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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Swine Influenza Hysteria

Related Articles:

Computerworld
Department of Homeland Security
Computerworld
Cafferty File: CNN Blog
Center for Disease Control

The swine flu is possibly the most over-hyped "pandemic" in a long time. We all remember the enormous media hype and scare tactics about the avian flu. Now they are doing the same thing with a less dangerous virus strain. The World Health Organization (WHO) is needlessly scaring the world and hurting economies globally as well. The mass media is just riding this wave to make money and in the process spreading these scare tactics even more.

Let us look at some facts from websites that actually deal with the statistics and facts and not the news media. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), during the week of April 12-18, there were 55 deaths due to the influenza virus, not the swine flu. There were 2,449 reported cases of the flu during that week and seven cases of the swine flu with one death in the United States. That death was a young child and young children and elderly people are known to be susceptible to far worse symptoms after contracting the flu.

Stupid things, like Britain buying 32 million masks for their citizens, are bad for the mentality of the populace and can only lead to the governments assuring the people even more that they are being taken care of and then they take more control. You are not being taken care of, there is nothing to fear. The swine flu symptoms are barely different than the normal flu and in some cases haven't even been as bad.

Quote from Cafferty:

"One scientist tells the Los Angeles Times that just because the swine flu is being identified in more countries doesn’t mean it’s spreading especially quickly, saying: 'You don’t ever find anything that you don’t look for.'"

This is why scientists are smart. Scientists are obviously not politicians and they obviously don't work in the media, because those people are comparably dumb.

Quote from Cafferty (user post):

"Terence from Piscataway, New Jersey writes:
Jack, It’s not overblown at all. When a member of our family catches this disease, we will all know what to do to get well and not spread it around. This is what makes our country so great. We are well-informed about everything through the media and you, Jack."

Terence, you are a moron. We already knew what to do to help prevent the spread because it spreads just like the flu does. If you think we are well-informed thanks to the mass media you are delusional. The fact that you don't think this was overblown proves my point.

If you ask how I think more control will be instituted, here is you answer. If this goes up to a level 6 disease according to the WHO, the CDC will ask all companies to have a "workplace pandemic coordinator or team" (from Computerworld) to make sure that employees are being sanitary. You will have some goon following you to the bathroom to make sure you washed your hands.

At this point I am almost hoping I get the swine flu so I can be fine in a week and not have to worry about that strain anymore. Then while everyone else is scared to death by the mass media, I will be out dancing around and having a good time. Sometimes I think we need a mass pandemic to wipe out a nice chunk of the world, maybe that will teach us to use our brains and help the environment at the same time.

2 comments:

  1. Flu experts are cautioning against a new idea circulating: Why not try to get sick with swine flu now, and get some immunity in case it comes roaring back this fall in a deadlier form? It would be sort of like those “pox parties” to get your kids exposed to a childhood disease. Experts say it’s too risky. It’s true that once your body has encountered a particular virus strain, it is generally better able to fight it off later on. But in this case, says Dr. William Schaffner, a flu expert at Vanderbilt University, there’s no way to predict how bad a case of flu will be in a particular person. Given the risk of life-threatening complications, “this is not something where you want to do a biological experiment,” he said.

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