Viral Submission
on the Emerging Totalitarianism of the New Biopolitics
Giorgio Agamben likes to shock. His 2021 book, Where Are We Now? The Epidemic as Politics, makes the boldest of claims. Fear of catching a virus—and fear of death, for that matter—is irrational and has caused us to elevate "bare life," or what Agamben terms zōē, above any consideration of the particularities of our life, what he calls bios. (As an aside, Saint John's Gospel has a much richer use of the term zōē, using it to designate "eternal life.")
The current elevation of "bare life," reinforced by the coronavirus panic, offers political opportunity: world rulers use it to pursue their own, totalitarian ends. Conspiracy theories—particularly those involving Bill Gates—should be taken seriously. Science (or medicine) has become a religion, replacing Christianity and capitalism as top religious contender. Biopolitics is transforming the right to health into an obligation to be healthy. Mask mandates purge our common life of its political dimension. Social distancing—witnessed most notably in online learning and in the evacuation of physical, public sites of political and cultural discourse—is here to stay. The traditional division of powers (legislative, executive, and judiciary power) is collapsing through extended states of emergency as executive powers establish a "Security State."
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Hans Boersma is the Saint Benedict Servants of Christ Professor in Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on culture from the online archives
32.6—November/December 2019
Historical Truth, Beguiling Stories & Three Kinds of Hearers by Anthony Esolen
31.6—November/December 2018
Victimhood Culture Scapegoats Its Very Source by Michael P. Foley
more from the online archives
22.3—April 2009
Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by J. Daryl Charles
18.2—March 2005
On Conservatism as Vexation, Vanity & Near Impossibility by Graeme Hunter
29.3—May/June 2016
A Deathbed Reflection on Catholic Social Teaching & Our Future Prospects by Karl D. Stephan
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
