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Plagues And Epidemics

Plagues and Epidemics

Plagues and Epidemics

    Humans are remarkably good at finding a religious scapegoat for their
problems. There has always been someone to blame for the difficulties we face in
life, such as war, famine, and more relevant, disease. Hitler blames the Jews
for economical woes in a corrupt Germany long after the Romans held the
Christians responsible for everything wrong in a crumbling, has-been empire. In
the fourteenth century, when Plague struck Europe, it was blamed on "…
unfavorable astrological combinations or malignant atmospheres…" (handout p2),
and even "…deliberate combination by witches, Moslems (an idea proposed by
Christians), Christians (proposed by Moslems) and Jews (proposed by both
groups)." (H p2) The point is, someone was to blame even when the obvious
reasons, flea ridden rats, were laying dead on the streets. As time progressed
to the twentieth century, there have been few if any exceptions made to this
phenomena. In the case of Oran, the people raced to find a culprit for the
sudden invasion of their town, which became the unrepentant man. This is one of
Camus’ major themes; The way a society deals with an epidemic is to blame it one
someone else. Twenty years ago, when AIDS emerged in the US, homosexual men
became the target of harsh and flagrant discrimination, and even today are still
held accountable by some beliefs. While we may no longer lynch in the nineties,
we do accuse innocent groups, like the gay male population, for the birth and
explosion of AIDS in our society. Given, there are some differences between each
respective situation, but there are striking similarities that cannot be ignored.

    As the Plague invaded the town of Oran, the people quarantined within
its walls began to look to their leaders for answers. Most likely these people
had trouble believing that such an awful thing was happening to them, and needed
someone to point the finger at. In the meantime, Father Paneloux was preparing a
speech to answer the questions and fears that surrounded him, and probably vexed
him as well. The truth is, his speech was as much therapeutic as it was didactic,
and in winning the opinion of the public he could calm his own fears. " If today
the plague is in your midst, that is because the hour has struck for taking
thought. The just man need have no fear, but the evildoer has good cause to
tremble." (p95) Paneloux is passing the blame, but in a very intriguing way.
"You believed some brief formalities, some

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