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The Pandemic: UNSPOKEN ETHICS

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswestfall

AND EMERGING CULTURE

Chiara F. Samandari

The pandemic has delayed a lot of our activities, and ever since the first case was confirmed in Indonesia in March, the majority of people did not expect it to turn this bad. The pandemic has delayed a lot of our activities, and ever since the first case was confirmed in Indonesia in March, the majority of people did not expect it to turn this bad.

We have slowly adapted to staying at home, wearing masks, and attending online classes. Even though it was weird at first, we have adapted to the new situation for more than 6 months - so congratulations to us! During those months, we cannot help but to notice emerging ethics and social culture.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2020/nov/24/portraits-from-the-pandemic-taylor-wessing-prize-winners-in-pictures#img-2

DID THE PANDEMIC AFFECT US SOCIALLY?

The feeling of insecurity that builds inside of us when we go out to crowded places urge us to stay at home and it builds a culture of only going out when necessary. It becomes normal for us to stay at home and it does make us feel safer from the virus. But it does not ensure safety inside some households or the safety of the mental state of individuals themselves. We find ourselves from time to time being contacted by friends or contacting friends, asking their wellbeing. And surprisingly the pandemic allows us to get in touch with friends that we weren’t really close before. Calling for hours and catching up, making sure they’re okay, becomes as a personal responsibility to look out for each other.

Sometimes, we can’t help but to meet our friends in person. But unlike the ‘normal days’ we can’t hug our friends anymore or practice our secret handshake. We slowly adapt to a new way of greeting and being distant because being too close physically would also make a person uncomfortable. The pandemic has also forced us to wear masks every time we go out. Wearing a mask is seen as respectful towards other people’s health. This pandemic has clearly shown us that the action we take will affect everyone around us. By wearing a mask, we are preventing the virus from infecting not only ourselves but also other people we come in contact with. This pandemic shows more vividly of how humans actually have the capacity to care about each other’s well being, but sadly it seems they needed a huge-pandemic-push to realize a bit of their potential capacity.

ZOOM ETHIC AND A POSSIBLE NEW WAY OF TEACHING

Keeping the camera on during online classes or meetings, is slowly seen as being polite and respective. A bad habit that we must admit as students is that we sometimes do not respond to our lectures during zoom classes. It is funny to see the power students have now, even though it is not exactly the right thing to do. It does remind us of Najwa Shihab when she ‘interviewed’ the empty seat. Can we all agree that online classes are actually really helpful for students that live far away? And it also helps us to come on time without having any obstacles such as traffic or oversleeping. But there is another side to the coin: online classes make working groups and discussions much harder. Not to mention, that it has also made new students become unfamiliar with campus life. There will not be any stories to tell their future generation of how wonderful campus life is.

Looking at a wider scale, the effect of the pandemic on education is mostly felt by students from unfortunate families. Remember, we live in a vast world with individuals from diverse backgrounds and

Meanwhile, unfortunate students are struggling in their pursuit of education. They find creative new ways to study, some use radio, some television, some even have a small study group in their area.

Has the pandemic actually widened the disparity of education or has it opened a chance for the emergence of a new system, where education is carried out in small groups in one area of a community?

The pandemic shows that even though a country looks prosperous, that does not mean all citizens have equal access to education, but through solidarity and support we can find our way out.

ZIMBABWE’S Youth & Medical Syrup Addiction

By Davin Richard

Whilst the rest of the world is currently wrestling with the Covid-19 pandemic, Zimbabwe is currently fighting 2 nation-wide emergencies that will effectively kill the progress and the future of the nation for tens of years to come.

Source : https://www.vice.com/en/article/kzvxyw/watch-our-new-film-about-zimbabwes-codeine-cough-syrup-epidemic

Humanity, a Gift and a Curse

Human beings, no matter the ethnicity and color, are renowned for being extremely resourceful with what little they often have. Albeit this effective and efficient creativity is not without danger, this makes it the original double-edged sword. What we lack in ineptitude we make up for in hypocritical wisdom. This is the root of the problem in Zimbabwe, where Zimbabweans found a curious use for an over-the-counter medicine called ‘Broncleer’ or as the locals call it ‘Bronco’. As most of humanity’s invention purposes are to fill the glass of pleasure as much as possible to the brim, the sole potency of the human mind will inescapably open additional paths that will lead into multitude levels of perversion from its original purpose. ‘Broncleer’ is no exception to this unfortunate truth. The drug was created as a way to combat mainly cough, common cold, runny nose, and airway irritation. As we have discussed before, pleasure is the ultimate goal of humanity. Medicine might not entirely be aligned with the concept of immediate pleasure. In fact, the fact that almost all people hate taking medicine until recent years leads to ‘making medicine taste good’ - a goal that Broncleer and a lot of modern medicines have achieved through the use of sugar, opiate substances and alcohol in modest amount that creates sedative effect (codeine) which equals to morphine numbing the sensory input/intoxication as well as overriding the bitter taste when taking medicine. This, of course, makes cough syrup to be more capable in handling bodily issues more than just mere cough and common cold, but also insomnia and motion sickness thanks to the added secondary ingredients.

A Dangerous Solution

The light usage dosage makes the drowsiness barely a side-effect to consider when the reward people get for using it is the relatively quick elimination of cough and runny nose which is not very pleasurable to experience for a long period of time. Although we wish that the story would end here, the world is not all benevolent. We mentioned the genius and danger of the human mind no matter the background - and the Zimbabwean Youngsters are a prime example of this. The use of Bronco in Zimbabwe is not mainly - or mostly not at all - to combat medical issues, as a single bottle of opiated liquid in the form of Bronco syrup in Zimbabwe equates the passing of a single day without the many stresses that extreme poverty produces. In other words 100ml of Bronco is a day of pleasure no matter the condition the consumers are in, as pleasure of ignorance is pleasure nonetheless, and as an ordinary Zimbabwean the luxury of options is just not really there. Of course Bronco was not meant to be consumed daily, but what does Adcock Ingram really has to say if their customers decide to use their product especially on consumers with a level of desperation they barely ever heard of, and let alone experience?

Unfortunate Circumstances

Being a citizen of the Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) is no walk in a park and that is no surprise for a nation with 30 years of destructive authoritarian rule by the hands of Robert Mugabe. The people of Zimbabwe are left to their own to struggle for the end of the day with no room to think about the future. A destroyed economy and non-existent human rights catering, lead common people into desperation for any measure of sufficiency and/ or obviously, pleasure. With the amount of upper government areas being disastrously handled along with corrupt government members, the value of national currency went through a series of super inflations and eventually reached a famous hyperinflation case where the government gave up on national currency and switched into foreign currency such as US Dollars and South African’s Rand to be used on daily basis. Zimbabwe last year reported around 45% overall unemployed labour force aged between 15-35, with over 75% having informal employment status. To make things even more depressing, there are dilated wage gaps between high management positions and middle/low management positions, as well as wage thefts, which are habitual with the nature of informal jobs given no real guarantee of payment. Not to mention, the gender pay gap is a prevalent issue in Zimbabwe, too, with women earning almost 20% less than male counterparts do in the same field. All of this resulted in 9 million people falling below the poverty line and 6 million of those classified as being in extreme as of 2019.

Blissful Lethargy

The abuse of Bronco to essentially ‘Time Skip’ a day full of longing but no meaning to fulfill is a valuable capability in a life ever so short of meaning. The sedative effect for just less than USD 3 has become the first thing most Zimbabwean adolescents spend money on. The lethargic effect Codeine-infused syrup produces becomes noticeable once the dosage taken is 4-5 times the recommended amount. This as well as the low body tolerance young teenagers usually have leads into a full-fledged high experience for hours - the reason being why the Broncleer is usually referred to as Cheap High. Main reason why young Zimbabweans do this is the lack of something to do. Entertainmentwise, the internet has been permeating quite thoroughly among the Zimbabweans. But due to costs still higher than Bronco and the slow speed, the internet attracts only a little portion of the common citizenry. Non-entertainment wise, there really is either nothing to do or they just do not have the money to do anything beneficial for the mental health of the young generation. Even education is considered to be folly, as it is just as hard to get a job with a degree, and even if they did, chances are they still are going to make pretty much the same amount of money as they currently do thanks to the well rooted pay gap induced by the upper management.

Broncleer addiction results in low blood pressure, weak pulse, nausea, vomiting, and even coma. As uneducated and drunk several young Zimbabweans may be, they know that over consuming something never leads to anything good. But that does not matter to them, because as far as they are seeing the trends in their lives, the immediate pleasure is worth sacrificing a potentially brighter future they may never have. This is the woeful truth that has been going on for 5 years, that will affect the nation for generations to come unless something changes - be it from inside or outside.