Frag-Ments
Purell is Magic
By: Andy Pragacz
Issue date: 10/23/09 Section: Opinion
As already stated, the intention behind the H1N1 response is well-meaning. Of course benevolent intentions are no assurance of goodness; it is however an explicit attempt to modify and control social behavior.
I am not saying that H1N1 has no connection to science but rather that science, once it is taken up in politics, becomes political. More than that, the meaning of science has changed in its relationship to the nation-state and the capitalist economy.
There has been a lot of speculation that disciplines and "spheres" of life (i.e. economic, religious, etc.) become more distinct through modernity, it is often claimed as the marker of modernity.
Science today, however, not only progresses understanding of the world but also does service to people (a.k.a. the nation). Science has the necessity to be useful to the nation state. This is the case for all academic disciplines-all are caught kneeling at the shire of the nation-state from time to time.
The purpose in pointing all this out is that one should not take away from this article series that science has been co-opted by political interests to keep us docile and productive. If we conclude this, then it would be appropriate to encourage science and the scientific community to become pertinent in the response to public health crisis. By pointing out that the scientific situation now, however, has been intrinsically altered through its place in the state, then we must reject the aforementioned claim. In fact, if science had it its way, we may all be in quarantine right now. It may turn out that politics safe-guards us from the hegemony of science. And again the same is true for all of the academic disciplines. We don't want philosopher-kings any more than we want tyrants and even less than we want economists controlling the nation (even though they already do).
As already noted, H1N1 is a scare tactic used to control the way we interact in the world. Since Macalester is ostensibly an education institution, the effort here is not an explicit attempt to scare students and faculty like sensational TV reports and the like. Rather the campaign is focused on informing community members about the dangers of this illness and how to "protect" oneself against it. Many institutions are being much more militant about H1N1 so we have to give Macalester due credit in this respect. But every bottle of hand sanitizer is a political object immediately identifiable with the "crisis."
I am not saying that H1N1 has no connection to science but rather that science, once it is taken up in politics, becomes political. More than that, the meaning of science has changed in its relationship to the nation-state and the capitalist economy.
There has been a lot of speculation that disciplines and "spheres" of life (i.e. economic, religious, etc.) become more distinct through modernity, it is often claimed as the marker of modernity.
Science today, however, not only progresses understanding of the world but also does service to people (a.k.a. the nation). Science has the necessity to be useful to the nation state. This is the case for all academic disciplines-all are caught kneeling at the shire of the nation-state from time to time.
The purpose in pointing all this out is that one should not take away from this article series that science has been co-opted by political interests to keep us docile and productive. If we conclude this, then it would be appropriate to encourage science and the scientific community to become pertinent in the response to public health crisis. By pointing out that the scientific situation now, however, has been intrinsically altered through its place in the state, then we must reject the aforementioned claim. In fact, if science had it its way, we may all be in quarantine right now. It may turn out that politics safe-guards us from the hegemony of science. And again the same is true for all of the academic disciplines. We don't want philosopher-kings any more than we want tyrants and even less than we want economists controlling the nation (even though they already do).
As already noted, H1N1 is a scare tactic used to control the way we interact in the world. Since Macalester is ostensibly an education institution, the effort here is not an explicit attempt to scare students and faculty like sensational TV reports and the like. Rather the campaign is focused on informing community members about the dangers of this illness and how to "protect" oneself against it. Many institutions are being much more militant about H1N1 so we have to give Macalester due credit in this respect. But every bottle of hand sanitizer is a political object immediately identifiable with the "crisis."
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Mac grad
posted 10/23/09 @ 1:49 PM CST
Andy - I'm glad you've read some Foucault, but I think you are falling prey to the same trap as H1N1 obsessed media folk - taking an issue and blowing it way out of proportion, to an extent that your argument (just like H1N1 commentary/hype) becomes less insightful and more irrelevant. (Continued…)
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