I Am Not Afraid of the Coronavirus; I Am Afraid That We Are Not Learning Lessons from Everything: Tankian

Serj Tankian, the lead vocalist of the band System of a Down, is currently in self-isolation in New Zealand. During this time, the world-renowned musician gave an interview to a prominent New Zealand journalist.

“I am not afraid of the coronavirus; I am afraid that we are not learning lessons from everything that is happening now and are continuing to do what we did before. Without understanding, we are heading towards our unstable future,” he said.

Tankian believes that the situation created by the spread of the coronavirus provides a chance for people to reassess their approaches to various issues. “This is an unexpected pause imposed by nature, which forces us to think about what the criteria for development should be, the scale for evaluating it. Until now, that criterion was economic growth, which is obviously not sustainable. This compels us to backtrack and consider what our next criteria should be: an improvement in our lifestyle or an increase in happiness… This is a great opportunity to rethink what progress means for us as a civilization, and what is truly important. Sustainable economic development is not a resilient phenomenon, and this is a perfect example of what a small act by nature can do. We are so vulnerable. A tiny thing can bring everything to a halt. We need to be smarter about the future of ecology,” Tankian stated. He also noted that the current situation will lead to a change in the world, and it will be due to humanity itself. “This is a scary thing, but it is not the end of the world; it is the end of the world as we know it, but not because of the virus, rather because of us,” Tankian added. The full interview can be viewed here.