Socially Acceptable?
As the Washington National Cathedral tolled its funeral bell 900 ti mes at 5 p.m. on February 7 to recognize the 900,000 deaths from COVID-19 registered in the U.S., American elites appeared more concerned about China’s zero-spread policy. They claimed if China does not choose to coexist with the virus, it will create an “immunity gap” with other countries in the future, and the Chinese will eventually be subject to a similar fate: Hundreds of millions of people will be infected and millions will die.
However, compared with the possibility of a so-called “immunity gap,” the better question is why the U.S. doesn’t believe mankind can defeat the virus at the lowest cost through unity and discipline? The problem may be rooted in the tradition of so-called social Darwinism.
Social Darwinism merged Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection and Herbert Spencer’s sociological theories to justify imperialism, racism and conservative social and economic policies. It refers to various theories and societal practices that purported to apply the biological concept of survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics, largely defined by scholars in Western Europe and North America in the late 19th century. Summing up, the strong see their wealth and power increase, while the weak see their wealth and power decrease.
The social Darwinists—notably Spencer in England and William Graham Sumner in the U.S.—believed the government should not interfere in the competition between the strong, nor rescue and protect the weak. As society progressed, the school of thought was criticized and stowed away, but it arguably still exerts a subtle influence on conservative American thinking to this day.
Fact is that as the largest economy, the U.S. leads the world in healthcare and public services, but performs worst in terms of epidemic prevention and control. With some 327 million people, it contributes 40 percent of the world’s confirmed COVID-19 cases and the highest number of deaths. If we analyze the age, race, and social class of America’s COVID-19 deaths, it’s not hard to see that the weak really are being weeded out.
Especially vulnerable during these pandemic times are the elderly. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), 93 percent of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. were aged over 50, with more than 75 percent over 65. Whether these elderly casualties received proper treatment remains as of yet unknown.
The death rate of minorities is much higher. Two years after the outbreak, COVID-19 is affecting AfricanAmerican, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color the most. Though the virus isn’t “racist,” it is difficult for minorities in economically disadvantaged positions to enjoy high-level medical services. For example, CDC data show that the average mortality rate of the COVID-19 pandemic is 1.2 percent, but the mortality rate of the Navajo, America’s largest Indian reservation, is up to 3.2 percent.
As the epidemic widens the gap between rich and poor, the low-income segment of the U.S. population often fails to get timely treatment simply because they can’t afford it; yet in other Western countries, such problems are rare because of better social security systems.
The elderly, the minorities, and the underprivileged; these “weak groups” have been abandoned by American society, because according to the logic of social Darwinism, the epidemic is a process of natural selection, and people must undergo the test to live or die by fate.
This is why China cannot “just” give up its zero spread approach. Protecting the weak is an important part of Chinese culture. The Chinese believe that no one sacrifice should be taken for granted, and that mankind can always find a solution to its problems as long as we stand united.