Boy, the Media LOVES pandemics, don't they?
Media coverage of the Swine Flu perfectly demonstrates how the media loves to over-dramatize a story to such a degree that it creates PANIC. "You're WRONG Supergoober! People are dying! It's a raging pandemic!". You sir are a blithering idiot.
Case and point...and this should shut you up for good.
Perhaps 180 people have died of the Swine Flu WORLDWIDE. This is terrible indeed and I commend governments for taking action to restrict the spread of this virus.
Comparitively 4400 people will DIE of AIDS in Africa TODAY...and another 4000 tomorrow, and 4000 more on Friday, and another 4000 Saturday, and another 4000 Sunday, and another 4000 next Monday, and another 4000 next Tuesday, and another 4000 next Wednesday, and another 4000 next Thursday, every day this year. You want to talk EPIDEMIC you frickin MORON! And this is JUST AFRICA!
Oh, BTW, 146,000 people will die of something today throughout the world. Oh, and I forgot to mention, 25,000 will die of HUNGER and STARVATION. How was lunch today? And over 2,000 people will KILL THEMSELVES today. That make you feel sad and blue?
In other words Media, take you Swine Flu Panic and shove it up your ass.
Case and point...and this should shut you up for good.
Perhaps 180 people have died of the Swine Flu WORLDWIDE. This is terrible indeed and I commend governments for taking action to restrict the spread of this virus.
Comparitively 4400 people will DIE of AIDS in Africa TODAY...and another 4000 tomorrow, and 4000 more on Friday, and another 4000 Saturday, and another 4000 Sunday, and another 4000 next Monday, and another 4000 next Tuesday, and another 4000 next Wednesday, and another 4000 next Thursday, every day this year. You want to talk EPIDEMIC you frickin MORON! And this is JUST AFRICA!
Oh, BTW, 146,000 people will die of something today throughout the world. Oh, and I forgot to mention, 25,000 will die of HUNGER and STARVATION. How was lunch today? And over 2,000 people will KILL THEMSELVES today. That make you feel sad and blue?
In other words Media, take you Swine Flu Panic and shove it up your ass.
posted by supergoober at
2:23 PM
6 Comments:
Here, here! They have nothing useful to report, so they have to hype the latest non-issue news. Good way to try and take attention away from the economy. And one wonders why they have such crappy credibillity, hahaha
Well... it's NOT a raging pandemic. It's barely even an EPIdemic at this point. On the other hand, 180 deaths from flu in four days is cause for concern. Not alarm, just concern.
And NOT among the general populace, but among our really-rather-good public health officials. Quietly putting plans into place for addressing a real outbreak? Good.
But, you know, TV news is all about sensationalism anyway. Bad journalism everywhere, with a few bright spots. And all the good journalists are losing their jobs because nobody wants to buy a paper-and-ink newspaper anymore.
At the risk of making The Professor smile and talk about "my savior", I think President Obama had the right response. Wash your fucking hands and cover your fucking mouth. (Well, he said it without the expletives, but I like to imagine he thought them.) Basic hygiene, nothing more is warranted at this point.
(Note to The Professor: saviors, whether human, divine, or in-between, aren't a part of my cosmology, since there's nothing wrong with me to be saved from.)
My hunch, purely intuitive at this point, is that while we ARE going to face a pandemic in our lifetimes, this one ain't it. It won't be the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, and that was maybe 100 million deaths. Huge, yes. Horrible, yes. Maybe as much as 2% of the global population. But if this outbreak kills even one million, I'll be surprised. Even if it DID start in Mexico (at an American CAFO, but that's a totally different rant).
What am I doing on this soapbox? Damn....
I've already berated my old Ren Faire friends on our Yahoo group about shit like this. One guy posted that you should stock up on your emergency supplies...I ripped into them for being irrational. Wayfarer is right, we should be concerned, but we should also be relieved that the CDC doesn't give a shit about things like the effect on tourism, etc. They are there to fight disease, and keep the public as safe as possible. Besides, if there is a widespread Pandemic and we have Porcine Zombies attacking us, The Warden has us covered no problem.
in 1976 there was a Swine Flu where there was some serious public and media panic going on. the government wanted to get everybody vaccinated. the epidemic never came to fruition however 25 people died from complications with the vaccinations.
That being said when my wife takes my son to Florida at the end of the week i want them to be really careful and use hand sanitizer often. Of course i would have wanted them to be careful if they were traveling three weeks abo so go figure
-craftaman
For all intents & purposes, until it starts wiping out small Asian or Latin American countries, I really don't care. At all. And I'm not going to. Too much other shit in this world to fret over than a new breed of the sniffles.
However, if people start shambling and biting arms and legs, I may start to care. A smidge. Bring on the undead. I'm a loyal reader of theWarden's blog. I'll survive just so he can't give me shit for dying before him.
the Duff
I'm hoping that the Swine Flu, now mixed with the Avian Flu aka Flying Pig Flu, will spread and a vaccine will be created which will fail horribly, turning the victims into millions of walking corpses that gnaw on the flesh of the living!!!
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