So far, only one person has died in America since the Ebola outbreak - and the person who died was not an American. Since all Americans who have contracted the virus have survived, one may wonder whether any American would die from the virus. The countries that have borne the brunt of the virus are Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia - these countries have lost over 5,000 people in all.
However, if one hears the way the Republicans are playing the story in America, one may be forgiven for thinking that many Americans have already lost their lives in this Ebola epidemic. That no American life has been lost in the process and that one sees much fear around speaks to the kind of politics that the Republicans thrive on in America. Republican politics thrive on fear. Since many Americans have been taught to live in fear, this politics of fear has become very potent in recent American history. Never mind that many of these republicans are supposed to be Christians who are taught not to live in fear! Since fear pays in politics, it is wise to help people live in fear. It is interesting that it is President Barack Obama, whom some Republicans believe is not a Christian, who is calling on Americans not to live in fear. (Obama is of course a Christian).
A recent manifestation of this politics of fear was the war in Iraq. It came to pass that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction - the main reason that was given for the war. Yet we lost thousands of lives there and billions of dollars. George W. Bush won the 2004 elections because of this politics of fear. All over, the specter of a terrorist attacks on America was raised during the 2004 election, never mind that 9/11 happened under the watch of George W. Bush. The fear led Americans to mute the voices of those who held that there was no good reason to go to war in Iraq.
Now, Republicans are saying that the most viable way to fight the Ebola virus is to ban people from the Ebola affected parts of West Africa from coming to the United States. Never mind that good science suggests that it is better to fight the disease at its source rather than trying to shut down borders. No; republicans who talked about mushroom clouds before the war in Iraq, suggesting that it would be better for the war to be fought in Iraq than for it to be brought here, have suddenly forgotten their own advise. This is quite convenient given that when one thrives on fear, science becomes an inconvenience.
In all this, those who are actually doing the dying in Africa, are left out of the discussion. If you shut the borders and ban flights, you would not have to worry about deaths that happen far away. America had tried before to shut itself off from the rest of the world. It did not go well.
However, if one hears the way the Republicans are playing the story in America, one may be forgiven for thinking that many Americans have already lost their lives in this Ebola epidemic. That no American life has been lost in the process and that one sees much fear around speaks to the kind of politics that the Republicans thrive on in America. Republican politics thrive on fear. Since many Americans have been taught to live in fear, this politics of fear has become very potent in recent American history. Never mind that many of these republicans are supposed to be Christians who are taught not to live in fear! Since fear pays in politics, it is wise to help people live in fear. It is interesting that it is President Barack Obama, whom some Republicans believe is not a Christian, who is calling on Americans not to live in fear. (Obama is of course a Christian).
A recent manifestation of this politics of fear was the war in Iraq. It came to pass that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction - the main reason that was given for the war. Yet we lost thousands of lives there and billions of dollars. George W. Bush won the 2004 elections because of this politics of fear. All over, the specter of a terrorist attacks on America was raised during the 2004 election, never mind that 9/11 happened under the watch of George W. Bush. The fear led Americans to mute the voices of those who held that there was no good reason to go to war in Iraq.
Now, Republicans are saying that the most viable way to fight the Ebola virus is to ban people from the Ebola affected parts of West Africa from coming to the United States. Never mind that good science suggests that it is better to fight the disease at its source rather than trying to shut down borders. No; republicans who talked about mushroom clouds before the war in Iraq, suggesting that it would be better for the war to be fought in Iraq than for it to be brought here, have suddenly forgotten their own advise. This is quite convenient given that when one thrives on fear, science becomes an inconvenience.
In all this, those who are actually doing the dying in Africa, are left out of the discussion. If you shut the borders and ban flights, you would not have to worry about deaths that happen far away. America had tried before to shut itself off from the rest of the world. It did not go well.
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