Friday, April 03, 2020

Contempt and the Coronavirus

Pretty much everyone in the US is aware of the fact that the terrifying coronavirus pandemic has been used, including by persons high in government, to incite racism against people from China. Shockingly, over the past few weeks there have been many reports of attacks on people of Asian origin in New York City alone. 
What is not as widely seen is that the very existence of the coronavirus is itself in some ways against racism. The following, by Ellen Reiss, Aesthetic Realism Chairman of Education, is one of the most important statements I've seen: 

The coronavirus pandemic is a showing of something that people, out of contempt, have not wanted to see: that we are related to all other people; that they are as real as we are; that we have to be interested in their well-being, have good will for them, or we ourselves will be hurt. 

You can read the whole commentary to The Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known, which includes further crucial insights into how to see this frightening situation in a way that can make one stronger here. And in the same issue we learn about the life and importance of one of the most famous French women of literature, Madame de Sévigné.

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