Medical social control in the Covid 19 era

Stigmatizing health narratives, along with the specter of plague, have historically been used by authorities to justify the suppression of civil unrest and liberties. European Jews, blamed for the bubonic plague, were scapegoated to manage class struggles in the late Middle Ages. Chinese ‘New World’ immigrants, blamed for tuberculosis in the 19th century, were scapegoated by authorities as sources of societal decay. The early 20th century witnessed ‘tramps’ blamed for smallpox, which distracted the populace from capitalist exploitation. In 2020, Covid-19, blamed by Western leaders on China, deflected public attention away from the 2019 worldwide uprisings, turning it against individuals of Asian descent. Finally, groupings of diverse ethnicities, religions, classes, and political affiliations, coalescing around scepticism about, or resistance to, official Covid-19 policies, have been blamed for prolonging the Covid-19 crisis. These narratives, unleashing hate and violence, are alike in that they require a deh