In “Where It Hurts: 2014 Year in Review” Morris explains the differences between how anthropologists use culture and how the media uses culture. Culture was used by anthropologists to help manage the present Ebola crisis via medical practice. While the media used the term “culture” to create this “other” being and focused on “anti-modern” cultural practices that worsened the spread of Ebola due to their “consumption of wild meats, an investment in sorcery as both an explanation and a cure for Ebola Infection” (Morris 542). The creation of this “other” dehumanized West Africans and portrayed them as more of a threat to Americans’ health instead of a group of people that needed help. This also added to a narrative of the outbreak not being an American problem and instead transformed it to be a source of fear and hesitation to provide aid. West Africa is a place where there are multiple obstacles that make it unique for them to battle an epidemic. They faced colonialism and corruption and deal with the disadvantage of not being as developed as other countries. The structural and medical inequities were not taken into account when thinking about providing aid and how that looks different in West Africa. Due to the corruption and past government abuses, West African communities were superstitious of health workers. This is supported by Dr. Nwangwu’s experiences of working in Guinea during the outbreak and having to earn the trust of the citizens. The superstition held by the West African people was twisted by the media to explain that they were incompentent and noncompliant to state-led quarantine measures (Morris 542). However, the involuntary quarantines of certain areas led to more injuries and deaths due to rioting than would have been prevented from Ebola (Pellecchia 15). Umberto Pellecchia’s case study of the quarantine of West Point, Monrovia in Liberia is a prime example of the mistrust fabricated between the citizens under quarantine and the government workers. 

Key themes in the media were racism, fear, cultural misconceptions, and misinformation. The overarching concept that links all of these themes together is the lack of cultural humility, which is the practice of understanding others’ viewpoints and perspectives with the goal of working together. Instead of trying to understand the complex cultures of West Africa, it was overlooked and medical professionals took what they saw as unwillingness to comply with medical care and turned it into fear. Multiple media outlets blamed West Africa for spreading the virus due to their cultural burial practices and focused on how that makes them "different" than us.  In the Scientific American, medical anthropologist Theresa MacPhail criticizes how the media portrayed Ebola and how the “racist rhetoric" used West African culture to blame them for contracting and spreading the Ebola virus (Horgan 2014). The media brought up burial practices, wild game, and noncompliance that promotes the spread of Ebola. MacPhail also discusses how Ebola introduces another avenue for journalists to paint Africa as dirty or undeveloped. This rhetoric shared by journalists gives a negative influence to the public eye when talking about Ebola in West Africa, and thus will make them hesitant of sending aid. This influenced Americans views on Ebola due to the racist messages online that spread fear and misinformation.