Ishlar ko'pincha qanday ko'rinishga ega bo'lsa, chunki hokimiyatga da'vo qiladigan kimdir bizga shunday ko'rinishni aytadi. Agar bu juda bema'ni tuyulsa, bir zum to'xtab, bir yil oldin yoki hatto bir necha hafta oldin siz uchun eng muhim bo'lgan narsa haqida o'ylang.
Then, you may have been thinking that Russian interference in western politics was a vitally important issue, and something that we needed to invest much of our emotional and political energy in countering. Or maybe a few weeks ago you felt that everything would be fine if we could just get Donald Trump out of the White House. Or maybe you imagined that Brexit was the panacea to Britain’s problems – or, conversely, that it would bring about the UK’s downfall.
Hali ham shunday his qilyapsizmi?
After all, much as we might want to (and doubtless some will try), we can’t really blame Vladimir Putin, or Russian troll farms spending a few thousand dollars on Facebook advertising, for the coronavirus pandemic. Much as we might want to, we can’t really blame Trump for the catastrophic condition of the privatised American health care system, totally ill-equipped and unprepared for a nationwide health emergency. And as tempting as it is for some of us, we can’t really blame Europe’s soft borders and immigrants for the rising death toll in the UK. It was the global economy and cheap travel that brought the virus into Britain, and it was the Brexit-loving prime minister Boris Johnson who dithered as the epidemic took hold.
Katta rasm
Is it possible that only a few weeks ago our priorities were just a little divorced from a bigger reality? That what appeared to be the big picture was not actually big enough? That maybe we should have been thinking about even more important, pressing matters – systemic ones like the threat of a pandemic of the very kind we are currently enduring.
Because while we were all thinking about Russiagate or Trump or Brexit, there were lots of experts – even the Pentagon, it seems – warning of just such a terrible calamity and urging that preparations be made to avoid it. We are in the current mess precisely because those warnings were ignored or given no attention – not because the science was doubted, but because there was no will to do something to avert the threat.
If we reflect, it is possible to get a sense of two things. First, that our attention rarely belongs to us; it is the plaything of others. And second, that the “real world”, as it is presented to us, rarely reflects anything we might usefully be able to label as objective reality. It is a set of political, economic and social priorities that have been manufactured for us.
Agents outside our control with their own vested interests – politicians, the media, business – construct reality, much as a film-maker designs a movie. They guide our gaze in certain directions and not others.
A critical perspective
At a moment like this of real crisis, one that overshadows all else, we have a chance – though only a chance – to recognise this truth and develop our own critical perspective. A perspective that truly belongs to us, and not to others.
Eski o'zingni, koronavirusdan oldingi o'zingni o'ylab ko'ring. Sizning ustuvorliklaringiz hozirgilaringiz bilan bir xilmi?
This is not to say that the things you prioritise now – in this crisis – are necessarily any more “yours” than the old set of priorities.
If you’re watching the TV or reading newspapers – and who isn’t – you’re probably feeling scared, either for yourself or for your loved ones. All you can think about is the coronavirus. Nothing else really seems that important by comparison. And all you can hope for is the moment when the lockdowns are over and life returns to normal.
But that’s not objectively the “real world” either. Terrible as the coronavirus is, and as right as anyone is to be afraid of the threat it poses, those “agents of authority” are again directing and controlling our gaze, though at least this time those in authority include doctors and scientists. And they are guiding our attention in ways that serve ularning interests – for good or bad.
Infektsiyalar va o'limlarning cheksiz hisob-kitoblari, dahshatli grafikalar, keksalar bilan birga omon qolish uchun kurashayotgan yoshlarning hikoyalari bir maqsadga xizmat qiladi: biz blokirovkaga rioya qilishimizga ishonch hosil qilish, ijtimoiy masofani saqlash, o'zimizni xotirjam qilmaslik va kasallik tarqaldi.
Here our interests – survival, preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed – coincide with those of the establishment, the “agents of authority”. We want to live and prosper, and they need to maintain order, to demonstrate their competence, to prevent dissatisfaction bubbling up into anger or open revolt.
Tafsilotlar bilan to'lib-toshgan
But again the object of our attention is not as much ours as we may believe. While we focus on graphs, while we twitch the curtains to see if neighbours are going for a second run or whether families are out in the garden celebrating a birthday distant from an elderly parent, we are much less likely to be thinking about how well the crisis is being handled. The detail, the mundane is again crowding out the important, the big picture.
Bizning hozirgi qo'rquvimiz bizning tanqidiy nuqtai nazarimizni rivojlantirish va saqlab qolish uchun dushmandir. Grafiklardan, o'limlardan qanchalik qo'rqsak, bizni xavfsiz saqlaydi, degan narsaga bo'ysunishimiz mumkin.
Under cover of the public’s fear, and of justified concerns about the state of the economy and future employment, countries like the US are transferring huge sums of public money to the biggest corporations. Politicians controlled by big business and media owned by big business are pushing through this corporate robbery without scrutiny – and for reasons that should be self-explanatory. They know our attention is too overwhelmed by the virus for us to assess intentionally mystifying arguments about the supposed economic benefits, about yet more illusory trickle-down.
There are many other dramatic changes being introduced, almost too many and too rapidly for us to follow them properly. Bans on movement. Intensified surveillance. tsenzura. The transfer of draconian powers to the police, and preparations for the askarlarni joylashtirish on streets. Detention without trial. Harbiy holat. Measures that might have terrified us when Trump was our main worry, or Brexit, or Russia, may now seem a price worth paying for a “return to normality”.
Ajablanarlisi shundaki, eski normaga bo'lgan ishtiyoq bizni yangi normaga bo'ysunishga tayyor ekanligimizni anglatishi mumkin, bu bizni eski normal holatga qaytish imkoniyatidan butunlay voz kechishi mumkin.
The point is not just that things are far more provisional than most of us are ready to contemplate; it’s that our window on what we think of as “the real world”, as “normal”, is almost entirely manufactured for us.
Virus tomonidan chalg'itilgan
Hozir bu g'alati tuyulishi mumkin, bizning qo'rquvimiz va azob-uqubatlarimiz orasida, pandemiya ham katta rasm emas. Bizning e'tiborimizni virus yutadi, lekin bu haqiqatan ham dahshatli ma'noda chalg'itadi.
In a few more years, maybe sooner than we imagine, we will look back on the virus – with the benefit of distance and hindsight – and feel the same way about it we do now about Putin, or Trump, or Brexit.
Bu bizning eski tabiatimizning bir qismi, bizning eski ustuvorliklarimiz, kattaroq rasmning kichik bir qismi, biz qayerga ketayotganimizni ko'rsatadigan ishora, biz eng muhim bo'lgan paytda e'tibor bermagan alomatni his qiladi.
The virus is one small warning – one among many – that we have been living out of sync with the natural world we share with other life. Our need to control and dominate, our need to acquire, our need for security, our need to conquer death – they have crowded out all else. We have followed those who promised quick, easy solutions, those who refused to compromise, those who conveyed authority, those who spread fear, those who hated.
Agar biz nigohimizni boshqa tomonga yo'naltira olsak, diqqatimizni bir lahzaga qaytarib olsak, bizni nafaqat virus, balki qo'rquvimiz, nafratimiz, ochligimiz va xudbinligimiz ham azoblayotganini tushunishimiz mumkin edi. Dalil yong‘inlar, toshqinlar va kasalliklarda, yo‘qolib ketgan hasharotlarda, iflos dengizlarda, sayyoramizning qadimgi o‘pkalari, o‘rmonlarida, erish muzliklarida bor.
The big picture is hiding in plain sight, no longer obscured by issues like Russia and Brexit but now only by the most microscopic germ, marking the thin boundary between life and death.
Ushbu insho birinchi marta Jonatan Kukning blogida paydo bo'ldi: https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/
Kuk Jurnalistika bo'yicha Marta Gelxorn maxsus mukofotini qo'lga kiritdi. Uning kitoblari orasida "Isroil va tsivilizatsiyalar to'qnashuvi: Iroq, Eron va Yaqin Sharqni qayta tiklash rejasi" (Pluto Press) va "Yo'qolib borayotgan Falastin: Isroilning insoniy umidsizlikdagi eksperimentlari" (Zed Books). Uning veb-sayti www.jonathan-cook.net.
ZNetwork faqat o'z o'quvchilarining saxiyligi orqali moliyalashtiriladi.
hadya etmoq