
Covid, Twitter, and Critique: An Interview with Carlo Caduff - mrfusion
http://www.americananthropologist.org/2020/07/02/covid-twitter-and-critique-an-interview-with-carlo-caduff/
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mrfusion
Interesting quote:

the virus has killed many people; it’s dramatic in many ways. But when you
look at the numbers, you need to compare this with other kinds of disasters
and diseases that are happening every year. We know that tuberculosis kills
1.3 million people every year; HIV/AIDS kills 770,000; malaria kills 400,000.
And then there’s dengue. And then there’s diarrhea. Influenza, in a severe
season, kills up to 500,000 people. In 1968, there was an influenza pandemic
that killed between 2 and 4 million people. We don’t see these numbers of TB,
HIV/AIDS, and malaria deaths displayed on TV on a daily basis.

So that, then, raises the question: Why are we responding in such a huge,
massive way for COVID-19, but when it comes to TB or AIDS or malaria or even
influenza, we’re not mobilizing as many resources?

Are these deaths acceptable? What’s the politics of acceptability? Why is it
acceptable that so many people are dying from TB or malaria each year? These
are preventable and treatable conditions. To me, this is a question of
justice, equality, and solidarity—a question of understanding how we determine
the value of life and the inequalities we find acceptable or not. And then
there are the people who will die due to the lockdown, due to lack of food,
loss of income, and disruption of ordinary medical care.

