Posts Tagged ‘pandemia’
Hurry is the enemy of precaution
28
Sep
The country’s newspapers announce that Brazil will make an
agreement to have the Russian vaccine, the race for the vaccine is causing some governments to abandon the precautionary measures necessary to arrive at a safe vaccine that does not cause even greater harm than pandemic, vaccine testing procedures are not any requirements, they are necessary and therefore the testing phase is long.
The data show that the pandemic is not controlled in Brazil, and that the data are growing in Europe, although in Italy, the growth is small, since restrictive measures are tougher, we enter autumn and winter will come.
The most optimistic deadlines were for December this year or the beginning of next year, some promising vaccines such as the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine that is also tested in Brazil by FioCruz and Pfizer that works in agreement with the German BioNTech, and make the forecast of vaccine for the end of the year, three more months can avoid lives and compensation.
However, the desire to appear as saving heroes, to tell the world that we teach a lesson, and especially to relinquish the economic pressures of sectors that are little concerned with the lives that are being lost, make the rush give way to the necessary medical and sanitary precautions in the midst of the pandemic, which even in Russia is growing.
We have already posted here that the principle of the Pfizer vaccine is the messenger RNA (mRNA) technique that gives instructions to the body to guide the production of antigens that allow the immune system to react to the disease.
The pharmaceutical company also assesses the potential of tofacitinib and aziotromycin for the early treatment of Covid-19.
The Russian vaccine follows the same principle as the Chinese one being tested in Brazil in partnership with the Butantã Brazilian Institute, that of a reduced viral load that awakens the immune system that produces antibodies necessary to fight the virus, however this technique is questionable since the virus suffers mutations and viral load may not be harmless.
Caution is needed, but government and health officials appear to have entered the dangerous path of haste
If that night comes
24
Sep
Europe lives on the fear of a new wave of the pandemic, and yet 
the solidarity with those who die is still small, there is even an expression of feelings or some commotion, but the fraternal humanitarian feeling is localized to people who always walk in humanist actions in moments of crisis.
What would happen if there were any natural catastrophe or something that would call humanity to consciousness in an even more serious way, of course it is not desirable and this panic should not be spread, but hypothetically if a deeper night befalls humanity, perhaps a new awareness of the grave situation of civilization was thought and achieved on a large scale.
It is also visible that those who are most supportive are the last ones in social valorization, already living in a serious situation, the pandemic makes them more supportive, there fraternity is a necessity for human survival itself.
The night and the blindness is not announced now by the pandemic, here in this blog in several posts we call attention to the cultural, social and even religious night of humanity, the path of the civilizing process seems to be collapsing, that is, whoever observes history while over the last few centuries it has been clearly visible, two wars, a process of social isolation of cultures, races and creeds, prejudice against migrants and mainly an increase in inequality.
If the night comes, unlike those who imagine that humble lives are “wasted lives”, it will be the arrogant and opulent lives that are less prepared for a “civilizing night” already underway.
It was not the pandemic that made this emerge, it just made evident and palpable what has been in process for some time, but what should be asked is if there was an extended, visible night that puts us in check.
It is not an apocalyptic or even a prophetic vision, while respecting them, a deep look at the inhuman, violent and antisocial processes that are being experienced, the decay and the worsening of the crisis is there.
If the night comes, few will be prepared, only those who are already in supportive environments and processes, those who during the lull period worked and experienced the fraternal, humanity and supportive side of everyday life.
The unexpected and the action
23
Sep
Among many thoughts that impacted me on the almost centenary 
Edgar Morin, his relationship with the unexpected is the most interesting and wise, he said this relationship “makes us prudent”, and he said this referring to science.
The virus took us by surprise, but the arrogance of many media people did not fail to analyze the pre-pandemic, the pandemic itself and the post-pandemic, there are no mysteries in life for them, but what we see is still very mysterious.
Morin says, “as much as it is known that everything that happened and important in world history or in our life was totally unexpected, it continues to act as if nothing unexpected has happened from now on”, and it is very likely that more things unexpected happen if we know some laws of complexity or chaos theory.
It is true indicates the thinker, “complexity needs some strategy”, we would like to have “segments programmed for sequences where the random does not intervene”, but this is a situation that automatic pilotage is not recommended, says the thinker: “simple thinking solves simple problems without thought ”, is not the case.
The complex thought is “to give each one a memo, a brand, to remember: don’t forget that the new can come and, in any case, it will come”, I found what I wanted because my intuition says this, something new is going to happen .
It is at this starting point that Morin points to “a richer, less mutilating action”, which would be, says “the less a thought is mutilating, the less it will mutilate humans”, but many do not think, ignore the future.
Abnormal and simplifying would be if after an absolutely abnormal year in the history of mankind, everything went back to everyday life or the “triviality” that some mutilating thoughts insist on saying, and the term “new normality” is also mutilating, because the question is whether there will be normality after this year.
The possible action that should be thought of by each one in particular, but by everyone as a society is how to minimize losses, how to reorganize life, how to overcome pain or at least bear it, and help those who cannot bear it.
It will take an abnormal fraternity, one that only a few have ever lived, and those who preach them live for real.
MORIN, Edgar. (2008) Preparar-se para o inesperado (prepare for the unexpected). In: MORIN, Edgar. Introdução ao pensamento complexo. Tradução de Dulce Matos. Lisboa: Instituto Piaget, pp.120-122.
The Covax vaccine agreement
21
Sep
The agreement of several countries to streamline the vaccine
(Covax), including Brazil that signed at the last minute on Friday, provides for a minimum vaccination of 10% of the population (the option of Brazil) up to a maximum of 50% of the population , which once signed could not give up the compromised values, so Brazil signed at least, but this gives 42 million doses, it is not small and the risk is evident by the non-compliance with the whole testing protocol.
The government has not given up on the agreement already signed with AstraZeneca with the so-called “Oxford” vaccine that has the participation of the prestigious Brazilian Institute of FioCruz, while the government of the State of São Paulo promises to accelerate the process of the vaccine that is developed in China with participation USP – Butantan Institute.
The Brazilian agreement however provides that if the Oxford vaccine reaches the market first it may choose to maintain the bilateral vaccine purchase agreement, giving up the supply by the alliance, but it is likely that in the rush the Covax alliance will arrive first, then we will have to accept vaccination, which is fearful.
WHO director´s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on August 13 that “COVAX already has nine vaccine candidates in its portfolio, which are in phase 2 or 3 of the trials”, but interestingly Janssen Pharmaceutics and Pfizer vaccine are not there.
To work the alliance needs U $ 38 billion, but it has less than U $ 3 billion, so it may be that this falls on the shoulders of countries that enter the alliance just to comply with international agreements, also in the social and economic aspect the agreement it’s w orrying.
A priori the agreement is so that the poorest countries have the same access as rich countries to the vaccines that are most likely to succeed, less than 10 are in the testing phase, and the financial volume can make the game of interest more serious. , as well as letting the use in poorer countries not have the concern of rich countries, these would be a kind of guinea pig, the WHO claims the opposite says that “it is to guarantee the access of poor countries”.
Brazil will receive 42 million vaccines, if there are any problems who will be responsible for this, it is clear that they will say that it is the country itself, by signing the agreement, it becomes “aware” of the “risks”, although they are not mentioned.
Even if it is very camouflaged it is a game of interests that seems very clear, it is likely that the less wealthy countries will receive doses of the vaccine first, and if verified safe will be used in rich countries, it is not an easy thesis to be proven, but the pressure in the less wealthy countries it was huge and Brazil signed at the last minute without saying the real reason.
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela are among the countries that signed the agreement, and the Covax agreement is only part of the “Covid-19 Tool Access Accelerator”, or simply ACT Accelerator, which is the mechanism for response that WHO created for the pandemic, despite the term “accelerator” being avoided in interviews.
I hope to be wrong, but the economic game continues to prevail over the health of the population, especially the poor.
Justice and unemployment in the pandemic
18
Sep
The number of labor lawsuits and injustices that do not even reach
the courts is expected to grow during the pandemic, according to expert data (some newspapers cite the Brazilian companies Datalawyer and FintedLab), indicate that this data should grow, among the complaints are the payment of monies. severance pay, for example the salary balance and a 40% fine on FGTS, Guarantee Fund for Length of Service in Brazil), and working conditions in the pandemic.
We have already stressed in previous posts the importance of seeking employability models that combat the sharp change in unemployment during the epidemic, which was already high in Brazil, now according to the Ministry of Economy, from March to April, about 8 million people. people lost their jobs or had their wages cut, with 1.1 million formal jobs having their contracts terminated, and informal ones have even more voluminous data.
It is fair to help and pay fair wages to these people, of course, the logic of reducing wages and abolishing jobs is not justified because the pandemic does not reduce demand in essential sectors, in addition to creating new demands such as online services, services home office, assistance in areas such as health, education and security is there.
The situation becomes even more serious with the increase in prices, this means that some sectors are benefiting from the crisis, in addition to the amazing corruption in the health area, with unused hospitals, embezzlement of funds and even medicines and equipment is simply criminal, burdens states and municipalities, and disfavors public policies for emergency assistance and aid.
There is a biblical passage where the parable of the vintner is told that needing workers for his vineyard, he leaves at 9 in the morning to pick up more workers and then at 3 in the afternoon to pick up more workers, he combines a silver coin with everyone, it seems unfair , but it is he who pays and combines the salary, and in fact corrects the injustice of unemployment.
He tells the workers that he hires at 3 pm (Mt 20, 6-7): “´Why are you there all day unoccupied they replied: ´Because nobody hired us´. The boss said to them: ´Go to my vineyard too´ “.
And they all received the same salary, nothing more fair, this should be the logic of combating unemployment in the pandemic.
Hatred, disdain and reflection
07
Sep
It is not by chance that the brain region of structures such as the
medial frontal cortex, whose capacity to argue and therefore to dialogue is there, has as its core the putamen, the pre-motor cortex and the insular cortex, whose structures also participate in the perception of disdain and disgust, that is, the activation of hatred is physically in the brain close to those associated with judgment and reasoning, so you can both activate one as the other, there are both options.
Those who want to justify hate are full of arguments, are capable of even deep reasoning to act against the hated, but if the premise is dialogue, the same reasoning can be used to understand, care for and divert the violence of the other, as some martial arts teach, bypassing the “body”.
Hate will not disappear in the hope that external circumstances change, in general it does not happen, it is not a magic, to cure it, it is necessary to recognize diversity, its problems, as Gadamer would have to be aware of preconceptions, that is, of the fundamentals that start a disagreement or a type of credit, to recognize the Other in its bubble and to recognize ours, both as having preconceptions.
If we actually activate the reasoning, thinking part and put the disagreements on this level, we mitigate the hate part a little, but it is essential to ask and a part of our hatred would come down to reflecting in this way: “Why do I hate? What do I intend to achieve with this? What do I gain and lose from my hatred? ”.
I do not know of a situation that has been resolved in this case, in general it has led to a greater conflict, to a greater mutual hatred, if the objective is war we will probably get there, but I believe that for most people it is not, so what remains is to reflect , analyze the origins of such “evil” in its deepest bases.
Hate must be combated with the understanding and mainly that it leads to a new type of action, which implies to recognize in the first place that it exists and it is fostering on two sides and not by only one, in the manifestations of people and in their advertisements, denunciations are recurrent to say the whole truth is on this side and on the other just a lie, it is necessary to explain the consequences and that in fact those who benefit are those whose reason for existing and thinking is really “hatred”.
Wise people of various shades such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa of Calcutta with wisdom and intelligence in the face of enormous and absurd conflicts have been able to show that kindness and generosity, creativity and respect for others can lead to seeking a larger collective good and although a little longer will have more lasting fruits, with less violence and deaths, but because even in serious groups hatred persists, the answer is very simple. Encouraged by leaders and groups that live in political, ideological or religious bubbles, the main resource is the demonization of the adversary, identified with some disgusting aspect of evil: death, corruption, sexual, racial or gender violence, weakening of values or something of the like.
And once united in a group the fear disappears and this reduces the inhibition of those who hate to act in other ways not that of argumentation and exposure of facts, but violence against violence.
The leaders who incite this hatred, say they can no longer control it, but deep down they wanted it, develop this part of the reasoning that we say at the beginning near the part of the brain of the putamen, and released the hatred will be executed by the people who use the other part with less reasoning and more visceral, so the hate “explodes”.
What we should think about in face of unworthy facts, and at this moment there should be none greater than the pandemic, is that the feeling of fear and exhaustion by confinement is exploited not in achieving ways of relaxation and anti-stress, but in releasing it in violent ways, what are the consequences? and who are they favoring?
I think of the hateful ones, and not the loving ones who in fact have love for humanity and the most fragile appreciation. It seems like a path of no return, in the midst of a pandemic and with two tense elections approaching, the United States national and municipal elections in Brazil, I see little or no discussion about the pandemic and about those who die every day, bereaved families and compassion for them, neither on one side nor on the other. Fortunately, mortality levels have decreased, but the long weekend promises crowds, the village of cars to the beach was huge, and the pandemic?
Viruses and aorgic mutations
31
Aug
Certainly or that we are a physical structure and DNA not always like
this, also our relationship with differentiated diseases and viruses, “childhood” diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella become common and a triple vaccine has become mandatory, fighting these are more common for years that in indigenous tribes and a few could still be deadly, because their physical structures are different.
Certainly something like the inorganic world that influences the physical happens, it seems scary, more trivial to say that the physical world preceded its organic year, because its origin occurred in an aortic mutation.
Man did not always exist, attested by scientific studies that homo sapiens appeared in East Africa about 300 thousand years ago (Hubrin, Ben-Ncer, 2017), was the first one back in the eastern Mediterranean 100 thousand years ago (Khan, 2015) and 60,000 years ago it was to the west, it can be passed to China about 80,000 years ago (Sherwell, 2015), therefore due to variations in fighting, physical structure and tolerance to certain events, certainly due to dietary changes , climatic and also variations in the physical structure according to the adaptation to the environment, is also logical, of the primordial structure of man formed from the physical world.
Much research on viruses affecting our previously studied foramen, such as Mollivirus sibericum, classified as a “giant virus” because it can be seen under a simple optical microscope, too, or Pithovirus Sibericum was studied by a French team from the National Center for Scientific Research French, assimilated by an “evolution” and transformation of two viruses and how they historically affect or are the home of nature, because now more and more viruses appear with different characteristics, also an aortic change, so it can also affect a nature, a physical part of the planet and also a history.
In the conflict between reason and understanding, several authors have dealt with the aortic issue from aesthetic to physical analysis, for example, used these themes Schiller and Hölderling and appropriation here, to make inferences about the inorganic (virus is not an organism) and demonstrate that the organic totality (organic holism) is not prevalent over the inorganic (aortic holism), which supposes a regime of ataxia and disorder, as well as systemic holism, the supposed single discourse that invaded sociology, Dilthey’s fashion history ( Gadamer contests it) and the current polarization is nothing but systemic holism, idealism and pre-quantum physics.
By this theory of aorgic holism it can be assumed that not only can the human physical organic structure be modified, but even the structure of the planet, the retraction of activities, among them the thousands of daily trips by airplanes, the non use of Fossil fuels are already changing (for the better) the structure of seas and land, so the very structure of the planet may change, and nature as a whole will react, it may be a surprise, but nature will help us.
References
HUBRIN, Jacques Hublin; Ben-Ncer, Abdelouahed «Scientists discover the oldest Homo sapiens fossils at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco». Nature. 2017, Access: august 20, 2020. Available in: https://phys.org/news/2017-06-scientists-oldest-homo-sapiens-fossils.html .
KHAN, Amina. Discovery of 47 teeth in Chinese cave changes picture of human migration out of Africa. Los Angeles Times, Science. 14 oct. 2015, Acesso em: 20 de Agosto de 2020, Disponível em: https://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/mundo/virus-gigante-pre-historico-da-siberia-sera-acordado-6d2dtw1rz8yudoz53visogbti/SHERWELL, Phillip. Ancient teeth found in China reveal early human migration out of Africa. The Telegraph, 2015. Available in: The telegraph (private access),
Fear, death and salvation
28
Aug
The society of tiredness, the search for productivity and fear is not
that of the pandemic, it already existed before this health event, what happened now is that, at least people who have not lost their senses, fear of death is present and hangs over the whole of society, and ignoring death is not a good psychological attitude.
This is how psychologists who dealt with this issue related to children say, it is also true that fear can lead to panic that is not healthy either, but explaining and helping society to understand the limitations, even the production of the economy helps everyone, and the questioning the hyperproductivity that led society and nature to the door of exhaustion is also healthy, but now comes the economic crisis and what to do with it, again be sensible.
The poet Hölderling wrote “where there is fear, there is salvation”, at the beginning of the pandemic we thought that it was possible to treat the disease evenly, to reduce a little the activity that would help society to rebalance itself, but after many months the confinement also revealed itself problematic, but the fear of death and a certain blindness of not wanting to see the consequences continues in society, death is just a fatality, and not a possibility that takes us to care, care for life in every way.
Salvation resides in this fear, the fearless child is reckless, and the adult too often, does not think and does not act in favor of life, the preservation of self and others, thinks selfishly and this does not lead to salvation, it takes when dying more tragic than the fatality of death, even dying of fear, so the healthy and balanced is to deal with death, and those who need to remain socially active take the necessary care, but salvation, the rebalancing of the human.
This is at stake, what was the theme before the pandemic, is now reappearing in a tragic way and it is necessary to think about nature, production and day-to-day life that led to diseases such as panic, Burnout syndrome and the society of tiredness, to produce happiness we must not go to extreme tiredness and the exhaustion of nature and productive forces.
The very death of God, which for many seems like a huge tragedy, fundamentalists say the opposite and the Pharisees that we should not “spread fear”, when Jesus warns the type of death that would die, Peter says that God never allows such a thing , and Jesus’ reaction is at least curious (Mt 16, 23): “Jesus, however, turned to Peter and said:“ Go far, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you do not think the things of God, but the things of men! ”, And little reflection is made on this passage, at most saying that it is because I was going to die on the cross, but at that moment nothing it was still known.
The lesson of the pandemic, the fear of death and dying, which is the hardest, is that there is no salvation without suffering, sometimes even bloodshed, the post-pandemic must provoke a discussion and a much more serious thought than it has already done. it has happened so far, conservatives say life should return to normal and others say: “and the fight against the pandemic must be changed”, that there were many mistakes, but the essential problem is to change inhuman behavior and social structures.
Conspiracy of fear or of silence
26
Aug
The pandemic generated anguish and fear in the face of death
and health concerns, the virus has become a fear for all serious people, but not talking about the present and future danger and possibilities of this pandemic can be a “fear conspiracy” yet bigger.
Some authors have already spoken of the “conspiracy of silence” that affected society before the pandemic, Böemer and Adorno are two classic authors who touched on the topic of death, I became aware of this issue on my trip to Portugal, where the topic is treated in a diametrical way opposite to Brazil, and the pandemic brought the theme back.
We have already touched on the historical and sociological roots of the Greek tragedy, particularly in the texts by Nietzsche and Hölderling (see the post), but now the question is whether we speak of the pandemic and cause more fear and panic or we avoid and enter a kind of “conspiracy of silence ”, The one that goes from generation to generation, preventing a child from seeing death, not commenting on someone’s illness and death.
The silence related to death is more profound than dying, which is taken as a natural fact of life, but which should only be considered when the hypothesis does exist, so it does not make sense for a child or a young person, also for me it was a taboo because I imagined that the natural biological cycle: being born, growing, aging and dying was broken, or inter-broken, so death seems more “natural” than dying, the opposite event to becoming, becoming .
The proximity, almost daily with death, continues on the other hand with the convenience of not affecting “everyone”, but it is too inhumane, and this made me rethink once more about dying, previously questioned for children and young people, now I also think about elderly people abandoned their luck and their comorbidities.
The “conspiracy of silence” is that mitigation of dying, trying to remove fear of suffering, degeneration, loneliness and abandonment, the idea is to make man deprived of his “death” as some authors say (Carvalho, 1994), using the man deprived of his death, of his humanity (14,15), with euphemisms or allusions to false situations (he traveled, he is with grandma, etc.) to keep her away from the world of the living and the fatality of dying.
It is cruel to think about dying, but more cruel not to speak and not to mention that many are dying, that it is possible that fewer people will die, and that in addition to prevention, we should all dream of remedies that can separate us from this night of suffering that involves all of us. humanity, to speak of him is to show solidarity.
Adorno Y. Conversando com a criança sobre a morte. Campinas (SP): Psy, 1994; 20 p. 12. Araújo PVR, Vieira MJ. As atitudes do homem frente a morte e o morrer. Texto & Contexto, Florianópolis (SC) 2001 set/dez; 10(3): 101-17.
Böemer MR. A morte e o morrer. São Paulo: Cortêz; 1986.
Carvalho MMMJ, coordenadora. Introdução à Psiconcologia. Campinas (SP): Psy II; 1994.
Mystery is not ignorance
25
Aug
Stories of cultures, of cultural traditions that involve the imaginary
, and the imaginary itself are shrouded in mysteries, but they should not be confused with ignorance or superstitions, this is what can be read in the book of the almost centenary Edgar Morin “Knowledge, Ignorance and Mystery ”. there is a lot about knowledge, something about ignorance and the essentials about mystery, Morin’s dosage is perfect and a good remedy for the pandemic.
He is preparing a book for the pandemic, but as he always anticipates the story I hope to read and I believe he is one of the few who can talk about the new name or the post-pandemic precisely because he emphasized in one of his conferences that the health crisis caught us by surprise and put us on our knees.
In addition to planetary books like “Terra Pátria”, about epistemology “The Method” in six volumes, it is one of the rare ones that ventured to tread new paths in our global dilemmas through “To Exit the 20th century” and “Before the Abyss” However, in this 2018 book, your leap is over the mystery without slipping through the easy paths of belief and ignorance, questions both the fetish of reason and materialistic determinism, among its various works are the Transdisciplinary Studies done in a Center of these studies in Paris with the philosopher, important for the digital world Michel Serres, recently deceased, and proclaims that with discipline and excessive specialization we can move towards a new “obscurantism”.
He clearly separates ignorance from mystery, for him “ We can only apprehend the real through representations and interpretations. The reality of the outside world is a humanized reality: we do not know it directly, but through our human spirit, translated / reconstructed not only by our perceptions, but also by our language, our theories or philosophies, our cultures and societies ”, and for him, the mystery is equated by transdisciplinarity as “the contradiction to which all in-depth knowledge arrives is not an error, but the last conceivable truth”.
He values mystery as a path of discovery and knowledge: “Complex knowledge is the necessary path to reach the unknowable. Otherwise, we remain ignorant of our ignorance. The mystery in no way detracts from the knowledge that leads to it. ”
He calls our current environment as having a “culture of cancellation”, a more resentful half-sole in the old ideological patrols, and they now seem to intensify with the return of ideological polarization, which in the post-war created a constant tension in all of humanity. Which reminds you when children cover their ears and emit mimetic chants (he calls gutturals) so as not to hear interlocutors who contradict them (if you never know that you may be wrong, you will be right forever), so the polarization and radicalization seems to come from nursery education. It is not only the natural environment that needs biodiversity, the cultural environment and democracy also needs it, as Morin says, in fact “they depend on biodiversity”, we are willing to live with what is different or we want to eliminate it, the answer given in global scale is frightening, it is no mystery to ignorance and contempt for the Other.
Morin, Edgar (2020). Conhecimento, Ignorância, Mistério (Knowledge, Ignorance, Mystery). 1st. edition. BR: Bertrand do Brasil.
