Others,
Consider the
case of a disease that not only threatened to kill many, it threatened to kill
all. The Black Death killed 1.5 million out of 4 million people in England
between 1348 and 1350. There was no medical knowledge of the disease. It was not
known how to treat it at the time.
Was the
plague a curse from God? Was it punishment for sin? What caused the disease?
From where did it come?
The outbreak
of the Black Death actually started in China in the 1330’s. It was transported
to Europe by Italian merchant ships that arrived in Sicily in October of 1347.
Boccaccio
recorded the symptoms: “The first signs of the plague were lumps in the groins
or armpits. After this, livid black spots appeared on the arms, thighs and
other parts of the body. Few recovered. Almost all died within three days,
usually without any fever.”
Medical
inquiry has to evaluate relevant evidence. Questions regarding God’s role are
set aside to favor the investigation of the relation between physical symptoms
and causality. Theology can interpret findings after a cause has been
identified and a treatment has been devised.
What were the
people of England to do? Suppose they knew that the disease started to rampage
after a ship had landed from Italy? Should they assume biological warfare?
Should they send an army to Italy; then on to China? Would that cure the
disease?
It became
apparent to objective observation that it was fleas from rats that started the
contagion. The rats had climbed onto the ships that sailed from China to Italy;
then from Italy to England. It was then spread by close contact with other
humans.
What could be
done? It was the lack of community sanitation and the close living quarters
that provided a favorable environment for the disease to spread. Garbage was
not taken to public landfills. Bodily waste was not disposed away from the
household. The unsanitary conditions were favorable for the rats that harbored
the fleas that spread the contagion.
The cure for
the time was environmental. They didn’t come up with an inoculation that cured
the disease. They had to change the living conditions. Community and household
sanitation had to be improved to the extent that the rats would not have such a
happy home.
This was a
time in history where Europeans were coming closer to understanding the
microbial causes of disease. The fleas on the rats were the vectors for the
disease, but it was some invisible microbe that caused it.
The
environment established by humans was favorable to the communication of the
pathogenic microbe, so improvement of living conditions would come to provide a
preventative measure.
Did everyone
respond objectively to the plague? Albert Camus, a writer associated with
existential philosophy, wrote a novel called “The Plague” that evaluated the
social situation. He used it to comment on the German occupation of France; an
occupation that had only recently ended.
The
leadership of the time was sectarian. They supported state religion. They
called it Christianity. They said that the disease was a punishment from God.
They used it to control the population by frightening it into submission. They
tortured suspects. They killed people who were not Christian. Quarantines of
infected communities and the documentation of physical conditions were the only
effective actions applied by the government.
The central
character, Dr. Bernard Rieux, heroically applies objective inquiry into finding
a treatment for the malady. Ultimately, the plague ends on its own despite the
lack of medical knowledge. The torture and execution of suspects would prove to
be criminal. The plague would eventually come to serve as an argument for public
sanitation.
A movie
called “Black Death” was released in 2010. It is set in England during and after
the period of affliction. A friar is called to investigate reports of
resurrected bodies in a town in the country. He is sent with an envoy of
knights appointed by the bishop. The movie becomes a depiction of the
conflicting claims of christianity and paganism, but ultimately it serves as an
argument against devotion to destruction. The argument also supports freedom of
religion.
The town
where the friar was sent did not suffer from the ravages of the disease. They
claimed that the plague was a punishment from the christian’s vengeful God. It
did not affect them because they were not christians. The christians on the
other hand were convinced that the claims of resurrection were the work of a
necromancer and witches.
The pagans tortured
the christians to get the renunciation of Christ as God. The christians killed
the pagans for witchcraft. The cruelty of the affliction ruled the actions of
both sides. It was not a typical movie insofar as both sides were shown as
being wrong. Neither side was depicted as being just. The development of the central
character was not heroic. It was pathetically tyrannical.
Neither side
favored the rule of law based on due process in investigation. Their only
investment in evidentiary investigation was to determine if the people whom
they did not know were christian or pagan. The findings were then used to put
the members of the other side to death.
It was
emotionally disturbing and seemed all too historically accurate. I wouldn’t
call it enjoyable entertainment, but it had an educational value in the implied
support for non-sectarian and representative government.
This review
of the bubonic plague serves as a lesson from history. The disease was not a
punishment from God. Faith in liberty and love however played a role in calling
for improvement in medical knowledge, public sanitation and representative
leadership for the general public.
Praise for
the God of gods then, is not a call for sectarian government or state religion.
It is a call for learning about representative leadership for human being from
the lessons of history.
Fm. Ps.50
LORD,
you are the God of gods.
You call the earth
from each rising
of the sun
to the next.
you are the God of gods.
You call the earth
from each rising
of the sun
to the next.
You reveal
yourself out of Zion;
perfect in beauty;
majestic in glory.
perfect in beauty;
majestic in glory.
God will come
from
before the dawn.
before the dawn.
LORD, you come
from nowhere
out of silence.
A consuming flame
precedes you.
There is a raging storm
all around you.
from nowhere
out of silence.
A consuming flame
precedes you.
There is a raging storm
all around you.
You call the
heavens and the earth from above
to witness the judgments of justice.
to witness the judgments of justice.
“Assemble my people.
Renew the covenant of love.
Seal it with sacrifice and celebration.”
Renew the covenant of love.
Seal it with sacrifice and celebration.”
Let the
heavens declare the rightness of justice;
for God is the judge.
for God is the judge.
===============
One thing
government and people have in common is the conflict of battling factions.
Initially, it can seem that the answer to factional conflict is to eliminate
the factions. This is the basis for dictatorship however. Dictatorship always
shows favor to one group to the disadvantage of others. It is “the party” that
rules over and against any other parties.
Democracy
operates on the assumption of factional disagreement. Debate is entertained from
at least two parties to find agreement by the reduction of disagreement. The
goal is to weigh the oppositions against each other in order to find a
resolution. The participation of the people is required. Otherwise, representation
is limited to those opposing factions that can afford to support the debate
between the political leaders.
The “Underworld”
movie series looks at the battle between vampires and werewolves as factions of
society. The vampires are the death dealers. They represent the aristocracy
that was out to eliminate opposition. Currently, they have a correspondence
with that industrial leadership that seeks to destroy the competition.
The
werewolves used to be slaves to the vampires. The vampires operated at night.
The werewolves worked in the day. They were the hard working peasants who had worked
so hard that they became as fit as warriors. They became so strong in serving
that they rebelled against oppressive leadership. They represent labor. This
movie series is about class warfare.
The romance
between Michael and Selene underscores the love that can grow within the drama
of war between factions. War and
oppressive government can be so cruel that the cruelty threatens to eclipse the
experience of love. Humans won’t reproduce without love. The species would die
were it not for the reproductive urge. Somehow, couples find a way to love working
together. This love represents the ability to stay together to the end; to the
last breath.
Evanescence –
Last Breath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7ZyHwj4wQU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7ZyHwj4wQU&feature=related
Romance is
eclipsed when opposing factions play the love of the couple for each other
against the responsibility to parent offspring. The pattern had been for the
male to act as the income provider and the female to act as the household
manager. Modern life and democracy have altered the pattern. Now, both parents
often work. The male is not necessarily the primary income provider.
Currently,
the trend to promote the industry of war is an effort to regress to the old
pattern of male domination. Democracy abhors single party leadership. Representative
leadership is not patriarchal. It is not matriarchal. It is a meritocracy that
values experience with education.
Don’t succumb
to the call for regression. Occupy the meritocracy of democracy.
Steve K.
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