The coronavirus pandemic’s effect is a climate of fear, panic, anxiety, doubt, suspicion and uncertainty -- global paranoia. The storm of fear and panic has eliminated common sense and social intelligence.
By
Yasraf A Piliang
·6 minutes read
The coronavirus pandemic is like a "bomb" blast that hit the world and caused a wave of panic, fear and severe global helplessness.This virus is like a ghost, devil, predator or alien that spreads the scent of fear and horror in every corner of the world. So horrifying is that no corner of the world feels secure: land, beach, mountain, sea, air; cities, villages, roads, terminals, vehicles; malls, markets, schools, even places of worship. The face of the world, which was previously colored with the lively, boisterous and frenzy of across global interaction of humans, now seems bland and without energy.
The coronavirus pandemic’s effect is a climate of fear, panic, anxiety, doubt, suspicion and uncertainty -- global paranoia. The storm of fear and panic has eliminated common sense and social intelligence. In the global panic, people are buying up and pile anything for their own safety: masks, hand sanitizer, alcohol, toilet paper, facial tissues, gloves, sugar, instant noodles, rice, and other foodstuffs -- this is panic shopping. This fear has also caused offices to be isolated, places of entertainment to be closed, schools to be closed and transportation facilities to be stalled.
Global de-acceleration
The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the global social, economic, political and cultural foundation in a formidable way. It has damaged the architecture of globalization itself. Globalization that relies heavily on the strength of the infrastructure of production, communication, transportation, distribution, accommodation, interaction, and exchange on a global scale is now experiencing a kind of disruption, obstacles, congestion, delays, stoppage -- a kind of noise. The coronavirus is the noise itself, which damages the globalization network and metabolism itself at every level, scale and location – the noise of globalization.
Globalization is described as an "all over the world" process of all dimensions of social, political, economic, and cultural life, characterized by openness, interdependence and interconnectedness and the disappearance of all boundaries, where the majority of its forming elements is beyond the conventional "nation-state" power and authority. It is described as a tendency of unification, alliance, homogenization, standardization and generalization, which creates a kind of "world without borders"
(Ohmae, 2005), with the type of society that has optimal freedom of movement, interaction and collaboration, an "open society" (Soros 2000).
However, due to the colossal effect of the coronavirus, the global world we now live in is even a "world full of boundaries", which forces the formation of a type of "closed society". At the social level, the coronavirus\'s fear and horror effects have closed, barred, shut down with portal, and locked in various global social relations: movement, transfer, travel, shows, performances, events, collaborations, and scientific meetings: a process of “massive de-socialization" of the global community. Several countries even lock down and shut themselves with portals: a nation-state "massive self-isolation" process -- the closed world.
The world without borders has now become a world that is limited with boundaries, partitioned off, locked, padlocked, blocked, shut with portals, isolated, exiled, and isolated. What has been described as a "world village" (McLuhan, 1996) -- namely the global world as a "mondial village" -- has now transformed into world villages that are separate, locked, and isolated from one another.
A global world built by an "open society", where everyone is free to move globally without geographical, economic, religious, ideological and cultural barriers, now changes into a "closed society", in which people cannot freely move, be in motion, or travel, even in their own cities or the villages.
At the economic level, the coronavirus pandemic effect has paralyzed the activities and foundation of the global economy. Various production, distribution and consumption activities are slowing down and even stopping: a process of "massive de-acceleration" of the economy. Economic and information globalization has brought humanity into a scheme of speed and acceleration of change. Speed is the 21st century keyword: whoever moves slowly will die! Speed produces progress. Supported by the power of information technology, speed in mastering information and creating innovation is the key for winners in the fierce competition of the global economy (Gates, 2000).
The high speed brought by globalization is described through the Greek term, dromology (dromos = fast), namely the science, method, and technique of moving and changing rapidly, for the sake of progress. However, the coronavirus in an instant has changed the speed into slowing down even death; has changed the moving forward or progression backward or regression. Dromology as a science of capitalistic acceleration is now transformed into argology (argos = slow, silent, stalled), namely the means and condition of slowing down. The power of production, distribution, and consumption of the global economy is now experiencing a slowdown, which may be followed by helplessness, setbacks, and even death -- the global argology.
At the cultural level, the coronavirus effects have disrupted various cultural, educational and religious activities.
At the cultural level, the coronavirus effects have disrupted various cultural, educational and religious activities. In the field of education, various educational activities are hampered, thereby forcing a form of distance education: a process of "massive hyper-realization" of education. Meanwhile, various religious activities -- which require the presence of large number of worshipers -- also face massive obstacles. Similarly various sports, arts and entertainment activities are also stopped: a process "massive de-culturalization" of culture. The coronavirus has forced "movement culture" as a feature of globalization into a "culture to stay in place" or sedentary culture (Virilio, 1991).
Coronavirus and us
The coronavirus pandemic effects also hit our nation\'s children. In a climate of fear and panic, the only thing that still entertains the nation\'s children is digital networks: internet, Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram. When the silk road to globalization experiences total disconnection, digital networks save our instincts for socializing, communicating, interacting, collaborating, and sharing. Digital social media at least spoils us in socializing in loneliness, making friends in fear, communicating in isolation, sharing in panic, or mingling in pain. Social media becomes a social glue media in a climate of global fear, isolation and separation.
However, digital grace is not able to change the character of the nation\'s children. The coronavirus pandemic is a test for this nation: are we ready to face this global disconnection, shutting down with portals, isolation, de-acceleration and regression. Unfortunately, we are a nation that often thinks late, fails to understand, is slow to react, forgets to anticipate, and is difficult to execute. We fail to plan, organize, manage, coordinate and implement. In the midst of a wave of isolation, locking and closure in many countries due to the threat of the coronavirus, our streets are even crowded by traffic jams, tourist attractions crowded with visitors, malls crowded with buyers. We still fail to understand the meaning of crisis, pandemic, even death threats.
Yasraf A Piliang, Social and Cultural Issue Thinker