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Fear, Politics, And Capitalism Impacted the Government's Handling the Epidemic

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 Fear, Politics, And Capitalism Impacted the Government's Handling the Epidemic

Introduction

Infectious diseases are identified as one of the main causes of death worldwide.

Deaths caused by infectious diseases increase due to the emergence of globalization,

urbanization, change in human behaviors, increase in travel and trade among people. The

increase in globalization, trade and travel contribute to people fearing intervening in the

behavior of others; for example, a person may fail to intervene when others participate in

homosexuality. In, addition the media may perceive the behavior of people as normal hence

fear to cover people's stories. When media cover stories that contradict the behaviors of the

people, they might lower their popularity. Another factor that may contribute to an increase in

deaths caused by infectious diseases is the delay in developing treatment drugs. The delay in

the development of treatment drugs may be caused by the emergence of capitalism, where

investors in the pharmaceutical industry will be reluctant to manufacture drugs due to the

unfamiliarity of drugs in the market. The political interest differences and ideas obtained

from the public through public participation may also delay the intervention of an infectious

disease outbreak. This paper will review the movie "And the Band Played On" and

demonstrate how fear, politics, and capitalization impacted the government in handling

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

(AIDS).

How Does Fear Impact The Government Approach To Handling Epidemics

The movie starts with the director examining the root cause of AIDS. The

examination of the cause of AIDS indicated that one of the physicians, Dr. Grethe Rask, had

died due to a strange disease accompanied by pneumonia symptoms. The death of Rask, who

was gay triggered some fear in the United States which made it difficult for the government

to handle the pandemic. There were some reasons that made it hard for the government to
handle an outbreak of AIDS. First, the government intervention to handle an outbreak of

AIDS was difficult due to the perception that people had about the disease. According to

Rosenthal (2020), people believed that those who were practicing gay were the only ones

affected by the pandemic. The perception of people made the government allocate little funds

to researchers concerning the cause of the disease. People's perception concerning those

affected by AIDS changed when Rock Hudson died, making people realize that AIDS affects

everyone.

Another factor that made it hard for the government to handle the pandemic was

increasing the number of people affected by mental illnesses. The change in perception

among people about the cause of AIDS made them have fear hence developing mental

illnesses. According to Rosenthal (2020), mental illnesses occur due to biological processes

in the human body in response to the threatening fear of being infected or death caused by

AIDS. It is identified that the cost of handling mental illness is high compared to that of the

pandemic.

How Politics Impact Government Approaches to Handling Epidemics

In the movie, Dr. Don Francis's process of researching the cause of AIDS faced some

opposition from government officials, doctors, and scientists. According to Rosenthal (2020),

people who were opposing the research of Dr. Francis perceived homosexuality to be

immoral hence making people who practiced it marginalized. The marginalization of people

who practiced homosexuality contributed to the lack of policies that could cater to their

needs. For example, the lack of policies hindered the government from allocating funds to

people affected by AIDS hence increasing its spread.

Politics have affected the government's handling of the spread of AIDS due to the

dismissal of projects investigating its cause. It is clear the government did not support the

researchers who aimed at fastening the process of finding the cure to the disease; for
example, the government failed to assist private researchers with a public scientist to

investigate the matter. Additionally, homosexually practices were perceived to be illegal and

a personal choice which made the media not cover the situation. In the event media could

have covered people who practiced homosexuality, their reputation would have been reduced

in society.

How Capitalism Impact Government Approaches to Handling Epidemics

Capitalism is demonstrated in the movie, where people engage in private researchers

concerning the cause of the disease. This impacted how the government handled the epidemic

by giving a pathway to researches concerning the disease. For example, through the private

research done by Dr. Francis, the government intervened through the Center for Disease

Control and Prevention (CDC) association to fasten the research.

 References

Rosenthal, M. S. (2020). “How Many Dead Hemophiliacs Do You Need?” And the Band

Played on (1993). In Healthcare Ethics on Film (pp. 73-141). Springer, Cham.