Rethinking the Initial Culprit

Tuberculosis is not always like the common cold. Some people who have tuberculosis do not always know that they have it. According to the CBC News article “Tuberculosis: Anatomy of a Killer,” “Most people don’t even realize they are infected. They don’t feel sick and don’t show any symptoms. In fact, 90 to 95 per cent of people who get infected never get sick.”

This changes everything. If we were to blame the spread of the disease on the people who spread the disease, this accusation would be unfair. Taking the benefit of the doubt, maybe the initial patients did not know that they were endangering the lives of others. Maybe they were totally unaware of the potential implications of their actions.

Yet, if we were to take the benefit of the doubt and assume that the patients are innocent, who then is to blame? Well, this requires a different look all together. Perhaps we could accuse the authorities for the spread. The term “authorities” is very broad. It could refer to the people who maintain the order, such as law enforcement agents. In all respect, law-enforcement agents could have supplied better infection-prevention procedures. On the other hand, it could refer to the people who have the authority to protect the public. In this case, the term would broaden to encompass people in the scientific field as well. People often hold scientists accountable for creating harmful drugs. But, should scientists also be blamed for not creating the appropriate treatment plan? The term “scientific field” would refer to not only scientists, but also the people who help distribute the treatment plan as well. What about globalization? Has this earth-shrinking process, what I like to refer to as “Modern Imperialism,” brought others to the forefront as well? Surely we cannot forget the people who helped encourage the global expansion and later the distribution of drugs into third world countries. Taking this general principal, we still have not found a logical culprit for the spread of TB.