Covid-19 & Politics: How did we get here?
By: Chelsea Soares
It is no secret that Covid-19 took the world by surprise. Never in any of our lifetimes did we expect to be faced with a global pandemic. It was truly something we only read about in history books. When faced with this global conflict, most thought we would band together and do whatever it took as a united force to get rid of it but that was not the case. As the pandemic began to unfold so did a lot of political unrest in relation to it. Something that should have brought us together was actually driving us further apart.
The Covid-19 pandemic quickly became propaganda in the United States and around the world in no time. There was incentive to get vaccinated and incentives to wear masks and follow the rules. Politicians did not help this case as jokes and personal opinions were being said and flung around the media. This particular image I’ve included shows an Uncle Sam like figure handing a bat to a Covid-19 molecule and behind it is a terrified looking world with a mask on and a vaccine syringe in hand. This image created by Liu Rui, is demonstrating the combative back and forth between political parties and how governments response is seen and responded to by the world.
I think the bat is a very large symbol in this image. The bat being handed to the Covid-19 molecule describes the power it has over everyone and how Covid-19 was given the power to become a political framework. This incites an emotional response in people based on the political party they belong to. Some people may be able to see through the propaganda and realize the point we are at in politics and how Covid-19 was taken seriously by some but not all. This image can invoke thought by processing how Covid-19 became so political and just reflecting on our most recent presidential election and how Covid-19 played in election propaganda and how each side portrayed a different Covid-19 reality.
This message is meant to inform and invoke reflection in relation to our own views regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and how our government handled it. This message wants us to think about all we have seen in the news regarding Covid-19 and think about what is political and what is actual health related evidence and facts. It is so interesting that political polarization has brought us to this point that a vaccine status can indicate one’s political party affiliation. I think this message is beneficial in the sense that it requires us to think about what is helping or harming us during this time as we navigate this pandemic world. This message can hopefully inspire viewers to do their own research about what gets skewed in the media as propaganda. Hopefully we can get to a point where Covid-19 is not a political conversation but a health related conversation.
An important aspect to Covid-19 propaganda as a whole is that nothing about this conversation was united and looked at from a health standpoint. In the pandemic’s early days, we heard jokes from Donald Trump and memes online poking at what was going to begin here. It seems that from the start, health was not the main focus. We saw posters claiming to get vaccinated and wear a mask and campaigns using quotes and imagery to convince people to take the shot. The one thing we forgot to do as a nation is address health and answer peoples questions and concerns. Somehow we got to this point where we ridicule others for not getting the vaccine or for getting the vaccine without looking into the health of the people in the United States and hidden concerns about the vaccine that if answered could encourage more people to get it.
We have seen the conversation on vaccines become a communication crisis. Online there is profound misinformation and overly hopeful promises about what the vaccine is supposed to do. This begins with our leaders. Our leaders truly have the power to educate and influence political parties. Our leaders made the mistakes of not going in with a health mindset but one of political messaging. If our leaders took the time to share and recognize the questions, concerns and facts about the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccine, there is a possibility that some of the unrest we have seen in the past 2 years could have been avoided. That is why I think this message of propaganda does such a phenomenal job of getting viewers to think critically about what has been happening in the United States in regards to politics surrounding Covid-19. I think as viewers and people in society under our government we need to take it upon ourselves to do the research and I enjoy how this image of Covid-19 political propaganda exemplifies that.
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