Alternative images of coronavirus / COVID-19?

Alternating between Complementary Images of Coronavirus (Part #2)

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In the light of the approach of Gareth Morgan, a range of "images" or "frames" can be be cited in a preliminary selection. This could include emotions, beliefs, conceptual frames or strategic reactions -- on the understanding that these could overlap and be conflated (if not confused) in practice. There is of course the question, as with the images identified by Morgan, as to why eight are considered appropriate, rather than a lesser or greater number:

1. collective surprise (consequent on previous failure to attend to prediction of future epidemics). The pandemic is readily cited as a Black Swan event, as clarified by (Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, 2007).
   • necessarily associated with ignorance, including negligence of prior warning (WHO, Now Trump's Scapegoat, Warned About Coronavirus Early and Often, The New York Times, 16 April 2020)
   • usefully recognized as expsure to the previously unknown, appropriately framed by the distinctions of Donald Rumsfeld regarding; known knowns, known unknowns, unknown knowns, and unknown unknowns
     
     
2. fear and fearfulness (framed in terms of the level and probability of fatality). This is despite the acceptable annual incidence of other causes of death and the acceptability of collateral damage in time of war (however each is regretted, and the manner in which the victors are selectively commemorated in the case of the latter). Also relevant are arguments, notably by conspiracy theorists, that a culture of fear and fear-mongering has been deliberately cultivated in support of questionable agendas
   • threat to individuals and/or society (necessitating a response from security-related services)
   • panic focusing a need to avoid it at all costs (thereby justifying exceptional emergency measures)
   • disaster of global proportions with disastrous implications (most obviously for the economy and the financial markets)
     
     
3. unmitigated evil, namely a manifestation of that which is believed by many to systematically undermine the essentially beneficent nature of innocent humanity. This is consistent with the various claims by world leaders and religious leaders for the prevailing importance of that understanding (Existence of evil as authoritatively claimed to be an overriding strategic concern, 2016; Evil Rules: Guidelines for Engaging in Armageddon Now, 2015). Its manifestation within institutions has also been noted, as reviewed by Mark Benton (Unmasking Administrative Evil, Public Integrity, 2020, February).
   • pestilence being one sign of prophesied end times (as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, together with fire, flood and famine), and appropriately framed by Anne Fennimore and Arthur J. Sementelli (Accounting for the Horsemen of the Administrative Apocalypse, Public Integrity, April 2018)
   • an Act of God, as in the case of other natural disasters (Acts of God vs Acts of al-Qaida: Hurricane Katrina as a message to Bible Belt America? 2005)
     
     
4. a biological phenomenon or form of life (possibly deliberately manufactured or lending itself to weaponisation)
   • significant as a potentially threatening challenge corresponding to that of instinctual human memories of encounters with "wildlife"
   • biological challenge to medical research (especially necessitating urgent unlimited funding for a vaccine)
   • pestilence (necessitating suppression or eradication)
   • a medical challenge to the health services
     
     
5. an unfamiliar structural pattern (challenging the natural order as more conventionally recognized). Possibly to be understood as a geometrical template of value to any pattern language or raising valuable questions from an enactive cognitive perspective (George Lakoff and Rafael E. Núñez (Where Mathematics Comes From: how the embodied mind brings mathematics into being, 2000).
   
   
6. an abstract concept or statistical construct (as may be framed through the detachment of the social sciences, notably in the future)
   • an emergent meme (framed as a trend on social media and otherwise)
   • a conspiracy in its own right, especially given the prevailing confusion and assumptions regarding its deliberate cultivation
   • a pattern of data (inviting modelling and simulation by competing research groups)
   • an illusion (in the light of some philosophical perspectives)
     
     
7. a catalyst for social change and transformation (of necessity given recognition of the improbability of being able to return to past normality and business-as-usual)
   • source of strategic learning in relation to governance and emergency preparedness (Enabling Collective Intelligence in Response to Emergencies, 2010)
   • opportunity to advance otherwise problematic agendas (as perceived by vested interests and conspiracy theorists)
   • a strategic question or set of questions (Strategic Implications of 12 Unasked Questions in Response to Disaster, 2013)
     
     
8. "aesthetic material", recognized as a source of inspiration in mitigation of the psychological impact of the pandemic experience. This most obviously engenders humour, but may also result in reframing through music, poetry, and other works of art, as may be variously explored (A Singable Earth Charter, EU Constitution or Global Ethic? 2006; Markus Buehler, Nanomechanical sonification of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus spike protein through a materiomusical approach, 2020; Poetry-making and Policy-making: Arranging a Marriage between Beauty and the Beast, 1993).
   • it is especially curious to note that the Great Plague (1665) is claimed (controversially) to be remembered through the lyrics of a common nursery rhyme Ring a Ring o' Roses (The Great Plague explanation of the mid-20th century)

As with Gareth Morgan's set of 8 images, the obvious question is why only 8? In the above case regarding COVID-19 there is no obvious answer, as is the case with the limited number of preoccupations of governance which are incorporated into various global plans. However, in the case of COVID-19 such a constraint is somewhat ironically evident in the "Eight ways in which scientists hope to provide immunity to SARS-CoV-2", The latter is the subtitle of a recent article noting that more than 90 vaccines are being developed against SARS-CoV-2 by research teams in companies and universities across the world (Ewen Callaway, The race for coronavirus vaccines: a graphical guide, Nature, 28 April 2020).

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