The spread of information is a crucial component of modern society; it influences our political decisions, economic decisions, and even lifestyle decisions. Misinformation, or rather the absence of true information, can lead us to make inefficient decisions or mistakes as a result of being under the impression that a false truth was correct. Moreover, it can even lead to mistakes that are the result of not knowing that the action was, in fact, a mistake. The absence of true information and reluctance to acknowledge past mistakes and wrongdoings is a major theme in Tatiana De Rosnay’s Sarah’s Key, and highlights a critical issue that is occurring in today’s media companies.
In Sarah’s Key, Julia is assigned to write an article addressing the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, an attempt by the French Government to gather and arrest the Jewish population in France on behalf of the Nazi Party during the Holocaust. Bertrand, in an attempt to advise Julia, explains, “Do you think your readers are going to be interested in the Vel’ d’Hiv’? It’s the past. It’s not something most people want to read about” (De Rosnay 89). The French people prefer to forget about the existence of the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup rather than acknowledge the mistake that was committed and educate the general population about the effects of such a grave act. This can be interpreted as an attempt to mask the French’s past wrongdoings in order to improve the public image of France and depict them as a flawless nation. A parallel can be drawn between this and an event currently affecting the world: SARS-CoV-2. It is in the mainstream media’s best interest to calm public panic, as a panicking public could possibly cause more societal damage than the virus itself, just as it is in the French Government’s best interest to hide their mistake of committing the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup. Calming public panic, naturally, involves dampening the actual reality of the situation, which some view as an attempt at modern-day censorship. The freedom of information and the ability of the people to make informed judgments is paramount in the SARS-CoV-2 situation, as people’s lives are at stake.
Chapter 2
Literature Review
SARS-CoV-2 has created mass hysteria around the world, and the effects of this mass hysteria may be more detrimental to society more than the novel coronavirus itself. The media, as explained in the introduction, has been perpetuating the narrative that the novel coronavirus is a cause for panic around the world, and that is true to a certain extent. The novel coronavirus has proven to be fatal in cases where the patient has preexisting conditions that can have their effects magnified by the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into the body. A weak immune system, which is the result of the preexisting condition, leaves the body vulnerable to attacks from foreign objects, which include the novel coronavirus. This is also relevant in cases where the patient belongs to an older age demographic, which typically involves individuals over the age of 65. The immune system tends to be weaker than an immune system at its peak functionality, which creates an opportunity for SARS-CoV-2 to rapidly overtake the body of the patient, which has proven fatal. Chen Lin, along with her team of fellow researchers, have outlined this in their paper “Asymptomatic Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Patient Outside Wuhan.” This is factually supported by scientific evidence, however this is not the narrative that the mainstream media in the US is publicizing. There is very little that the media is publicizing that is not related to the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, and the purpose of this is to advance a very clear narrative.
Fear creates a sense of urgency in the typical human being, and a sense of urgency can evolve into a sense of desperation quite rapidly. This, in turn, leads the person to creating a dependence on hearing the latest updates regarding the SARS-CoV-2 on the news, which increases the viewer count on the mainstream media broadcasts. This pleases the advertisers of the company, which generates more profit in turn. A business model is currently being constructed with legitimate news, as each mainstream media races to the top in order to reach record-high view counts. This practice has been witnessed countless times in recent history, specifically during the 2016 presidential election (Halbrooks).
For a few days, there was a short news sensation that was perpetuated on Fox News, which involved a conspiracy theory surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. The theory involved the origins of the novel coronavirus, and specifically mentioned a leak that originated from a biohazard level 4 lab in Wuhan, China. It is widely believed that SARS-CoV-2 originated from Wuhan, China, which leads many to believe that a plausible explanation for its origin is that it was manmade. This theory was further evolved by some analysts claiming that there was a political purpose behind creating SARS-CoV-2. A virus of this magnitude could cripple an economy, and they claim that China was well aware of this. Accordingly, the Chinese Communist Party created SARS-CoV-2 in a laboratory in order to cripple the economy of the United States, and thus advance China to being a world economic superpower. While entertaining, this theory has no basis in science at all, especially when referencing an article published by Sussana Lau and her team of fellow researchers titled “Discovery of a Novel Coronavirus.” The article asserts that the virus does indeed have evolutionary origins, and that it was likely not made by any human, let alone a team of researchers in a biohazard level 4 laboratory in Wuhan, China.
These two examples are great scenarios to outline how dangerous the spread of misinformation can truly be, especially in modern society. Society, as a whole, relies on reliable information in order to make educated life decisions. The absence of reliable information, or the popularity of misinformation, can skew the mindset of society, and can send the world into a panic. In the case of the first example, drastic social distancing guidelines were enforced in the majority of the states in the US in order to protect the general population from the perceived threat that SARS-CoV-2 posed to the safety of a small demographic of the population. In hindsight, these measures were an overstretch of power and an overreaction as to the true effect of the novel coronavirus. Ironically, these actions may create a recession in the US that will complete the goal of the Chinese Communist Party, which is to rise to being an economic superpower. In the second example, there were several reports of racially motivated acts being carried out against people of Asian origin. The attackers perceived people of Asian origin as the enemy, since the attackers were committing hate crimes under the assumption that China actually engineered SARS-CoV-2. This example also further spread mass hysteria in the US, as this conspiracy theory could be used as a medium to interpret SARS-CoV-2 as a direct attack from China. If taken too seriously, this could create a war scenario between two of the most powerful countries in the world.
Lastly for a few days, there was a short news sensation that was perpetuated on Fox News, it involved a conspiracy theory surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. It involved the origins of the novel coronavirus, and specifically mentioned a leak that originated from a biohazard lab in Wuhan, China. It is widely believed that SARS-CoV-2 originated from Wuhan, China, which leads many to believe that a plausible explanation for its origin is that it was manmade to get revenge for the tariffs put in my Donald J. Trump. This theory was further evolved by some analysts claiming that there was a political purpose behind creating SARS-CoV-2. A virus of this magnitude could cripple every country’s economy, and they claim that China was well aware of this. Accordingly, the Chinese Communist Party created SARS-CoV-2 in a laboratory in order to cripple the economy of the United States, and thus advance China to being a world economic superpower.
In conclusion, the implications of both examples were devastating, and this is a great scenario that proves that misinformation can create a snowball effect, which is fueled by the sense of survival that exists in every human being. If people don’t stay home like they’re told this whole virus will sicken and kill more people.