Insensitivity to eugenics
Covid hasn't stopped; it's the world of capital that has, once again, carried out its propaganda.
Between 2020 and 2021, more than 14 million deaths (and more than the years that have passed until then). More than 8 million people have long covid. The world of capital prioritizes money over life, because it has been doing it for a long time, and it was not going to stop for this. Every day we are surrounded by oppression and suffering caused by capitalism and ableist eugenics.
There are fires everywhere, deaths, disability, and it’s overwhelming. And when we talk about masks and covid we see a dilemma: many find it difficult to stay emotionally connected and face a sense of insensitivity. We had tears, anxiety attacks and terrors in 2020 that were impossible to control, now most people look the other way with deaths and negligence with covid. But covid has not stopped, it is the world of capital that has once again made its propaganda.
It’s easy to feel guilt and shame about emotional insensitivity. However, there is a difference between types of numbness. There are those who feel perpetual emotional insensitivity, never having felt the weight of the world, and this is rooted in a lack of critical awareness, often linked to Western individualism and privilege. But there are also those who feel emotional insensitivity after carrying so much heaviness and pain, rooted in critical awareness and empathy.
It doesn’t mean that you’ve suddenly become a carefree, detached, and neglected human being. Emotional numbness can occur after periods of emotional flooding, which is when you’re overwhelmed by many intense emotions. This not only drains us emotionally, but also physically. Numbness can also be a coping mechanism. By becoming numb, we prevent more pain from entering our bodies. We may need this disconnect to regroup and process.
How else can we see it? It’s important to understand emotional numbness so we can talk about it and connect with others about our shared experiences. By being vulnerable and honest about what we’re feeling, we can destigmatize insensibility and collectively overcome any associated shame and guilt.
From this place, we can then discover, together, how not to get caught up in insensitivity and how to use it as a signal to step back, process, regroup, and recharge to move forward in our essential work for liberation. Think of emotionlessness as an emotion in itself, and embrace it to learn about yourself and your needs. Honor where you are, with an eye toward returning to the emotional world when you’re ready.
Just because you feel insensitive or de-responsible for covid deaths does not mean that you should act in this way. Convictions go above the terror and heavy and difficult emotions to which the system subjects us. Not because we feel apathetic should we act in an anti-solidarity way. Empathy is an individual construct that depends on many things, but we know that solidarity depends on one: conviction and the defense of our lives.
You probably don’t feel comfortable with the idea that people with cancer die because you don’t wear a mask, or chronically ill people, or children, or the elderly, or vulnerable people. Surely you do not feel comfortable with the idea that your anti-mask means that people become disabled or more disabled, that we must isolate ourselves 5 times more than the rest because the world left us behind.
But after the emotions since 2020 you don’t have to feel sadness for us, we don’t need sorrow, or crying, we need connection and care. Just because the world has made you see so much violence that you disconnect from emotions, does not mean that you should act in political consequence to it. It means that we must speak, connect from subjectivity and fight against eugenics. Let us not let the meanings of the world of oppression hold us back with our actions. It is not too late to act. The mask is a political practice of hope.