At Chacruna: Humankind Crowned – Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Virus

Bernd Brabec de Mori

To put it up front, this essay is not about relativization. I am sitting in my flat, trying to make ends meet between supervising my children’s chaotic homeschooling, my own home office, and maintaining social and supply relations, especially with more anxious elderly relatives. I am glad that the Austrian government decided in good time to issue severe measures, and so I am slightly optimistic that the pandemic, which I recognize as a serious threat, might not result in utter disaster here, as I fear it might occur in other countries. So whence my subtitle? Isn’t the use of “love” merely cynical in this context, as is the allusion to Dr. Strangelove and Armageddon? No, it is not, I reckon, and here is why... continue reading.