By: Sydney Comstock (Bio below)
(Falconer 2020)
My post will use social media and newspaper articles to discern how people in the United States of who are protesting the stay-at-home orders interpret the different risks associated with COVID-19, whether that be biological, social, or legal and how this affects global health overall. I will begin to understand this question by using the theoretical frameworks introduced by Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock in the three different ways the body can be viewed; individual body-self, a social body, and as a body politic, a possession of the state.
As corona-virus hits our society, most people are grappling with having to sacrifice for the public health requirements; wearing cloth masks in public, staying 6 feet apart, not leaving their homes, using sanitizing wipes for everything coming into the house. This is a huge lifestyle change from what we were doing before, with important life events being cancelled. Some people, seemingly angry with the requirements that are in place to protect themselves and others, have taken to protesting in multiple states across the country against the stay-at-home orders. To discern the reasons why these individuals, want to endanger their lives and protest, I will be analyzing direct quotes and signage from the protesters through news articles. Then I will use theoretical frameworks introduced by Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock about the three ways the body is viewed, individual body-self, social, and body politic, as well as how this is associated with bodily risk and individualism. This theory will enable me to understand how people view their body in the event of this health crisis, why they are willing to sacrifice their health, and how this, in turn, affects global health. The main reasons that individuals are protesting that were made clear through my research are financial, individualistic, and ideological.
(Falconer 2020)
One of the first reasons that became clear to me through the quotes of individuals was that staying at home and not being able to work to have an income is hard for many people financially because he stay-at-home orders are hard on the working class who cannot afford to take time off of their jobs. One woman from the protests in Detroit who owns a cleaning business said she went to the rally to tell the politicians that quarantining is really hard, she had had to furlough her employees, she explained that, “everyone is laughing about all the closets they’ve organized and the Netflix they’ve watched, but there are so many people who are not living in quarantine that way…Not everybody can put on their fashionable lounge-wear and get on Zoom” (Bosman, Tavernise, and Baker 2020). This quote illustrates a divide between classes in how the quarantine is affecting people. United States as a capitalist society has enforced the idea that people should put their body on the line to be able to produce against all odds, even in a situation where quarantine in necessary. Another Michigan resident expressed the same sentiment, explaining that he joined the protest because he wanted to make a point about the economic problems due to the quarantine and he says that “this was very much about working people and our livelihoods and not wanting to be bankrupt and go into a depression” (Bosman, Tavernise, and Baker 2020). Schepher-Hughes and Locke describe how industrialized societies create body alienation that is linked to capitalist mode of production where the manual and mental labors are divided (Scheper-Hughes and Lock 1987). These individuals protesting are immersed in these capitalist ideals and see their body to be used to produce a product, rather being allowed by the economic structure of the United States to keep it safe and take time off work.
(Falconer 2020)
Another reason people feel the need to protest is their fear that the stay-at-home orders are an infringement on their constitutional rights and liberties. There is a worry that these individuals have that the government is telling them what to do with their bodies and they want to take back control. In the California protests many people had signs saying, “Defend Freedom” or “End his tyranny…” (Blood and AP 2020). These signs indicate a fear of their own government. Viewing this through the framework of body politic, which refers to the regulation, surveillance, and control of bodies in multiple aspects, including in work and leisure (Scheper-Hughes and Lock 1987). One resident stated that, “I’m really fed up with what’s going on… I don’t like my freedom to be put in jeopardy” (Blood and AP 2020). Another individual in Washington state emphasized that “we believe that the state governor has gone beyond his constitutional authority in shutting down businesses and ordering people to stay at home” (Maqbool 2020). However, these protests against state governments are dangerous for the health of the country. There is a personal responsibility that individuals have when they are a part of a society for their behaviors that can prevent the spread of disease and promote the health of the community (Cochran 2017). These protests argue for freedom and are happening when the organization of public life is being altered and these individuals are expressing their dissent for the loss of those norms. However, assembling and not wearing masks or respecting a 6 foot rule, is hazardous to the rest of the community.
(Falconer 2020)
Finally, there is an ideological aspect to these protests, people who go to these rallies are usually individuals who lean conservatively which connects to the aggressive individualism ideals that this side holds and can affect the country's overall health. President Trump has tweeted his support for these protests, posting statements such as “LIBERATE MINNESOTA”, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” and“LIBERATE VIRGINIA” (BBC News 2020). The ideas of liberation and individualism are supported by the conservative ideology and the culture in the United States supports the communal value of patriotism but in other communal values, such as the common good, the support is lacking (Cochran 2017). These values are the ones that can help flatten the curve for the virus and make the stay-at-home orders work more effectively because people recognize the need of the community. Many people at these rallies have conservative shirts and paraphernalia, showing their support for Trump, indicating these rallies did not start organically. While the feelings and anger are real, they are actually being coordinated at the national level, with conservative organizations who had a hand in creating the Tea Party (Greene 2020). These ideas about individualism can severely affect health because of the distrust of the government and it's policies. The ideas of the government meddling in individuals’ lives is distinctly conservative, and this individualistic ethos is seen in the political movements of the conservative Tea Party wing of the Republican Party (Glass and Rud 2012). The health of the community is affected when there is a disease that is this virulent and people are not following the social distancing orders to prevent the spread. Studies have found connections between individualism and the number of infectious disease outbreaks because of their susceptibility (Morand and Walther 2018). People who are ideologically conservative are more likely to support policies where the government is less hands on which can lead to people who will not follow directives that they feel are too intrusive, which is turn affect the health of the rest of the country because these actions allow the disease can spread.
While many people may not recognize this, but the public health measures and the events of the corona-virus within the United States is considered global health. This disease can and has easily crossed boarders, which makes this an event that affects everyone. In response to the virulent disease there must be heavy handed multi-lateral responses to this outbreak with cooperation from individuals. The different interpretations of risk to the body associated with the biological, economic, or legal fall out from the disease, directly affect the ability of the public health response to be successful. With this disease, the health problems of accessibility and affordability to quality have been revealed, connecting this problem to the field of global health. Many people think about these problems as only ones that happen in “third-world” countries and are problems that international professionals in global health take care of, but these issues are happening here in the U.S. These protests, while infuriating for many individuals who are following the quarantine orders and are afraid of getting the virus, illustrate these problems in the U.S. culture that has persisted. Individuals who feel they have to keep working because of financial burdens or access to healthcare, are skeptical of their government, and hold individualism as the highest standard, showcase the issues in American culture that allow the virus to affect our community.
References
BBC News. 2020. “Trump Defends Tweets against US States’ Lockdowns,” April 18, 2020, sec. US & Canada. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52330531.
Blood, Michael R., and Adam Beam | AP. 2020. “Protests Mark Growing Unrest with California Stay-Home Order.” Washington Post. May 1, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/protests-mark-growing-unrest-with-california- stay-home-order/2020/05/01/94ddd064-8c08-11ea-80df-d24b35a568ae_story.html.
Bosman, Julie, Sabrina Tavernise, and Mike Baker. 2020. “Why These Protesters Aren’t Staying Home for Coronavirus Orders.” The New York Times, April 23, 2020, sec. U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/us/coronavirus-protesters.html.
Cochran, Clarke. 2017. “How Individualism Undermines Our Health Care.” Shared Justice. June 14, 2017. http://www.sharedjustice.org/most-recent/2017/6/14/how-individualism- undermines-our-health-care.
Falconer, Orion Rummler, Rebecca. 2020. “In Photos: Michigan Holds New Round of Protests against Stay-at-Home Order.” Axios. April 29, 2020. https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-protest-social-distancing-1bc7fb5a-b94c-471e-adf2- c50bfad4f242.html.
Glass, Gene V, and A. G. Rud. 2012. “The Struggle Between Individualism and Communitarianism: The Pressure of Population, Prejudice, and the Purse.” Review of Research in Education 36 (1): 95–112. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X11422863.
Greene, David. 2020. “Protesters Across The Country Demand COVID-19 Restrictions Be Lifted.” Morning Edition. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2020/04/20/838297652/protesters-across-the-country-demand- covid-19-restrictions-be-lifted.
Maqbool, Aleem. 2020. “Why so Much US Resistance to the Lockdown?” BBC News, April 27, 2020, sec. US & Canada. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52417610.
Morand, Serge, and Bruno A. Walther. 2018. “Individualistic Values Are Related to an Increase in the Outbreaks of Infectious Diseases and Zoonotic Diseases.” Scientific Reports 8 (1): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22014-4.
Scheper-Hughes, Nancy, and Margaret M. Lock. 1987. “The Mindful Body: A Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Anthropology.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 1 (1): 6–41.
Sydney Comstock is a graduating senior at Wake Forest University, majoring in Political Science and Anthropology as well as a minor in history. She is very interested in public health and medical anthropology and is hoping to eventually get her MPH.
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