Since no one else is bringing it up I figured I'd chime in.... I think this is a complete media hyped story. While I don't discount deaths in Mexico, I believe this a huge diversion and scare tactic that seems prevalent by the powers that be (no matter who they be). Economy sucks? Let's get your mind off that. Oh wait you're over terrorism and that didn't work? Lets bring up another pandemic (SARS, Avian Flu)! Usually it leads to more privacy invasion and draconian security measures being secretly passed. When people start dropping like flies in the street then I'll panic. Precaution is one thing but media fear factor sponsored by the government is another. Also the former administration (Rumsfeld in particular) have massive money in Tamaflu. discuss...
It has certainly pushed the torture debate off the front page. I wash my hands after using public transportation and stay away from anyone sneezing and looking sick. But that's just everyday common sense, I'm not freaking out about it and duct taping plastic sheets to my windows and stocking the fallout shelter with fresh water while I wait for end times..... Also saw some SARS masks on the subway today.
I not sure I understand you correctly... people dying from a diesase, and it is media hype? If they didn't hype it, and people in the US die from it, then it turns to protests and the usual -"Why didn't the media/Government warn us about this? What are they trying to coverup?" I just find it annoying that conspiracy theories stem from anything nowadays. I understand that you should not take everything the news media reports at total face value, but some things are what they are. What I really find funny is that some people won't believe any information from regular news outlets, but they will believe anonymous online bloggers without conditions.
I deliberately avoided listening to talk radio today, but right before pulling onto the Garden State Parkway I saw a woman in an SUV at the side of the road, propping the car door open while she puked her guts out. THE SPECTRE OF SWINE FLU. Honestly, I'm not paranoid about it. But my company does share an office building with the TSA, who is working overtime to screen passengers at Newark Airport. We use the same cafeteria, bathrooms, elevator buttons. If it hits them, it's bound to get us. As long as the flu doesn't disrupt essential services like Facebook and Twitter, we'll be okay.
I don't mean to make light of the situation, but do you notice how every online news site has a new (stock) photo of a person with a Michael Jackson surgical mask on? I think we should all super impose MJ masks on our avatars so that none of our avatars are stricken with this dreadful dreadfulness!
It would be far too late at that point. The media is always going to hype up anything that they can, but that doesn't mean that it isn't worth being alert to the situation. Any type of viral outbreak could get out of hand very quickly. If the Government were to take the leasurely Katrina-style approach, there could literally be piles of dead in the street. The potential is there. I prefer for the media to hype up the story and hopefully get people to take basic precautions, possibly lessening the spread of the outbreak. Regular flu strains kill thousands of people a year, but those people are typically the old and the very young. The deaths in Mexico are of particular concern because they were mostly young adults. Couple that with the fact that the virus has already spread to the point that containment is impossible, and there is a very real cause for concern. I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but I would much rather the media perform it's function and get the word out. If it takes some media hype to cut through to the American Idol chatter than so be it. Common sense precautions can go along way, and common sense is not all that common these days.
I think it's pure hype. I'm not discounting the deaths, but it does seem to me that the only reason it's getting so much press is because it's hitting the Western world. What about malaria, TB & Aids in Africa? They kill hundreds daily.
Yeah, the Western press tends to cover (and hype)stuff that happens in the Western world. There are plenty of other diseases that kill more people, but they don't have the potential to explode like a flu pandemic. The Unabomber was right! Airtravel will be the death of us.
I'll echo that sentiment. Over a quarter of a million people were killed in the 2004 tsunami but it didn't get as much coverage as 9/11 in the US. But of course the tsunami was something that happened there, and 9/11 is something that happened here. Can't the truth be somewhere in the middle, though? That it's not a species-level extinction event, and at the same time it isn't exactly trivial?
FROM CNN.COM: Q: The swine flu has been labeled as H1N1. The strain that killed millions of people in 1918 was also labeled H1N1; is it the same virus? CNN: It is not the same virus. The current strain is a new variation of an H1N1 virus, which is a mix of human and animal versions. H1 refers to type of hemagglutinin, which is involved in the virus gaining entry into a target cell. N1 refers to neuraminidase, an enzyme that allows the release of copies of the virus from infected cells. A new variation can be created when an animal is infected with two or more different viruses at the same time. The viruses can exchange genes. This can be particularly dangerous because people may not have any immune defense against it.
