L'uso della metafora bellica nella definizione del fenomeno pandemico

The cataclysm triggered by the emergence of Covid-19 led from a justified (and healthy) fear of contagion to a form of moral panic and consequently to the demand for greater security. The current state of emergency has tested and will continue to test the institutions and their ability to find and implement solutions that minimize the damage suffered without restricting individual freedoms. Those who felt entrusted with the institutional and political responsibility of explaining to the masses once again focused on the same event as it had “inevitably” not happened for almost twenty years, using the most basic rhetorical figures, which at the same time were more effective in terms of communication. Since the beginning of the epidemic, first in China, then in Italy and Europe and finally throughout the world, politicians, journalists, doctors, economists and opinion leaders have defined the health emergency as “war”. From the beginning, the metaphor of war was used and abused, and the first and most vocal spread of the concept of war and related terms were politicians.