The virus and pandemic of COVID-19 serves as a container for people to project their own fears, beliefs, and ascribed meaning. For example, some take COVID-19 as a sign from Mother Nature that we are overstepping and it is some sort of balancing. These are highly irrational interpretations—viruses are by definition not a living thing—and so it is more of a vehicle for one’s ideology.
See also:
- Slavoj Žižek who discusses the philosophy of ideology and made this point during a podcast.
- Apophenia, the general concept of seeing patterns that are not really there.