Brazilian COVID-19 Plague Journal: Freudian principles of reality and pleasure
By: Fabio De Oliveira Ribeiro
Tags: Freud, Pandemic, Politics, USA, Brazil

Brazilian COVID-19 Plague Journal: Freudian principles of reality and pleasure

Each of us is now forced to find a way to live with isolation. The other option, going out on the street pretending that the pandemic does not exist or is harmless, is out of the question.

My way of structuring the routine is still interesting. Maybe it can say more about me than I think.

When I wake up I turn on the internet and disconnect the cell phone from the charger. I then give it time on Twitter to see what the general trends of the day are: what is being discussed and how?

Breakfast, brushed teeth, I let my imagination run wild. When it fixes on something relevant I start to write about the issue, which may or may not relate to the trend of the day. But the issue is invariably penetrated by the pandemic and its consequences.

When the text is finished, I leave it resting and go to work on the balcony. I believe that thirty minutes of sunshine a day are indispensable. Caressed by the sun's rays, I am calmer, I can even forget the inconvenience of isolation.

A woman vigorously scrubs the sidewalk at the entrance to the building in front of mine. Another walks down the street typing on her cell phone. She stops in the middle of the street. A white car stops behind her. From the sidewalk a masked man, probably her husband, shouts:

- You are in the middle of the street hindering traffic.

Without stopping typing, the woman lets the car pass her. Then she returns to where she was when it was contradicted. Conscious or not, her act of re-typing her cell phone in the middle of the street reveals a tension between her and her husband. I suppose if this tension is not dissolved it can lead to a rupture.

Hobbes represented Leviathan as a great man made up of little men. He seems to have sensed that States are condemned to not be too different from the people who compose it.

States tend to return to where they were. The political disruptions that occur within it are also caused by tensions that could not be resolved.

The pandemic causes some tensions. Others it will inevitably suppress. At this point, the "reality principle" imposes restrictions on the "pleasure principle". The bonus will inevitably be delayed. Only those who respect isolation will survive the pandemic.

This political orgy rehearsed on the streets in favor of the end of the quarantine in USA can be considered a neurosis. It will be cured in one way or another at the appropriate time. An upset woman may reaffirm her decision to use her smartphone in the middle of the street, but if she is run over she cannot blame the husband who warned her about the danger.

The danger for USA is not the pandemic, but the neurotic certainty inspired by Donald Trump in a small portion of the population. He wants the people on the street because he is afraid of not be re-elected, but he will certainly fall if he gets what he wants and causes an explosion of corpses.

At that moment, I finish the first phase of the day on the sofa. Time to go through the kitchen to set and prepare lunch. Before that, however, an invigorating bath. Personal hygiene is an important and pleasurable part of my 'daily work'.