Framing responses to a pandemic in terms of ‘war’ rightfully suggests that the emphasis is not on care or attention to the needs of those most endangered.

War is a pretext for rendering people & communities as collateral. Death is a foregone conclusion in war.
If responses to a pandemic are framed as ‘war’, who is the ‘enemy’?

Is it people who are potentially infected, whose mobility is seen as a threat against which militarized borders must be mobilized?

Is it immigrants & racial Others who are already treated as vectors of disease?
Agreed https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇🏾" title="Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)"> https://mobile.twitter.com/awgaffney/status/1240594091622227975">https://mobile.twitter.com/awgaffney...
I say the above with an awareness of how suffused medicine is with war metaphors. That cannot be separated from the coevolution of biomedicine with imperialistic forever war.
And none of the above can be separated from the history of public health, whose practitioners’ work has, in turns, been framed as ‘war’- in moral & hygienic terms, which frequently index to marginality & group differentiated vulnerability
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇🏾" title="Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)"> https://mobile.twitter.com/MatthewLeeMPH/status/1240611044659204096">https://mobile.twitter.com/MatthewLe...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇🏾" title="Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇🏾" title="Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)"> https://mobile.twitter.com/Hood_Biologist/status/1241063141267640320">https://mobile.twitter.com/Hood_Biol...
This https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇🏾" title="Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)"> https://mobile.twitter.com/marydudziak/status/1244342553308209158">https://mobile.twitter.com/marydudzi...
And a #thread on the association of the "Manhattan Project" w/ calls to fund COVID-19 research/response

h/t @debbylevine https://twitter.com/wellerstein/status/1244267879970803714">https://twitter.com/wellerste...
Unintended consequences of the use of ‘war’ frames to talk about heelthcarevwoker responses to COVID-19 https://mobile.twitter.com/AgnesSolberg/status/1246165424028385280">https://mobile.twitter.com/AgnesSolb...
And another consequence of war frames for the COVID-19 outbreak https://mobile.twitter.com/Arrianna_Planey/status/1246951177562009606">https://mobile.twitter.com/Arrianna_...
This https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇🏾" title="Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇🏾" title="Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)"> https://mobile.twitter.com/redlightvoices/status/1247059796722884608">https://mobile.twitter.com/redlightv...
Relevant https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇🏾" title="Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)" aria-label="Emoji: Down pointing backhand index (medium dark skin tone)"> https://mobile.twitter.com/GenderPolicyRpt/status/1247557105093160960">https://mobile.twitter.com/GenderPol...
“The issue is that we are using military medicine and military logistics to address what& #39;s essentially a public health problem. This is partially because of the disproportionate allocation of funding to the military versus public health.” http://www.franknews.us/interviews/377/377">https://www.franknews.us/interview...
If ‘we’ are at war with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus) or COVID-19 (the sickness), who embodies the ‘enemy’?

Does this mean that patients are considered a threat to healthcare workers?

How does this amplify stigma borne by minoritized & marginalized patients? https://mobile.twitter.com/Arrianna_Planey/status/1248740450275598341">https://mobile.twitter.com/Arrianna_...
https://mobile.twitter.com/hypervisible/status/1249833564658642944">https://mobile.twitter.com/hypervisi...
Yup... the collateral damage of war looks a lot like *gestures* https://mobile.twitter.com/danielrskinner/status/1250402110681858057">https://mobile.twitter.com/danielrsk...
Fully agreed #AgainstWarMetaphors https://mobile.twitter.com/helleringer143/status/1250277380972638209">https://mobile.twitter.com/hellering...
This whole #thread is great #AgainstWarMetaphors https://mobile.twitter.com/evefairbanks/status/1250148427528364032">https://mobile.twitter.com/evefairba...
This dovetails with war metaphors in that it primes the audience to accept death as inevitable, not *preventable* https://mobile.twitter.com/chadloder/status/1252010003663183873">https://mobile.twitter.com/chadloder...
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