6 New Thoughts About | That Will Turn Your World Upside Down

January 01, 2020

The world upside down is a fascinating concept that draws from many of Lewis Carroll's other books as well as the world around us. In Alice in Wonderland, the title character was described as looking “down an ugly hillside full of rocks” (Alice in Wonderland, Prologue). On the surface, this seems like a description of contemporary political situation, however it also points to something very specific about the vision of the author. The world upside down proved to be incredibly important in learning how Alice perceived the political, religious, and social chaos of early medieval France, and by unpacking one of his most common metaphors, can explore the darker side of this famous cartoon character.

Much of the political turmoil of early medieval Europe could be attributed to disease and death spread through the blood, the body, and the air. In Alice in Wonderland, the White Rabbit advises Alice to “go to the edge of the wood,” a reference to the edge of city walls where infected bodies could be hidden. From this perspective, it seems that the “public health” is a symbol for the social sicknesses spread through infection and poor hygiene: a literal “public health” where all people are infected. This perspective provides the perfect opportunity to examine how Alice chooses to view the world upside down, in order to demonstrate how her different perspectives on health services organization could have had dire consequences for both her and those around her.

At the beginning of the book, Alice is traveling to the Land of Oz with the White Rabbit, following a message from the Queen that tells her to visit the Land of Oz and find the happy and prosperous Land of Mouse. While looking for the land, Alice finds herself trapped in the Caves of Recombobulation. There, she meets the Cheshire Cat who foresees a worldwide pandemic that will kill millions. Just as the book ends, Alice finds herself in the Land of Oz, at the center of a massive traffic jam. This is a world upside down, where the public's health is in danger, and those who are trusted to save the public's health are themselves helplessly watching millions die.

This is the book's premise, but it's a convenient one for a piece I'm going to write about now. As I was reading, a story developed about how the US and other major countries had refused to sign onto an international health pact, risking their own security in the process. This was a real problem, because in the end, the plan was to have the Caspian and South Siberian Seas become the new shipping routes for the world's healthiest cargo – people. The plan was for the Caspian and South Seas to become the new “hot spots” for deadly viruses and infectious disease.

After reading the book, I realized that this is what's happening in the news every day. There are outbreaks of killer viruses and other disease-causing bugs cropping up around the world every day, and yet we're only hearing about the outbreak in the United States. It would have been much more interesting and dramatic if there were a world upside down. If the Japanese had suddenly turned the world upside down and started infecting everyone with some virus they had, then everyone would be looking for the perfect answers in how to stop the Japanese from making the next outbreak. I don't have the time to write that article, but if you're interested in reading about this particular aspect of the book, you can find the links below.

Throughout the book, there are several different threads. In the first part, there's a story about how after the Caspian and Sivert rivers had all sorts of people dying of cholera and typhoid fever, there was no international sympathy for the poor victims. That's when the idea for the global health pact was born. Finally, in the second part of the book we learn about the creation of the international sanitation standard, which helped to lower deaths from epidemics around the world.

One of the things I really like in this book is that antiviral drugs didn't seem to work on their own. Instead, they required further research. One of the theories about why they didn't work is that people were just too afraid of dying from a new pandemic. They created the perfect storm for a pandemic, which then killed off a huge percentage of the world's population.

In my opinion, this book is a great way to make a political argument about how humans should move forward when it comes to pandemics and other diseases. However, I am also very concerned with antiviral drugs, because they kill a lot of people and also cause a lot of pollution. Also, I am very pleased with the way antiviral drugs began to go into the public domain, but only after a huge outcry. In covid-19 we get the first glimpse of how much the World Needs To Do About Antivirals Now, which I believe is an important book.