In The Returned, there are various protestors who are against the infected, and believe that they should be eliminated from society. Protestors were becoming increasingly vicious towards them, which prompted the government to set up quarantine camps. Similarly, during the 20th century, people infected with the HIV virus were quarantined for the mere belief that others might become infected. For example, from 1986 to 1994, the Cuban government quarantined those who were HIV-positive in a sanatorium (Hoffman). In 1981, homosexuals were automatically stigmatized as having the HIV virus due to being gay. HIV was considered a gay disease and many believed that AIDS was a result of homosexuality (Cantwell). People are not afraid of the people, but rather the virus they are carrying. Whereas, in the returned, Alex is given a special identification ID that says he has been returned. By providing the returned with this identification, it is like dehumanizing and stigmatizing him from other human beings. As a matter of fact, people were afraid of becoming infected and due to the drug supply running low; police officers would forcibly proceed into the returned homes to shoot them in the head. For the same reason, Alex was almost shot in the head by an assassin. Like the returned, HIV positive homosexuals were particularly treated incredibly horrible in that police forces murdered many …show more content…
The returned homes were continuously checked for the sole purpose of killing them and thousands of protestors were against the infected. The infected were stigmatized as inhumane and had no human rights. These human rights were reserved for the ones who were considered normal and normal is considered the average person. The average person is the one who does follow societal rules on how to act and behave among other people. People are accustomed to the normality that includes restrictions on the difference between right and wrong. People who did not fit the category of what the average person is are stigmatized. This type of thinking stayed through generations after generations because the mentality stayed strong among groups of people that shared the same manner of thinking. In fact, the United States still has failed to provide the services that mentally ill people need and the Medicare law is injustice against those with a mental illness(Szabo). There has not been treatment provided in community, hospitals, crowded state and local jails which has left many untreated mentally ill patients on the streets(Szabo). There is a strong relationship between stigma and normality because normality in society is what’s desirable in terms of being liked and a stigma in society is undesirable because of the