TheMaterialismofBiologicalEncounters 141
"hollow at the core" (Conrad 58). The Koch/Pasteur paradigm of
bacteriological science has since Conrad's time added biological
infection into the equation between the individual and territory, as the
incidences of yellow fever on Cuba, discussed above,have shown. And
in the process, native germs and native people together have, as I
showedabove,becometheWhiteMan'sbiologicalburden.
The 1950s, the peak period of the Cold War, "saw the gradual
intensification of military metaphors in discussions of viral
reproduction.... the 'invasive' features of viruses... the devious
infiltrating foreigner and alien invader.. ." (Wald,Contagious170)
attained the status of a medico-political master narrative in the U.S.
which conceptualized in a very effective way, in a nutshell as it were,
thedangersallegedlyemanatingfromtheSovietbloc.In this context,it
was only too fitting that the Number One spy-catcher of the nation, J.
EdgarHooveroftheFBIrepeatedlyspokeofCommunismandMarxism
in terms of an infectious disease: "communism, in reality, is not a
political party. It is a way of life—an evil and malignant way of life. It
reveals a condition akin to disease that spreads like an epidemic; and
like an epidemic, a quarantine is necessary to keep it from infecting the
nation" (Hoover n. pag.). In its characterization of the secret
machinationsoftheCommunists,Hoover'sdescriptioncameclosetothe
Trojan model just mentioned, as when he described various sectors of
the public sphere "infiltrated, dominated or saturated with the virus of
communism,"becausetheymayhavealreadyswallowedthe"poisonous
pillofcommunistpropaganda"(Hoovern.pag.).
Inaperhapsnotaltogetherunrelatedfashion,themilitarizationofthe
language of disease control, once directed at dangers purportedly
cominginfromoutside,lateronmanifesteditselfalsoinmorenarrowly
domestic concerns: one example that continues to play a great and at
timesambiguousroleintheciviccultureoftheUnitedStatesarehealth
crusades (crusade being itself a military term of highly dubious
reputation, linked as it is with the atrocities committed by Christian
knights against the Muslim population of what is today Palestine). One
of the first such crusades on a national level was launched by an article
intheSeptember1929LadiesHomeJournal"BeforeYouDrinkaGlass
of Milk," warning readers of the imminent danger of contracting
"undulant fever" (a non-existent disease) from drinking milk (Lepore n.
pag.; Tomes, "Epidemic Entertainments" 632-33). The author of this