Whose Body Is It Anyway?  Today we are facing an economic commodification of human beings, in which capitalism blends with an ideology of surveillance. By Emina Melonic

In the latest edition of the theater of the absurd, White House COVID coordinator, Jeff Zientz, had some “stark” words for the untouchables, i.e., the unvaccinated masses. At the December 17 press briefing, Zientz commented on the incoming Omicron wave, sounding rather ominous and depressing, “. . . the Omicron variant is more transmissible and our medical experts anticipate it will lead to a rise in cases,” said Zientz. “But unlike last winter, we now have the power to protect ourselves. We are intent on not letting Omicron disrupt work and school for the vaccinated. You’ve done the right thing, and we will get through this. For the unvaccinated, you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm.” [emphasis mine]

In one statement, Zietz divided two groups of Americans and pitted them against each other: the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. Echoing Dr. Anthony Fauci, Zietz sets himself up as a moral authority who can reward and punish at will. Offering no evidence, no nuance, and constant evasion of questions with meaningless answers, like “it’s still up in the air” and “there are a lot of confounding issues” has become the hallmark of Fauci and this regime. It all sounds like a bad meeting of government bureaucrats nodding their heads, trying to convince a skeptical man that everything is fine: “Yes, we have top men working on this. Top!”

This is the second year of this absurdity, and it’s pretty clear that the current regime, not just in the United States but globally, is trying to create a social hierarchy based on medical status (which is really just code for obedience). Many cities in America have taken this strategy seriously, as we see in New York and Boston. This is the point where biology and politics merge, but to what end? You can’t really say that the strategy is all perfectly and seamlessly planned because many of these threats are rarely fully implemented, and when they are, the laws surrounding it are incredibly vague. People don’t know if they have any legal rights. It has become a political game, except this is not “politics as usual.”

Whatever the end goal may be, it is most definitely troubling that regimes around the world are trying to create a class structure based on vaccinations, where some human beings are more worthy than others. In a 1997 film, “Gattaca,” something similar is depicted. It’s a story of a  “not so distant future” in which society is divided between “valids” and “in-valids” based on their genetic code. Children come into the world already scanned for possible genetic disorders, and the doctors are apparently even able to predict the lifespan of the baby.

Ethan Hawke plays Vincent, a man made and born through the normal means, in which parents leave everything to chance. His brother, Anton (Loren Dean), was genetically engineered, and thus free of illnesses and is physically superior. Because of his status as an “in-valid,” Vincent only dreams of a career in aerospace but he knows that such a life is restricted to him. “Now they have discrimination down to science,” narrates Vincent. It’s called “genoism” and it’s illegal, but nobody takes the law seriously. All job interviews consist of a urine sample, which is the only thing that determines how far you will go in life.

Still, Vincent can’t let go of his dream to be one of the few who attend Gattaca, an aerospace corporation of elite space engineers. He resorts to an extreme choice, to become a “borrowed ladder” or a “de-gene-rate”—an “in-valid” who borrows a genetic identity from a “valid.” There is a black market for everything, and in this case, Vincent’s new identity comes from Jerome Morrow (Jude Law), a former Olympic athlete who is now crippled in a wheelchair, and thus considered an “in-valid.” Jerome’s accident (which turns out was really a suicide attempt) was never recorded and as a result, the authorities can’t track him down.

Through elaborate means, Vincent uses Jerome’s skin particles, eyelashes, blood, and urine in order to become one of the elite members of Gattaca. He is one of their best, and yet he has conned the officials into thinking that the reason he is successful is because of his supposed genetic superiority.

Jerome and Vincent become good friends and partners in crime, but there is a sense that there is something disconcerting on the horizon. Both men have commodified their bodies, and thus their souls as well. Despite the fact that they both enter into this agreement willingly, there is an element of existential emptiness because they know that neither of them is living authentic lives. Everything is for sale, and the market does not recognize morality or human soul, and especially not love. All of these things have an ineffable and spiritual quality, which the then-dominant science and ideology ignore. Destiny, in effect, has been created by the “genetic identity,” or so they think. As Vincent points out in the film, “there is no gene for fate.”

Today we are facing an economic commodification of human beings in which capitalism blends with an ideology of surveillance. By creating a division between the vaccinated and unvaccinated, globalist regimes are effectively speaking the language of “in-valids” and “valids.” The “valids” have access to certain services because they’ve been “good” in the eyes of the government, and the “in-valids” don’t have a right even to ask for those services, let alone use them. Instead of the genetic superiority presented in “Gattaca,” however, the regimes are presenting a medical emergency, invoking false morality about saving lives, and bullying and shaming those who dare to ask questions.

In the meantime, nobody is actually enjoying life, and this includes the vaccinated people. The regime brings no promise of freedom or special goods, only misery and a demand for continued compliance and weakness. Regimes thrive on fear, and the question remains whether the majority of people will recognize and realize they are not free, and that demands will continue to pile on because ideology knows no logic, science, or human singularity.

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