing a very dramatic escalation in July. At present, Indonesia is the epicenter of the pandemic. Almost every day, more than 50,000 fall victim to it. Reports of deaths repeatedly circulate on social media. Infection appears before the eyes of parents, children, relatives and friends.

It’s hard to deny that SARS-CoV-2 has performed faster and smarter maneuvers than scientists have. This virus seems to have shapeshifted into an angel of death harvesting our population on a daily basis. It is unclear whether there is any solution to this disease or whether it is part of blind fate. The pandemic war should be simpler than other wars. We are not fighting each other but we are battling our common enemy, which is the virus.

So why has the war on COVID-19, although discussed every day on various media outlets, become far more complicated than it should be? The main cause lies with something intrinsic to humans: communication.

Also read:

> Communication Narrative amid the Outbreak

> Misleading Information about Covid-19 Can Kill

In the extreme situation today, communication cannot just be ordinary. Sympathy should be guided by intelligence in order to protect ourselves and others. Communicative connection has to be made through social distancing. Connection at a distance requires the capacity of abstraction, which gives rise to empathy.

This is not easy. We have been accustomed to touching by eliminating distance and considering abstractions without empathy. This uncommon communication in the pandemic war needs self-mastery. Many people haven’t developed it yet. Therefore, health protocols feel burdensome rather than protective. In the pandemic war, mask wearing, distancing and refraining from gathering constitute citizens’ virtues and are part of state defense.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Funeral officials await the arrival of an ambulance carrying the body for burial according to the Covid-19 protocol at the Padurenan TPU, Bekasi City, West Java, Friday (16/7/2021). Data from the Ministry of Health recorded 1,205 cases of Covid-19 deaths on Friday (16/7/2021) and became the highest daily death rate during the pandemic that hit the country.

Pandemic behaviorism

Our pandemic war management is not typical. Throughout the world, COVID-19 is countered with the formula of health protocols and vaccination. Science is aware of the behavior of this virus.

Every day the numbers of cases of infection, recovery and mortality are statistically calculated. The public is also informed of daily combat results. We lose if the total of recoveries is smaller than that of deaths. We win if the number of confirmed cases decreases. The results are related to the behavior of our population. Disciplined behavior is rewarded with victory. Indiscipline is bound to suffer loss. Pandemic behaviorism applies here.

From the pattern, technical solutions are discerned. If a battle is lost, the government will impose zonal quarantine (lockdown). If it is won, the public is allowed some relaxation. Everything can be explained in a more or less objective and measured way.

Nations that observe discipline and are willing to learn from the mechanism begin to enjoy the outcome of their pandemic management. Now they have dared to take off their masks, but it offers the hope that the pandemic can be defeated. Pandemic behaviorism certainly is not everything, but it can adequately guide national behavior.

Also read:

> The Irony of the Flood of Public Information

> The Disinformation Epidemic

Behaviorism of course has its limitations to be identified. A dog’s behavior, as in the experiment of Pavlov, follows the stimulus-response pattern. Humans are different. The reward and punishment system does not readily stimulate or motivate humans. They are free creatures that have consciousness and read symbols. In order to be motivated, communication is needed. All intricacies arise from here and make our pandemic war no longer simple.

In our country many people are still disobedient and in disagreement. The coronavirus is an objective fact, about the same as the law of gravity, but our people view it differently. Unfortunately, each of them feels what he or she thinks is right. Some are convinced the virus is created by the global elite. Others claim health protocols have been invented by the government to control religion.

Amid the confused perceptions, still others seize political advantage by discrediting the government. These are coupled with hoaxes circulating on social media, further obscuring the target of the war. Thus, the war is no longer single but it becomes composite.

Our people are indeed fighting, but it’s for their own interests. They assume that the pandemic war is not their struggle, but rather is the government’s duty. What government can execute the task alone?

KOMPAS/SUPRIYANTO

Supriyanto

Those impacted by the policy of emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM Darurat) – from small to big businesses – are facing three major forces: security personnel, sources of revenue and virus infection. Those still allowed to work from home (WFH) can focus on the prevention of infection. However, the three often simultaneously disrupt the life of common people. Many people are still unaware or refuse to recognize that COVID-19 really exists. This is serious.

What they know is that security officers are hostile. They say it is “safe” in the sense of no officers stopping them. This is our communication tragedy. The state’s intention to protect its people has failed to be communicated.

Toward common perception

Behaviorism is surely the easiest approach for the government because it’s considered objective and measured. For the rational group accustomed to high discipline, the approach is also relatively easy to follow.

Packed hospitals, increasing demand for oxygen and mass burials are enough to control their behavior.

Yet these are not enough to deter those who are facing greater daily difficulties of life. They form an enormous population in our country. For them, gathering, being infected and dying for the sake of worshipping or supporting their families is more meaningful than being healthy by staying at home. They seem to be less aware that we are at war.

The rumbling guided missiles, the smell of bullets, the blood being shed, the yells in battlefields and all such things satisfy our people’s imaginations of classic heroism.

Our people are fond of fighting and ready to sacrifice themselves. Any conflict between Israel and Palestine, for instance, can provoke their demand to be sent there. The rumbling guided missiles, the smell of bullets, the blood being shed, the yells in battlefields and all such things satisfy our people’s imaginations of classic heroism, let alone if they occur overseas. Nonetheless, the war right before their eyes is unseen. The entire classic war landscape is not found in the pandemic war, so it is assumed to be unreal.

Videos or photos showing tens of thousands of patients out of breath as oxygen runs out and thousands of corpses buried under COVID-19 protocols are not yet sufficient to convince many that it’s a real war. It’s hard to connect the tragic sight with the category of struggle and sacrifice. The framing of events circulating on social media makes the pandemic war a kind of artists’ gossip enjoyed while lying. Unsurprisingly, pandemic behaviorism, which is actually simple, still cannot be understood. The problem is not because our people are not smart. They are just so smart at giving meaning to their respective struggles and sacrifices that they find it difficult to agree on the target of our war at present. So the problem is the stubborn attitude.

There is no common perception yet of the danger of the virus. As a result, there is no common perception either of the struggle and sacrifice related to the virus’ danger. “There is nothing in thought that previously was absent in perception,” said Thomas Aquinas. If the perception is divergent how can there be the same thought? Without the same thought can we take action together?

This war has lasted for one and a half years, but a very large number of people are not yet fully aware that we are at war. This was is too abstract for them. In fact, they always need something concrete. Perhaps the pandemic is only perceived as an actual war when the bodies of their loved ones or their own bodies are infected. This is indeed concrete, but it should not happen. The dramatic escalation of cases of infection this month alone should be enough to create our common perception of the struggle and sacrifice to fight this virus.

If it’s impossible to allow rooms for self-isolation, give oxygen to those out of breath or provide basic necessities for those with hunger, at least health protocols should be adhered to. At the present moment, this is the non-illusory way of struggling and sacrificing to help fellow humans and win our pandemic war.

F Budi Hardiman, Lecturer in Philosophy, Pelita Harapan University.

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.