In the NY Times article, “Life, Death and Grim Routine Fill the Day at a Liberian Ebola Clinic” the audience is taken through a whirlwind, bleak, and lonely day in the life of staff and patients at an Ebola treatment camp in Liberia. From the barriers of the fences, separating the ill from the potential victims, to the triple layered gloves barricading human touch and emotion – the picture painted is gray and emotionless. A psychologist is on hand as part of the staff to act as a conduit between these isolated people. The barriers that serve to separate are not just physical, but are also tangible manifestations of emotional isolation (Fink). The Ebola crisis in Liberia is heavy with social anomie while the virus itself spreads intimately through…show more content… In this particular treatment camp in Liberia, the physical barriers that are erected are utilized not only to separate the bodies of the living from the virus that threatens to invade them, but it also serves to separate an individual from a sense of belonging and interacting with the people and culture around them. There was one particular instance where the staff decided against bringing in a table top game due to the threat of disease, but it only served to sharpen the boredom of those admitted to the ward (Fink). It is a stark disconnect between the world of uncertain fate and human participation and interaction. By taking away the cultural item that had the ability to give them a purpose, which would bring them joy, it instead served to leave them as a blank state. The nothingness of the blank slate, with no cultural interactions between artifacts and people, acts as a conduit for individuals to feel isolation, loneliness, and a sense of disconnect and…show more content… Anomie has risen from the physical separation to stop virus transmission, but it has opened the door to a large and empty emotional landscape. One woman, as explained in the NY Times article, had phoned her family with the good news that she was deemed Ebola negative. However, a crushing psychological blow was then dealt when the possibility arose that her sample had been mixed up, and she had actually tested positive (Fink). That one phone call had the effect of sending ripples of positive news and emotions, like a pebble, breaking the surface of a still pond. Telephone wires and connections served as a tangible representation of the complicated nature of social networks. The social network is an intangible idea, but yet with a heavy weight, one that she could not possibly move without great effort. News was a contagion that once introduced into the social network, could not possibly be stopped. Once the pebble is thrown, the ripples are
