Is this whole swine flu hysteria a bunch of bullshit?
Last night I was beginning to think that I was the only one who thought this whole swine flu craziness was a bunch of bullshit. But then today, others have stepped forward with their own assertions that this whole thing is, well, BULLSHIT.
Why would such a thing happen? Well, health scares such as these equal big dollars for media companies in the form of higher news ratings, more sales at the newstand, etc. Politicians get to parade around in front of microphones and cameras pretending to be heroic. Matt Drudge has turned his site into swine flu news central, which leads me to believe that conservatives are angling to blame the whole thing on Obama for having gone to Mexico or something (It is interesting to note however, that Republicans mocked and ridiculed using federal dollars for pandemic prevention in the recent stimulus package, ultimately killing the money set aside for it). And oh, let's not forget the pharmaceutical companies who stand to make billions selling vaccines. Every way I look at it, this whole thing stinks.
Look, a few people are likely to get sick from this little bug. A couple of people, most likely those already in poor health, will die from it. But will it wipe out huge swaths of humanity? No. Absolutely not.
Need further proof? Take a look at these scary PSA's from the 1970s, remnants of the last great American swine flu outbreak. Surely you remember that one, right? Surely you remember the thousands who perished bleeding pig blood from their assholes, right? No?! Oh yeah, of course not, BECAUSE IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!
(via Buzzfeed)
16 comments:
Oh Lord. Don't even get me started on this one. Between the people who are freaking out about every sniffle and the people who are freaking out that they ate a pork chop last night (yeah, go figure on that one) ... I just want to smack them all upside the head. Are people seriously *that* stupid? (I know the answer to that, but hope springs eternal!)
Seasonal flu kills 500,000 people worldwide every year... but we're getting all worked into a lather about this "outbreak", which so far has not been terribly lethal? Maybe it will turn out terribly, but for now I think everyone needs to turn off CNN / Fox News and stop panicking.
Now I'm normally up for a good conspiracy. And what better way to promote a socialist health care agenda? It's almost poetic, the Dem's equivalent of terrorism
But I don't think this is overreacting. Keep in mind, more people died of the Spanish flu outbreak during WWI than from the actual War. 50 - 100 million people died, possibly as many people who died from the black death.
This is not a "normal" flu. Flus that jump from animal strains (like the bird flu and the swine flu) mean humans have no built up immunity. It's "new" and since everyone is vulnerable, it can spread like wildfire. Keep in mind, that what limited many deadly viruses was host travel. If you killed off the village, well, the disease died with it. But now that we have global air travel there is the possibility of infecting billions.
Hell, I'm WAYYYY more scared of pandemic than Al Qaeda. Imagine the hysteria that would break out for people demanding tamiflu. Imagine if you were scared to go near your own family for fear of infection. Mass panic, craziness. 28 Days Later for real (minus zombies).
Now, if it's contained it probably will end up being like the SARS scare, relatively small scale. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't take the threat seriously. Nothing we can do personally but obey travel restrictions and be more proactive than normal in seeking treatment if we have severe flu symptoms.
the media is blowing this swine flu thing totaly out of proportion, makes me wonder if they want us to forget about the torture .....or maybe they are trying to cover something else up........
"It's all our presidents fault. thats what we get for spreading socialism, and allowing gays to marry"
- Bill O'Reilly
The mortality rate on this current strain is around 7% (probably will be lower when all the data comes in, but still high), the infamous Spanish Flu of 1918 was around 5-2.5% Seasonal flu hovers just above 0%. I prefer to err on the side of caution when dealing with pandemic flu. But yeah, no reason to freak out.
This flu is also killing a high percentage of people with healthy immune systems. In fact, much like the spanish flu virus, it feeds on a healthy immune system in what is called a Cytokine storm (which creates a positive feedback loop for the virus). Normal seasonal flu does not do that. So this may not be the 21 Days Zombie virus, but as far as real world viruses go it's pretty bad. Maybe the only reason these things don't become huge is because we do freak out and I think that is not necessarily a bad thing.
But over-freaking is not recommended as pointed out in your latest post. But then remember Ford was in charge so it could have been worse. And in that instance only one person died and at the current number of 149 dead in Mexico this is obviously much bigger already.
So,then why are you acting as if the Rethugs killing the money for pandemic prevention was a bad thing,especially if this is just a bunch of bullshit?
Since before my birth,the medical profession has been warning that we are way overdue for the next pandemic.
I'm not saying this is it,but to dismiss the possibility out of hand
is not only irresponsible,it's stupid.
Oh, thank goodness I am not the only one! I tried mentioning to a couple of people that 81 deaths in and around Mexico City, where 20 MILLION people reside, didn't seem like enough to induce this rising tide of hysteria and that maybe this was a form of media-induced fright. They bit my head off.
Yeah CB hard to know.. I do NOT trust MSM which needs to sensationalize everything.. and maybe it is meant to get torture off the front page.. then again, the WHO and CDC seem to be weighing in with worry, and those two organizations don't usually panic.. wish there was a CREDIBLE news source to read and know what is happening... what does Rolling Stone say????
But on the BRIGHT side, if 100s of 1000s of ppl perish, think of all the jobs that will open up for new college grads and recently laid off... (ok, sick humor.. my apologies...)
NoCalGal
been saying this from the moment they started with this...glad to see you saying it too, its the FUCKING FLU!
So if Rumsfeld engineered the '76 swine flu scare for political gain, isn't comparing that swine flu scare to this one, sort of like comparing the need to invade Iraq with the need to fight Hitler.
As of 1 May 2009 there are 9 confirmed deaths in Mexico. 1 in the US. Total 10. These numbers come from the World Health Organization website www.who.int.
Total world cases of swine flu 331 in 11 countries.
As usual most bloggers don't check facts.
why is the media not reporting any pigs dieing? No farmers crying they lost their whole heard of pigs?It seems to be killing only humans.i think it fits the plans of the NEW WORLD ORDER.
why is the media not reporting any pigs dieing?why is their no farmers crying they lost their whole heard of pigs?this flu is only killing humans.i think it all part of the plans for a NEW WROLD ORDER
H1N1 (referred to as “swine flu” early on) is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. Symptoms of swine flu are similar to those caused by other influenza viruses. Health authorities across the globe are taking steps to try to stem the spread of swine flu after outbreaks in Mexico and the United States. The World Health Organization has called it a "public health emergency of international concern."
@Palin Pregnancy Truth
Check your facts. The "Swine Flu" in Humans is NOT the Swine Flu in actual pigs. Although it does happen (rarely), it is unlikely that contact with sick pigs will cause you to get Swine Flu. It just won't. You cite information regarding the fact that Humans have no built resistance to this, then go on to mention the Spanish Flu of 1918, but you fail to mention the part about survivors of the Spanish Flu being IMMUNE to this "Swine Flu".
@jaddy
You're getting your numbers wrong - it's 0.07%, with most deaths occurring in Mexico. Whether they have healthy immune systems or not, the basic needs of things like clean water are not necessarily available, increasing the severity of the problem. It's been 3 months with less than 1,000 deaths. How many people have died of other diseases in Africa in that time? I bet it's more than 1,000. But it's not in your back yard, so you couldn't care less.
In short: the "Swine Flu" scare is complete rubbish.
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