The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the world was assaulted by increasing nationalism in states both large and small. Autocratic, nationalistic rulers have emerged in all three of the most populous nations on earth: China, India, and the United States of America. Similar heads of state are in Russia, Brazil, the Philippines, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Congo, Poland, Hungary, the United Kingdom, and other smaller and less influential nations.
Over the course of the past forty years, international or regional organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union, the World Bank, NATO, SEATO, USAID, CARE, and NAFTA are no longer as effective as they once were. This trend did not happen overnight; it has evolved over several decades.
With the rapid spread of the coronavirus, there is suddenly an almost inevitable growth in nationalism. Most of us seem naturally more concerned about the course the virus is taking in our own country than in neighboring states or in the world at large.
When the television networks display the number of infections, they may include world totals, but our eyes focus first on what is happening in our own homeland. U.S. reports rarely talk about Canada or Mexico, and I presume that each national TV network in the European Union member-states do not include the figures for every EU country. They show only the number of cases and deaths within their own borders. But then, borders until the past few years had become less important in Europe. Now, in the battle against COVID-19, it appears that every nation is on its own.
All viruses are notoriously extra-national. Borders have no meaning to them. Nevertheless, when a pandemic descends on the world, borders tighten and travelers from beyond borders find it more difficult to cross borders. States want to protect themselves from the people of other states. To repeat, that somehow seems “natural.”
Nationalistic impulses always divide and threaten Planet Earth. We need a return to a much larger and more cohesive world, to Mega-Earth. T-shirt or cap makers might create some new products to do their small part to strengthen the international economy --- MEGA: Make Earth Great Again.
Dangerous and unpredictable nationalism is likely to increase in the enormous uncertainties that have been created by COVID-19. The tendencies which preceded the pandemic were sufficiently alarming; the problems exploding from the virus make the disruptions all the more divisive.
Unless the peoples of our planet are especially careful, we could be headed toward some very turbulent times. Human beings do much better when they work together than when they work against each other. MEGA: Make Earth Great Again.
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.