Thread by @catcontentonly

One point I’ve repeatedly made is that that the media often uses COVID-19 as a heavy handed metaphor for China’s (and now Iran’s) emerging political/economic influence.

This dovetailing of disease discourse and geopolitics can actually be traced back to the 1950’s... 1/

Though scientists first observed viruses in the 1930's, it wasn't until the 50's that they were able to graps how they functioned--unlike their germ or bacterial counterparts, viruses penetrate the cells of living organisms, taking over all functions to reproduce themselves 2/

Media often invoked metaphors of war and invasion were to discuss viral infections. Viruses "attacked," "devoured," and "destroyed" cells. Viral infections were often "battles" between human hosts and viral "invaders" 3/

Again, this was the 1950's, so ofc this new technology that allowed scientists to observe viral behavior w more visual accuracy also coincided w what was seen as the emerging global threat of Communism and the politics of the Cold War 4/

These two events led to the combining of scientific & political theories to push red scare rhetoric. For ex, in a 54 speech, Hebert Hoover condemned the spread of "the Socialist virus..into every nation on earth," but the "rank & file of our ppl are immune from this infection" 5/

In a speech to the House Un-American Activities Committee, J. Edgar Hoover testified that he feared for the US "so long as American labor groups are infiltrated, dominated, or saturated with the virus of Communism" -- "a condition akin to disease that spreads like an epidemic" 6/

Today we see a similar treatment of COVID-19, as a viral infection that carries with it a threat to our way of life. This framing, as it was during the Cold War, is deliberate to drum up support for US foreign policy and military funding initiatives. 7/7

Btw, source for this was Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative by Priscilla Wald (Duke University Press)