Text: GAO, Zhe
“In the name of science vs. in the name of religion” – In the first set of the Asian Cup match on August 25, 2022, the Chinese team wore a mask and the Iranian team wore a hijab ©GETTY IMAGES
I believe that one of the lessons intellectuals have to learn since the pandemic is how rapidly both the virus and our knowledge of it and the pandemic can change diachronically and geographically. I am. A perspective on a part of the world that you published just two months ago. This applies more to humanities intellectuals than to scientists. The latter are fully aware of the variables involved in their research (and, of course, subject to change) and are always aware of it, so that published research results may be invalidated by a change in context. The former, on the other hand, embarrassed themselves even more because of the seemingly more “universal” nature of the statements they made.
Ironically, viral mutations and diversity in global governance may also have the effect of “saving” the reputations of intellectuals. When Giorgio Agamben sent a message on the pandemic in 2020/21, even those who supported his critique of ‘biopolitics’ recognized close similarities, especially between his views and ideas. When I learned that, I was eager to set myself apart from him. The pandemic and right-wing conspiracy theories. In a fictional caricature about lifeboats sent by the government saving people from a flood of COVID-19 infections, Agamben relentlessly shoots at both the lifeboat and the surface of the water, revealing that the boat is actually in the water and carrying Nazis. They claim it was piloted by a zombie. The 1977 film Shock Wave ends up sending the boat to a concentration camp.
Thanks to vaccines and Omicron, the (deadly) floods started receding from 2022. Although our feet and shins are still in the water, at least people can now walk on their own, but they still have to stumble from time to time and face the risk of falling – especially for various reasons For relatively small people. Are there any “Nazi zombies” left behind by the tide? China, which during the first two years of the pandemic was considered by many to be one of the top students in global health exams, is now obsessed with adhering to unnecessarily strict regulations and measures. It seems that there are some people who think that it is. A dynamic zero-corona policy could be implemented at the cost of massive government spending, higher death tolls (more than those caused by COVID-19), a deep economic recession, and increased impatience. I prefer to call it the second disaster. From the general public.
Did China seize the pandemic from the beginning as an opportunity to impose further controls on its society and people, and has therefore consistently implemented its totalitarian biopolitical program for nearly three years? Or maybe the Chinese government actually followed the science in dealing with the 2020 Wuhan crisis, and the pandemic became the perfect excuse to further domesticate its population, and the new technologies that emerged during the pandemic will help facilitate domestication. Did they realize this and then start sending in zombies? this? In either scenario, Agamben seems already acutely aware of the potential dangers of at least a “technomedical tyranny” early in the crisis.
Did we wrongly blame Agamben? No, yes.
What cannot be denied is that claiming the fictitious nature of a pandemic when we know so little about it is nothing short of absurd. At the time of Agamben’s first comments about the pandemic, it is unlikely that Western governments had a clear picture of what kind of situation the virus would lead to in the world. Otherwise they would have moved (much faster) than they actually are. In retrospect, they would not have been able to obtain a clear biopolitical agenda at the time. However, on the other hand, Agamben (2011) has always been consistently correct in denying the dichotomy between modern politics and theology. This refers to religion and secular politics (economics), spirit and matter, body and mind, women and men, superstition and science, and that rhetoric that frames the former as personal, subjective, irrational or irrational. power, and even though these dichotomies are only concepts and there are many similarities between “religion” and “politics” which are considered two distinct spheres of human enterprise, the latter Public, neutral, and rational.
Research, such as that of Deborah Brown and Tungjian Chen (2015), shows the similarities (and differences) between the Catholic Church and China’s party-state, which are sometimes highlighted. . However, this kind of comparison cannot be fully understood without recognizing the problematic nature of the most basic modern dichotomy between religion and the secular. In the light of this recognition, even the less obvious parallels between modern “political” maneuvers and “religious” methods can be understood as typical parallels.
From the beginning of Christian history, repentance has never been a private matter, as the other name “reconciliation” indicates. The establishment of repentance was primarily a reconciliation with God and at the same time with the Church, all within the same mystical body of Christ. Therefore, during the first centuries, repentance was performed before the congregation, and its completion marked the sinner’s return to the community. From the 6th century onwards, private repentance became more common and multiple acts of repentance were permitted, but the ritual of public penitence was officially ended only by the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 (McBrien 1994). However, these do not prevent repentance/confession from being understood and used by the Catholic Church primarily as a means of regulating relationships with God and community.
Indeed, the entire Catholic sacramental system has been described by Paul Tillich (1968, 228) as “a system of objective, quantitative, and relative relationships between God and man,” managed and realized by the Church. It has been. The quantitative and relative nature of this system is a double-edged sword. For John Martello, the protagonist of the 2013 film Don Jon, a modern-day Don Juan, weekly church penance always settles things. Watching hardcore porn or masturbating will draw you away from God, but confessing and saying the Lord’s Prayer or the Virgin Mary Prayer will definitely bring you closer to God again. Don’t worry. But for Martin Luther, this quantitative and relative relationship clearly meant that he could not strive hard enough in terms of asceticism and merit. The danger of distancing himself from God always plagued him, as did guilt and fear of losing his salvation. All that to worry about. But what both Martello and Luther, and virtually every member of the Catholic community, have in common is that without some kind of salvation mechanism, their existence will always be estranged from God and excluded by their religion. The fact is that it would have been. community. For such communities, these relief mechanisms are also “immune mechanisms” (Esposito 2011), whose function is to protect the community and protect it not only from “disease” (sin) but, perhaps more importantly, to protect its members. prevents the company from collapsing from an unfair position. They believe in the lethality of “disease” (sin) and therefore that community is essential for their “immunity” (absolution) and life.
Employees wait to present their health codes and proof of a negative coronavirus test outside a Beijing office building in May. ©Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
It is such a sacramental system that currently millions of people in different cities of China live in it. It is impossible to eliminate omicrons, so the entire system of immune countermeasures can only work in a quantitative and relative manner. No one can be sure of their “salvation” (immunity) even if they have been “baptized” with a vaccine, and both a certain level of immunity in society and people’s belief in the need for vaccines. Various strategies have been devised to maintain this. This inhumane immune governance. Among these, the focus for the time being is on regular PCR tests. “Regular” means two things: 1) Your relationship with the local community will be determined by your PCR test results. That is, whether you can enter (most) indoor public places and have contact with people there, including workplaces. 2) Negative results expire after a certain period of time (usually 48 hours). Both results mean that most people will need to be tested at least every two days if they want to be seen as “legal” members of the community. They must “confess” to the entire community (usually meaning people living in the same city or state) in the form of regular PCR tests, but only if they have committed a clear hygiene violation. This is because they cannot prove their personal hygiene. The last test – because the interval between two tests itself means alienation from the community, endangering it and its immunity (remember Durkheim!). This is, of course, due to the complexity of hygiene management. From a causal relationship, it would be extremely difficult not to violate any rules during that time. Therefore, both absolution and reconciliation are necessary.
Does this mean that a person is expected to “confess” as often as possible? Indeed, the uncertainty of “salvation” encourages people to do so. One of my friends usually gets tested every day because the municipality requires a 48-hour PCR test result, which gives him more peace of mind (of not being excluded from the community). When people travel from one city (or region) to another, no matter how close the last test before departure was, the new community requires a new “confession” so that upon arrival New tests may be required. Just as lay Catholics are only expected to obey the commandments, while monks must fully take on the yoke, or counsel, of Christ, in some places they can impose negative consequences on the population 24 hours a day. There are some places that require it. “But I say to you, whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Within this governance of impunity, one need not be infected to be considered guilty. Even if there is no causal relationship, failure to “confess” in time is more than enough to be considered an act that endangers the community. Viral infection. Like the parting of the waters by Moses, if you witness a crowd of people lining up for a test suddenly leave, someone’s negative test result has just been discovered and the deadline just expired two hours ago. Most likely, people will act as if they have cholera. “Confession” is still available as a remedy for those holding expired results, but it can only be taken at specific testing sites specifically targeted at these “sinners.” , suggesting a moderate form of segregation as a penalty.
All of this is done in the name of science and modern politics, but reminds us of all the historical practices and institutions that we habitually label as “religious” . It is certainly not about biopolitics as simply a “secular” sphere of human affairs, but it is also inappropriate to simply define it as a “religious” project of communism. Identifying “religious” everywhere as substantive only continues the desperate search for pure “secularity” and perpetuates the false dichotomy between religious and secular. It’s going to happen.
References
Agamben, Giorgio. Kingdom and Glory: For a theological genealogy of economics and government. Translated by Lorenzo Chiesa (co-authored by Matteo Mandarini). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011.
Brown, D. & Cheng, T. “The Vatican and the Chinese Party-State: Where Do the Parallels End?” Orbis (Philadelphia), 60: 1 (2016), 73–86.
Esposito, Roberto. Immunitas: protection and denial of life. Translated by Zakiya Hanafi. Cambridge; Malden MA: Polity, 2011.
Fitzgerald, Timothy. A discourse on civility and barbarity. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Tillich, Paul. The history of Christian thought: from the origins of Judaism and Hellenism to existentialism. Edited by Carl E. Braaten. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968.
