Infodemic & Pharmageddon

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Infodemic & Pharmageddon

Sunday, 21 March 2021 | Pramod Pathak

Infodemic & Pharmageddon

Corona is back. As state after state once again are resorting to night curfews and lock downs, a big issue is do we still have any concrete idea of the pandemic, its origin and nature and the solutions. Apparently not, as we continue to grope in the dark. What about the measures we took, the medicines that were prescribed and the claims of exactly 99.99 percent prevention from the virus through the use of certain products. People were blindly believing those television commercials and advertisements that were making a lot of noise. It is against this backdrop that we need to examine scientifically whether we actually have an answer to the pandemic. While businesses that claim to provide protection from Corona flourished, authentic answers were not found. In fact, it was an information driven fear psychosis that created havoc more than the virus itself. To capitalise on this there was a very powerful Pharma marketing campaign that made people go for all kinds of medical options. So in a nutshell then, the pandemic catastrophe can be summed up rather neatly in just two words: infodemic and pharmageddon. Sundries like masks and hand sanitisers also added to the effect and cornered huge benefits. However, the point to ponder is where do we stand after centuries of encounters with pandemics. Human beings have been facing the onslaught of these viral attacks ever since their existence. Looking back at some 2,000 years of experience suggest that our efforts did not have much to contribute and the pandemics subsided on their own in around one and half to two years. How to explain this phenomenon, when our advances in science, technology, medicines and biology seem so helpless. It is a natural and cyclic event that keeps on visiting the earth at periodic intervals. Or is it an auto correction initiated by the big machine that nature is. Or is it a warning to humanity from mother nature to mend ways. Nothing can be said. This is not to negate the contribution of science, technology and medicine. But it certainly suggests that nature’s superiority is undoubtedly established and human beings must acknowledge this with folded hands. It is this that nature has been trying to prove time and again. The inevitability of the devastating impact of natural phenomena hold lessons for humanity. To show where human beings stand in the larger scheme of things, not as the pivotal factor but as a small part of the comprehensive whole. But in this process what was evident was confusion, concentration of state power and chaos leading to rise of mental disequilibrium resulting in a psychodemic. As the corona juggernaut fails to halt, let us workout ways and means of coping with its ill effects. Not on the economic front but on the psychological front. Many people may try to convince that the two are intricately linked. But the fact is that they are not. It was the psychological intimidation that led to the economic downturn. It may be prudent to understand that the number of billionaires rose as the poor were committing suicide. The correlation may not be obvious but relationship between the rising Sensex and falling economies are intriguing. Matter is not created or destroyed. It only changes hands.

Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com

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