Stories and News No. 1272
Dear Aldous Huxley, come on, let's not exaggerate.
I say this with all due respect and admiration. You know, The New World is still today one of my favorite dystopian science fiction novels, extremely topical, but despite what you wrote in one of your essays in the 1958 - and no one can deny how prophetic and modern it is, that is an observation valid only speaking in general, right?
In this actual case, given the timing, it would be incredibly sensational, don't you think?
Yes, all right, I also read the recent warning about homophobic and racist media reports about the Monkeypox virus, guilty of pointing the finger particularly at LGBTI and African people.
But these are just the usual bad apples, and besides, try to be understanding. After what we have been through in the last three years, facing the nightmare of a new epidemic, it is normal to react in a not very lucid way.
At the beginning I mean, it's clear.
Yes, of course, I understand what you are referring to, but it is precisely for this reason that I am convinced that your observation is exaggerated and at least premature.
And then, from what I read, there is no need to be alarmed in the same way, here.
It seems that in most cases the disease spreads little and is less severe than the smallpox itself.
On the other hand, the lesson imparted by the latter speaks clearly: between the end of the ‘50s - coincidentally at the same time you published your famous quote - and the last ‘70s, vaccinations saved millions of people.
Of course, your citation would be more than reasonable when applied to the questionable way in which part of us dealt with the spread of Covid 19. In some cases we are talking about entire nations, essentially due to the gullibility of their respective rulers, but this time - as I said earlier - the timing is so striking that otherwise we should be branded as the most idiotic species in the entire multiverse.
Sorry, Aldous, but after what happened in the world as a result of Covid, where unfortunately the aforementioned mild form of smallpox should be far more lethal, or another, dangerous viral form emerged, do you really believe that...
I hope you're joking. Forgive me, but do you really think that at this point, once terrified by smallpox or by those who tell about it, we could attack, insult or even discriminate on the street, in the workplace, at school or by social media people identifiable as Africans or belonging to any kind of people considered non-canonical?
We did it with the Chinese not even three years ago and even after, I cannot disagree, but Covid is still here, come on...
And then, even when if the usual fake news sellers will exploit this to feed hatred, this time people will no longer fall for it.
The timing, I repeat, is so extraordinary.
Could you really see someone starting to rave on internet or a tv show that in some African village a shaman with confused sexuality created the aforementioned Monkeypox to infect the good people of the world, and that someone else can believe such bullshit?
Come on, Aldous, be reasonable.
I told you at the very beginning and I'm going to say it again.
Your well-known aphorism - That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history - is undoubtedly well founded and bitterly proved.
But at least this time we will be the exception that confirms the rule.
Because the lesson is still fresh in our heads and eyes. We will be better, you will see.
PS: I keep telling myself that, but why doesn't it relax me at all?