This has been bothering me; if people are ostensibly infected with"Swine Flu" then are hogs that have become ill said to have "People Flu?"
The porcine has unfairly been saddled with the responsibility for our misfortunes. We don't get Swine Flu directly from porkers, or from consuming pork products. Yet there was ABC News in Mexico last week with cameras, standing at the gate of a large swine feed lot claiming that this was where the current round of influenza was born. They interviewed people in the village nearby who had been sick. They gave the name of the evil giant American conglomerate who owned the feed lot, inferring that evil American businessmen and greedy American stockholders were responsible somehow for the conditions here which clearly caused hundreds of Mexican deaths and the world to be held in the grip of a plague. "See! See!" they shout into their microphones, "Selfish rich Americans caused poor exploited Mexicans to die! It's Bush's fault! It's Bush's fault! Bush lied!!"
To know what is occurring is a good thing. To be cautious is wise as well; forewarned is forearmed. Unfortunately ABC and the other mainstream media outlets are almost demanding that we panic. They dash from CDC officials to Washington pols looking for sound bites, the next more ominous than the one before. They look sternly into the cameras and proclaim the uncertainty of public administrators to contain the raging virus. They recall influenza epidemics of bygone decades, with reminders that during one such onslaught more people died of flu than of the Black Plague in the Dark Ages. They counsel us to wash our hands and hopelessly profess beyond that there is little we can do. Some take it up a notch and tell us to stay home, avoid crowds and report to the hospital at the first signs of illness.
Just what the ER doctors want to hear: the Dark Ages media sending every nervous citizen with real or imagined symptoms in to be treated. Other than chicken soup, there really isn't much of a flu treatment. Flu shots are very strain-specific, and even so only work to prevent the flu; once you come down with a case you are on your own. You ride it out at home. Only the more severe cases would require hospitalization. Every ten-year-old knows to drink lots of fluids and rest.
Day after day the news outlets have led with dire predictions of pandemic flu. In Mexico, yes, they are having a rough Spring. Some Americans have developed flu but Great Caesar's Ghost, how many people have the flu at any one time anyway? It seems like drug crime is a much more pervasive threat in Mexico (and here as well) than sickness.
Reporting the news is the media's job. The prudent reaction to the threat of large-scale illness is up to the government but ultimately to each of us. We don't need self-righteous journalism grads out there, steering us idiots through life's maze to good health. We also don't need them attempting to be judge and jury, looking to hang someone for starting the whole thing. The whole drive-by media (look, shoot, drive on) loves a crisis they can use to find additional fault with America in the theatre of the world. Please, why all the guilt? Just report the news.
You want to know what the worst threat is? Network TV reporters and producers, who whip up unnecessary fear and concern. I am all in favor of changing the name of this influenza in honor of them. How about "Katy Couric Flu?" Or, "The ABC World News Flu with Charles Gibson?"
In the end, it seems like the whole thing is an insult to pigs.
The porcine has unfairly been saddled with the responsibility for our misfortunes. We don't get Swine Flu directly from porkers, or from consuming pork products. Yet there was ABC News in Mexico last week with cameras, standing at the gate of a large swine feed lot claiming that this was where the current round of influenza was born. They interviewed people in the village nearby who had been sick. They gave the name of the evil giant American conglomerate who owned the feed lot, inferring that evil American businessmen and greedy American stockholders were responsible somehow for the conditions here which clearly caused hundreds of Mexican deaths and the world to be held in the grip of a plague. "See! See!" they shout into their microphones, "Selfish rich Americans caused poor exploited Mexicans to die! It's Bush's fault! It's Bush's fault! Bush lied!!"
To know what is occurring is a good thing. To be cautious is wise as well; forewarned is forearmed. Unfortunately ABC and the other mainstream media outlets are almost demanding that we panic. They dash from CDC officials to Washington pols looking for sound bites, the next more ominous than the one before. They look sternly into the cameras and proclaim the uncertainty of public administrators to contain the raging virus. They recall influenza epidemics of bygone decades, with reminders that during one such onslaught more people died of flu than of the Black Plague in the Dark Ages. They counsel us to wash our hands and hopelessly profess beyond that there is little we can do. Some take it up a notch and tell us to stay home, avoid crowds and report to the hospital at the first signs of illness.
Just what the ER doctors want to hear: the Dark Ages media sending every nervous citizen with real or imagined symptoms in to be treated. Other than chicken soup, there really isn't much of a flu treatment. Flu shots are very strain-specific, and even so only work to prevent the flu; once you come down with a case you are on your own. You ride it out at home. Only the more severe cases would require hospitalization. Every ten-year-old knows to drink lots of fluids and rest.
Day after day the news outlets have led with dire predictions of pandemic flu. In Mexico, yes, they are having a rough Spring. Some Americans have developed flu but Great Caesar's Ghost, how many people have the flu at any one time anyway? It seems like drug crime is a much more pervasive threat in Mexico (and here as well) than sickness.
Reporting the news is the media's job. The prudent reaction to the threat of large-scale illness is up to the government but ultimately to each of us. We don't need self-righteous journalism grads out there, steering us idiots through life's maze to good health. We also don't need them attempting to be judge and jury, looking to hang someone for starting the whole thing. The whole drive-by media (look, shoot, drive on) loves a crisis they can use to find additional fault with America in the theatre of the world. Please, why all the guilt? Just report the news.
You want to know what the worst threat is? Network TV reporters and producers, who whip up unnecessary fear and concern. I am all in favor of changing the name of this influenza in honor of them. How about "Katy Couric Flu?" Or, "The ABC World News Flu with Charles Gibson?"
In the end, it seems like the whole thing is an insult to pigs.
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