Today's edition of enough already is brought to you by the swine flu. I can't go 15 minutes without hearing something about it. Even when I'm avoiding the media I can't avoid hearing about it. I walked by a tv at lunch today and just glanced at it and saw the completely non-alarmist headline, "Swine flu pandemic immanent!" And beyond that I get emails and here people talking everywhere they go. I haven't seen this kind of hysteria since the bird flu threatened humanity. Before that it was Sars, before that it was mad cow disease, etc...
I looked up the symptoms and it turns out they are the same as the regular flu. You have to go to a doctor to tell the difference. I think the death toll world wide is now up to 7. Will the carnage never end?!? Seriously though, what is the big deal? Why does there have to be a new disease that threatens humanity every year? Give it a rest already CDC and WHO. In 2 months nobody will remember this until the next great pandemic rolls into town.
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6 comments:
Don't forget about West Nile Virus!
AMEN!!!
This, is just like anything else the media gets a hold of now adays. If it gets ratings they'll go all Jerry Springer on it. I blame the current recession largely on the media getting ratings. They've created a self fulfilling prophecy, and will perpetuate it until people are sick enough of hearing about it that it loses ratings. Proplem is, it's easy to sell "the world is coming to an end" (see also bird flu) and no one tunes in to headlines like "the world is just fine." :p
You could try looking at it from the other perspective. If there is a potential for a pandemic, the way to stop it from happening is to get the word out so people change their behavior.
It's like that hurricane warning last year that said thousands in Texas could be killed. That dire warning caused people to take appropriate action, and the result was minimal loss of life.
Then of course you had people bitching about the dire warning; scoffing that it did not come true, so it must have been hysteria.
If the spread of this flu were kept a secret, it would likely be able to spread faster.
It doesn't take much imagination to see that the severity of warnings has to be a step ahead of the severity of the current situation.
That's the only way to get people to alter their behavior, and make sure the worst does not happen.
Yes, any media hype is annoying (so is the sound of a tornado warning siren). But in this case, the annoyance will serve a purpose. This is hype that can benefit the public, unlike hyping something totally fabricated, like a "war on christmas" or something silly like that.
Regards
Ace McSlim
(ps Where else but Crawfu could I read that the recession is the fault of "the media"? I seriously wish that were true.)
Well slim, I'm going to introduce you to a phrase you may or may not have heard before - crying wolf. You blow things out of proportion on a regular basis and you will lose all credibility and nobody will pay attention to you. They have officially lost my trust by going way over the top on the flu. What's the difference between the swine flu and the same flu that's always around? The name. That's it. This is not going to bring about the end of the world, the fall of civilization, or even record amounts of sick leave in the corporate world. What they are really doing here is making sure that when a real threat comes along, nobody will take them seriously.
And I think you're reading more into Chuckman's recession comment than he intended. Consumer confidence plays an important role in the economy and the attention grabbing headlines and news stories about the severity of the recession have certainly done their part to undermine that confidence. I think even you would agree that the media has gone beyond the bounds of simply reporting the news and crossed the line into sensationalism.
I concede your point about the media, but you also ripped the CDC and the WHO. I think you owe them an apology. Send flowers or something.
Dear CDC and WHO, please accept my apology.
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