Anthony Siberia
Man and woman have always lived with the fear of death. The actor Carmelo Bene, whose twentieth year after his death died last March 16, in one of his most successful plays, “Hamlet Suite”, based on Jules Laforgue, recited: “I die?! .. Yes, okay, you die … But not to be anymore … Not to be there anymore. Words words words (…). And then, if the idea of death is so far from me, it means that life has me at its mercy, it means that life claims me, and then: my life, to the two of us! ». Because art – even with a certain irony and disenchantment – has always come to terms with the end. However, these two years of pandemic and virus have changed many things. Our society, already medicalized and ready to (almost) anything in order not to grow old, suddenly found itself powerless in front of Covid. This tragic stumbling block, in addition to fears and fears, has further raised our desire to become invulnerable. And everything, in a short time, was further medicalized.
A cultural attitude that today can be glimpsed in various aspects of the daily news and public debate. Take for example the Russian war in Ukraine: how many times in recent weeks have we heard reflections on television or in the newspapers regarding the health of Russian President Vladimir Putin. As if the decision to wage a war by invading Ukraine should have to do with Putin’s medical check-up and not with the violence of power for millennia – characterizes human affairs. Today, to get out of the war and talk about something cheerful, it is St. Joseph, Father’s Day. Well, an event that until a few decades ago was pure celebration today is sometimes accompanied by a memento for males: dear fathers over the age of anta, remember to get your psa and prostate checked. Health first of all, this is a proverbial tip. “Mens sana in corpore sano”, the Latins used to say, but it is one thing to love each other and medicalize every aspect of our lives.
Even sex today, in these times of impossible fears and immortality, instead of a crossroads of adventure and discovery, of pleasure and mystery, of desires, seems to have become aseptic. The sexual revolution of the last century, with its naughty and even excessive promiscuity, would not be possible today. Too much virtuality in everyday relationships. Because medicalization changes the customs and reality of life and – as the French philosopher Michel Foucault explained well – also changes our relations with freedoms. It is not a question of having nostalgia for the past but rather of making a simple observation about the changing times. At Father’s Day in the past they brought millefeuille laden with cream and sparkling wine to celebrate. Today, in addition to good wishes, society reminds men to check their prostate. How we have changed. We just have to replace the old “hello, how are you?” with a “say 33” and then we will all be ready for the new world. Medicalized.
