[.ca] Illness as Metaphor and Aids and Its Metaphor (ISBN 0312420137)

cancer phobia & AIDS as "payback" for sin:
Cancer phobia, some people say, is worse than cancer. Well, not really... But true up to a point. Being afraid of a disease, be it cancer, AIDS, or whatever else, can be debilitating. And who of us doesn't know people that are scared to death of cancer, or of AIDS? And how can we all not be scared (maybe even terrified) of these diseases, when in our eyes they're not just diseases but are loaded with a whole lot of different meanings... Susan Sontag's essay on cancer (& her later essay on AIDS) deal with these diseases as metaphors of whatever is bad, evil, reprehensible, sinful about human experience. Especially with cancer, the metaphor is more poignant, since, cancer still has unknown causes, at least up to a point: of course cancer now is much better understood, but in '78, when Sontag wrote the first essay, cancer was mostly unknown territory. Obviously, when we're talking about unknown territory, unknown (& mysterious) causes, there's a lot of theoretizing & projecting: anyone can project their own ideas on this white wall of ignorance. And so people 'fight' cancer, 'win the battle' against cancer, 'have cancer personalities', 'cause' their cancer or whatever else. It was even worse with AIDS, especially in the '80s: then it was widely (& stupidely) believed that this new disease was the payback for the free sexuality of the '70s, & especially of the sexuality of homosexuals. Susan Sontag's essays tackle these issues & show the metaphors & prejudices of illness as what they are. They are important, clearly-written essays, & if today some of these ideas appear obvious or widely known, remember that Sontag talked about these things many years ago, being one of the first people to address the issue.

Great stuff, with a caveat...:
I've read only the original essay (Illness as Metaphor) so will comment on that alone. The book is an excellent antidote to the overemphasis on psychological causes for physical illness that is current in society and, especially, in the "new age" community. Well worth reading and digesting for that purpose. This said, I do think \othe text\c overstates the case somewhat. There is a body of empirical evidence showing, for example, links between mental state and immune function. This link would, in principle, be expected to influence the incidence of both infective disease and cancer. For example, only a fraction of those who are infected with T.B. develop clinical disease, and stress may play a role in activating latent disease in those who are chronically infected. In polio, the situation is even more extreme, as only about one pecent of those who are infected develop clinical disease. Thus, for many infective diseases, there is a marked difference between rates of infection and rates of "symptomaticity." It seems likely that the mind and mental state is one (but certainly not the only!) factor that influences whether an infection becomes clinical illness. Similarly, in cancer, as I understand it, all of us are constantly experiencing mutations that have the potential to become cancerous. But most of these mutations are eliminated, before they do harm, by the operation of various "survaliance" systems (including the immune system) in the body. Thus, the onset of cancer may involve an escape from survaliance. To the extent that mental state affects immune function, the mind could affect the appearance of cancer. Of course, there are many factors--such as environmental carcinogens, smoking, etc.--which in some fraction of the population will cause rates of mutation that will overwhelm the bodies survaliance functions, perhaps even when these systems are operating well. In conclusion, I think Sontag is on to something important, and makes excellent points that many people could learn from. But these points should be viewed as part of the picture, and good food for thought, rather than the whole truth. Comments and corrections welcome at publiccontact@hotmail.com

ENLIGHTENING VIEWS ON ILLSNESS:
I own the original print of ILLNESS AS METAPHOR; by that I mean, the print that contains only the essay on Tuberculosis and Cancer and not the one on AIDS. It was required reading for my freshman English class in college. I looked up this title intending to buy a copy for a friend and found out that the edition I own is not available anymore. However, I remember wondering back in 1984 when I first read this book - during the peak of the AIDS "scare and witch hunt" how this new illness would figure in the grand scheme of things in Susan Sontag's view. Invariably it succumbed to metaphoric thinking just as TB and Cancer did. This wasn't too hard to predict since the elements in our society that foster and perpetuate such metaphors are still with us (and will continue to be for a while longer)...namely religion and politics. So, for the sake of understanding the premise of ILLNESS AS METAPHOR, I'll say this "...the healthiest way of being ill is one most purified of, most resistant to metaphoric thinking." Think about AIDS - how often do you hear things like: "It is a natural process we're seeing here." Or, " It is natural for viruses to evolve, change and even mutate." Or, "This isn't the first time the human race has experienced the effects of epidemics or syndromes - nor will it be the last." Instead what we hear are things like, "God doesn't like gays and he's punishing them for their sins." The thinking is that if you catch it, you deserved it. Like cancer patients just a few decades ago, AIDS patients were the object of decontamination practices. Like Susan Sontag shows in her essay about TB and cancer - as long as a disease is treated as a mysterious, God-sent judgement. And as long as people concoct punitive attributes about diseases whose causes are not understood, and as long a the ministrations of doctors remain ineffective - those diseases will be felt be to be morally, if not literally contagious. Remember in the mid 80's there was a 'popular' fear of being in the same room with someone with AIDS. There was the endless pontificating by religious leaders as to the 'just' point and end of the disease. So many factors contributing to the rehashing and remodeling of metaphors that emerged somewhere in the dark ages. I think they began to quiet down when heterosexuals began to be infected as well. These are just my own extrapolations on the matter. So, I'm anxious to read the newest edition of ILLNESS AS METAPHOR and compare my personal data with that of Ms. Sontag. She's a brilliant and intelligent writer.

ENLIGHTENING VIEWS ON ILLNESS:
I own the original print of ILLNESS AS METAPHOR; by that I mean, the print that contains only the essay on Tuberculosis and Cancer and not the one on AIDS. It was required reading for my freshman English class in college. I looked up this title intending to buy a copy for a friend and found out that the edition I own is not available anymore. However, I remember wondering back in 1984 when I first read this book - during the peak of the AIDS "scare and witch hunt" how this new illness would figure in the grand scheme of things in Susan Sontag's view. Invariably it succumbed to metaphoric thinking just as TB and Cancer did. This wasn't too hard to predict since the elements in our society that foster and perpetuate such metaphors are still with us (and will continue to be for a while longer)...namely religion and politics. So, for the sake of understanding the premise of ILLNESS AS METAPHOR, I'll say this "...the healthiest way of being ill is one most purified of, most resistant to metaphoric thinking." Think about AIDS - how often do you hear things like: "It is a natural process we're seeing here." Or, " It is natural for viruses to evolve, change and even mutate." Or, "This isn't the first time the human race has experienced the effects of epidemics or syndromes - nor will it be the last." Instead what we hear are things like, "God doesn't like gays and he's punishing them for their sins." The thinking is that if you catch it, you deserved it. Like cancer patients just a few decades ago, AIDS patients were the object of decontamination practices. Like Susan Sontag shows in her essay about TB and cancer - as long as a disease is treated as a mysterious, God-sent judgement. And as long as people concoct punitive attributes about diseases whose causes are not understood, and as long a the ministrations of doctors remain ineffective - those diseases will be felt be to be morally, if not literally contagious. Remember in the mid 80's there was a 'popular' fear of being in the same room with someone with AIDS. There was the endless pontificating by religious leaders as to the 'just' point and end of the disease. So many factors contributing to the rehashing and remodeling of metaphors that emerged somewhere in the dark ages. I think they began to quiet down when heterosexuals began to be infected as well. These are just my own extrapolations on the matter. So, I'm anxious to read the newest edition of ILLNESS AS METAPHOR and compare my personal data with that of Ms. Sontag. She's a brilliant and intelligent writer.

"New Age" takes the rap:
Even the conventional medical community is beginning to integrate modern medicine with "alternative" forms of treatment, as seen in such infamous documentaries as Bill Moyer's "Healing and the Mind." Any book, including Sontag's, is remiss if it fails to provide a balanced view of illness in the 21st century. (We know, for instance, that stress contributes to heart disease) Pretending that our internal lives have no bearing on our health is irresponsible. Sontag herself writes about the negative effects doctors have noted in a patient's health when the patient was given a diagnosis, thus underscoring the link between emotion and health. She then goes on to refute her own statement by discrediting the link between the two, and blaming the "new age" for perpetuating negativity in regard to illness. I do believe that illness needs de-sensatization in our culture, but we must not succeed in downplaying the role our internal lives play in health. The myths and negativity that go along with a cancer diagnosis are only pernicious because of the emotion and negativity they hold. For Sontag to suggest there is no such link between emotion and health is ludicrious, and further perpetuates the notion that intelligence and material reality are the only threads to the tapestry of life. There is no replacement for a healthy and centered attitude towards life and death. When an illness is balanced with conventional medicine, an informed and knowledgable patient who feels empowered by his or her choices, (whether they be conventional medicine or alternative choices)and a connection to one's self-- the patient fares much better. "De-mythacizing" cancer and aids is an important step in reducing the emotional burden one feels from such a diagnosis. But it should also serve to replace that void with positivity, courage and a stronge sense of ones self.