What is Today’s Metaphorical Illness?
Sontag argues against the widespread and historical use of metaphors that people have used to talk about TB, cancer and other terminal illnesses/diseases. She brings to light the many negative metaphors associated with cancer, which allowed the word cancer to shape into a negative idea. Sontag also describes how in the case of TB once science and medicine were able to catch up to TB the negative metaphors melted away. Eventually, Sontag goes on to claim that the negative metaphorical language surrounding cancer would only go away when more scientific and medical information was made about it.
I believe that Sontag was correct. Today unlike in 1978, when Sontag wrote the book, the intense personal negative metaphorical language surrounding cancer has at least shifted. Now cancer is seen as a fight or battle, the blame is not put on the patient but the idea of cancer as a nebulous and mysterious evil entity still prevails.
I wonder what disease, movement (or really any other thing) causes great harm but the true causes of it are unknown and are subject to metaphorical definition.
In your Response try and think of examples of the metaphorical language associated with your idea.
For Example:
Climate change is considered by many to be a figment of the imagination. For years certain politicians and people considered the idea that the earth, something so huge and unimaginably large in scale, could be harmed by the actions of humans. What we now know is that this is not the case because we have found sufficient information proving climate change to be in fact real.
The metaphorical language I could think of surrounding the arguments on climate change from the 1980s to the 2010s were:
- The Planet as a living body
- The Planet is a machine
It is human nature to be greedy. In fact our own economy is driven by the assumption that individuals act in their own self interest. Therefore, individual preferences vary depending on socioeconomic status, and different issues are ignored such as caring for the environment; caring for the environment is a privilege, available only to the wealthy. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs places food, shelter, and water on the bottom of the pyramid, and without this bottom level, it is difficult to move to the top, making the environment not a top priority for the poor. In addition, the people who have the means to care for the environment only do so if it is convenient and it deems prosperous.
ReplyDeleteMetaphorical language concerning this issue:
Comparing our economy to a bee hive saying that a worker bee focusing on self-interest can lead to prosperity in the hive (this one goes against my argument saying greed is good)
Adam smith’s invisible hand
I'm not totally sure if this completely works with the prompt, but while reading the last chapter of the book the thing that came to my mind was the extreme partisan nature of our country. To me, a disease, metaphorical or real, is something that causes harm and takes almost an oppressive stance in someone's life. I think that the strong political divides that are, in a sense, plaguing our country, have caused extreme political divisiveness and unrest between groups of people, which in turn can cause stress, anger, and frustration. The partisan nature of our country has negatively affected many people, especially in terms of elections and policies. Some language that brought this to mind was the idea that was applied to cancer of fighting something "non-you" - in terms of politics, it often seems as if there are two sides that are always fighting the other, the "not-them". There also seems to be very combative language associated with both fighting a disease and fighting for politics.
ReplyDeleteDespite the medical grasp we have on depression (purposefully vague as I don't know what kind of grasp we have on depression), it remains a subjective, ranging, episodic experience that lends itself easily to personal interpretation. Because there are so few signs of depression, it is the responsibility of the patient to describe, with whatever language it takes, the symptoms. This means that personal account, tinged by bias (however subconscious), painted the depressive experience for those to come who could not articulate it alone. Unlike TB, from which stereotypes developed, the profiles of depression were informed by already established biases. Common metaphors for depression include dark and black. "Sinking into a dark hole," "shrouded in blackness," "a dark, cloudy, rainy day." Associating physical darkness with mental illness, fear, and sadness seems racist. Plus, it deprives brown and Black people the language to describe their depression.
ReplyDeleteSchizophrenia is a mental health condition, which causes people to not be able to differentiate their own thoughts from reality. There is a large amount of mystery surrounding schizophrenia, in part because the precise cause of this mental health condition is unknown. The lack of information regarding the causes of schizophrenia has opened the doors for harmful, dehumanizing speculations that question the character of people who have schizophrenia. Metaphorically, schizophrenia is typically used to describe an unexpected change from one extreme condition to another. This metaphor implies that schizophrenia is a mental health condition that causes people to have multiple personalities, which is not what schizophrenia is at all. The metaphorical extreme change used to describe schizophrenia is usually expressed as violent and scary, which further stigmatizes people who have schizophrenia. “61 percent of Americans think that people with schizophrenia are likely to be dangerous to others,” according to a 2003 report executed by a presidential commission regarding mental health. These negative, false metaphors surrounding people with schizophrenia portray innocent people as violent, dangerous, and crazy.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the last chapter of Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor, I was particularly interested in the mentions of the philosophers: Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, and Edmund Burke. I remember studying these philosophers in Western Civ, so I tried to think back and remember each philosopher’s main arguments. Machiavelli wrote “The Prince,” which described the perfect ruler (Lorenzo de’ Medici). The perfect ruler, according to Machiavelli, was one that ruled not to be loved by his subjects, but to be respected and feared. The perfect ruler needed to make tough decisions for his subjects and to provide stability and direction; they ruled for their people and not for themselves. Thomas Hobbes argued for the necessity of an absolute monarch because humans are naturally selfish and needed someone to forcefully keep their subjects in check. Edmund Burke supported the American colonist’s right to resist the British government but opposed any sort of attempt to attain independence. He strongly opposed the French Revolution because of his fear of mob rule. The mentions of these philosophers grabbed my attention because each philosopher had a different opinion on the style of government or how a government should operate. To address Nick’s prompt, I wonder if we actually do know the roots/causes of certain problems and that it may be the government (past governments or present ones). I wonder if there has been so much debate around what type of government we should have, that we have ignored the real problems of society. In my opinion, politics and government lately has become a power grab, which makes me question the government’s desire to operate for the people and to make tough decisions for the people (Machiavelli’s ideas). We often look to the government for answers, but the government cannot alone be the answer.
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ReplyDeleteWhen I think of disorders that are misunderstood, I think of bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder (formerly called manic-depressive illness or manic depression) is a mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, concentration, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. People who suffer from bipolar are often stereotyped as “dangerously unstable” people. The biggest misunderstanding that surrounds bipolar disorder is that people who suffer from the disorder are not extremely sad for 30 minutes and then instantly extremely happy for 30 minutes. In reality there are three types of bipolar, but the shortest amount of time manic and depressive episodes last is two weeks. Then there is Bipolar III is defined by manic and depressive episodes that last for a year to two years.
ReplyDeleteMetaphorical language surrounding bipolar: Describing those who suffer from bipolar as having fire and ice in their blood. Describing those who suffer from bipolar as two people in one body.
ReplyDeleteWhile not a traditional illness, I think that one area where metaphor creates ignorance or harmful prejudice is within sex education. At Poly, we are lucky enough to have health classes that are trasnparent about sex education and sexual health, but the same is not true of many other part of the country. In many other states, there is dissemination of misinformation, abstinence-centered programs, or a complete lack of sex ed in general. In many ways this shrouds sexual health in the same mystery and negativity that Nick described in his post. This lack of information and the subsequent nonspecific or misinformed language used to describe sexual health further perpetuates ignorance on the subject. Some may even argue that this ignorance has informed the heated debate surrounding one of the most controversial subjects of our time: women’s health. As Sontag argues, the language we use when describing our health and the health of others is very impactful. It chapes how we view others and how we view ourselves. I think the same is true regarding the conversation about sex education, and has impacted what sex ed looks like in our country.
One of the most common mental health condition types is also one of the most complex and misunderstood. Anxiety disorders exist on a broad spectrum and in their more extreme forms can appear freighting or irrational to others. These illnesses include separation anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, substance-medication induced anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, among others. Illnesses very similar to these were recently taken out of the anxiety disorder family in the APAs most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, acute stress disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Nonetheless, people continue to be satisfied with being misinformed on the realities and complexities of anxiety. While over 18% of the US population struggles with an anxiety disorder on any given year, most of us only have to worry about generalized anxiety, which is characterized by mild symptoms and the ability to function normally. However, an increasing portion of that roughly 1/5 of us with anxiety in any given year is being made up by people with panic disorder and substance-medication induced anxiety disorder. These have much more serious signs and symptoms and can often appear odd, or even scare, other people. People with panic disorder are too often stereotyped as behaving irrationally and almost "insanely". Those with substance induced anxiety are labeled as being complicit contributors to their own illness. Furthermore, I agree with Nicks point about metaphorical language and speculation disappearing once diseases are understood. I believe this phenomenon occurs with just about any illness, but especially with those of the mind since it is the single most complex data processor known to man. We would honestly be fools to claim to even have an adequate understanding of all the diseases that can plague it and why.
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ReplyDeleteI found it difficult to think of a disease or movement that causes great harm, but the true causes of it are unknown, but I know the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis is a good example of a virus/disease that has caused great harm. Even though we know the causes of HIV/AIDS, people have and still use HIV/AIDS to put down the Lgbtq+ community. At HIV/AIDS walks, it is commonplace to find people holding anti-gay signs even though the walk is meant to support research and all of those who have fallen victim to HIV/AIDS. Thus, people have formulated thoughts and beliefs around the disease that have made the pain felt by those infected far worse than necessary.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to contemporary metaphors, I think references to and metaphors relating to mental health are extremely common. Recently, mental health has become a popular topic of discussion. People have become increasingly aware of mental health and because of that, metaphors have been formed in an attempt to understand the unknown. As mentioned by my classmates, mental disorders like depression, bipolar, anxiety, schizophrenia, PTSD, and eating disorders all have a plethora of metaphors (no matter how accurate or inaccurate) to describe them. On the other hand, mental health disorders are used as metaphors to describe feelings, thoughts, and experiences, often creating more inaccuracies and confusion in trying to understand mental health. Metaphors will never be able to capture the truth of a concept or illness, especially since the "same" illness causes different experiences and reactions depending on the individual.
ReplyDeleteCancel Culture is a movement that is progressively becoming more harmful. There are so many instances of cancel culture in recent memory that it is hard to find the roots of the movement. While the goal of cancel culture is to eliminate a problematic person from the public eye, the ones most affected by the culture are women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people. Influencers such as James Charles, Trisha Paytas, Laura Lee, and Nikita Dragon are all examples of people who have done problematic things and have been "canceled". Why do influencers such as "Logan Paul" never face the threat of being canceled even though they too have done plenty of problematic things? Maybe the fact that they are straight white males helps. The Disney Princess controversy reminds me of this issue. More families are discouraging young females from watching Disney Princesses because they are not "role models". The princess are not perfect. Female influencers have to be flawless in order to be considered "appropriate" to lead and inspire. Even "perfect" women fear the risk of being "too perfect" because even that is considered bad. Male influencers (when not LGBTQ+ or people of color), on the other hand, are not held to the same standards because “boys will be boys”.
ReplyDeleteCancel Culture has been an issue forever though. Look at Othello. Iago essentially gets everyone to cancel Othello by alienating him and painting him as problematic. Othello commits suicide as a result. Let’s face it. If you aren’t a straight white male, you are probably already going to be marked by society as not being the norm. You are off. Much like we alienate cancer because it scares us, we also alienate people because they too scare us. Uniqueness is scary to some people because it is a catalyst for change. We find easy ways of alienating people by focusing on what makes them different. Then, we find their flaws and scandals. We pick at every little mistake they’ve made even if we have done the same thing. Hypocrisy is a bitch.
The idea of being “canceled” is a metaphor in itself. To cancel something is “to decide or announce that (a planned event) will not take place”. Not take place? Event? Canceling a TV show makes sense. Canceling a movie makes sense. Canceling a human? That’s not possible.
I think that the way the word “depressed” is used today is similar to how people used the word “cancer” in the 1970’s. Throughout our country's history, being depressed has been overlooked as a severe condition and has instead been transformed into a synonym for sad. Even at Poly, students are using the word depressed without any hesitation. While not being as severe as cancer, depression is in fact a mental sickness. The overuse of both words in everyday life has now made both diseases less significant and thus into a metaphorical illness. If we want to change this mindset, then as a society we need to stop using these words as substitutes for less severe things and instead only use them when they are in fact true.
ReplyDeleteThroughout our conversations about Illness as a Metaphor, I’ve thought a lot about religion. The reading has described different ways that humans have coped with illnesses and diseases throughout time, and this process of explanation and validation is one I think can be found in many religious practices. Religion is so meaningful to so many people throughout the world because it manages to explain events, emotions, and phenomena that humans wouldn’t otherwise know how to deal with or grasp. As a religious person, I recognize that religion is more meaningful than just that, but I think it's an interesting human pattern to bring up in a conversation about ways that humans cope with the ‘unexplainable’. Different religions have explanations for so many different phenomena. Many miracle stories from the bible can be debunked with new science and a more modern understanding of the world (which does not necessarily say anything about the meaning of the bible), but it is certainly interesting that divine intervention was an immediate answer to events that humans didn’t understand.
ReplyDeleteSimply since it has been overused so much, anxiety is something that comes to mind when discussing misunderstood illnesses. Anxiety, although it is really a mental illness, is a phrase that is thrown around by our generation and in the Poly community. People use it to signify any type of stress present, but it instead is insulting towards people who have been diagnosed with the disease. Additionally, since the word "anxiety" is so misused, it demonstrates a lack of understanding of what people with anxiety are actually going through. This leads to false stereotypes, such as the notion that everyone with anxiety is constantly having a panic attack.
ReplyDeleteOne disorder/mental health condition that I think gets commonly misunderstood is anxiety. It is still something I am not extremely knowledgable about, but have heard about the stories and experiences of others with anxiety. I think a lot of people see it as something that everyone has (which is true to an extent, everyone feels anxious at times, but not everyone has it to the level of diagnosis) and a "made up" condition that should be brushed off. These kinds of ignorant thoughts about something that deeply affects the lives of many are not positive and create a culture of ignorance. It is important to learn about all types of mental health disorders, such as anxiety, so that we do not create these false ideas of them and can understand one another.
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