The nation that cried "pig!"
Monday, May 11, 2009
Succumbing to pandemic fear is a lesson we as a nation refuse to learn over and over again. The latest entry in the long line of shameful displays belongs to swine flu, the newest incarnation of global ignorance that has for the last few months been driving down sales of pork and lashing an innocent industry with hype and consumer terror. Despite the best efforts of food safety officials to disconnect the relation between the two words and sedate the public’s concern, nothing seems to help. Many still wear their idiocy across their mouths as they don white masks (which do NOTHING against the strain) in an effort to prevent the dreaded swine flu which has taken around 50 lives worldwide as of Sunday. Fifty lives, compared to the 36,000 in the United States alone that die annually from the regular flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
I would even wager you have a better chance of being eaten by a shark or getting anally probed by an alien than catching and subsequently dying from swine flu. On our very own campus, we have notices that promote safety precautions, giving tips like wash your hands and don’t come into contact with other people. Common sense, really, but not the kind that gets posted every year around this time. The issue and problem that secretes from this media-induced frenzy is that all of our thrashing and hand wringing always ends up doing more harm than good. If you recall within the last 6 months we had a similar scare with lead-based toys. Despite not a single reported incident of death caused by the toys themselves, we still dismantled an entire industry out of baser instinct and unfounded fear.
But, hey, at least we’re not grossly overreacting by ourselves! In Egypt, a country on the cusp of being first world, about 300,000 pigs were slaughtered as a precaution against a disease that has nothing to do with swine of any kind. Mexico is cancelling soccer games and closing restauraunts everywhere to curb the flu rather than dealing with drug cartels systematically taking over their country. Travel advisories and fancy titled councils desperate for a purpose have been meeting the world over to discuss and waste funding and time on the flu. What’s worse is that we are asked to praise all of this build-up as preemptive and decisive action leading to convenient excuses to avoid embarrassment that come in the form of “well imagine how bad it WOULD have been if we hadn’t freaked out unnecessarily.”
Despite the media’s mishandling of the topic, the responsibility for keeping our society in check, as always, falls to us. Problematic then that too few are willing to take up that responsibility, instead continuing our pattern of living in a reactive world, where actions and extreme responses are triggered by emotion rather than logic. But it’s never too late to turn back and begin using your heads instead of your hearts. I have faith in you, America. Stay apprehensive and eat a pork chop. Fight against this onslaught of media coverage and hug a pig, or your mother, or just cough on someone you love. Just don’t stay indoors and live a bacon-free existence over an epidemic that doesn’t exist.
Comment
From the AMA website….“In the U.S., where most infections are now clustered in communities, it makes sense to wear a high-grade mask in situations where you’re likely to be exposed to the virus. For example, if you’re sick with the flu, wearing a mask can help prevent spreading it to others. And if you’re caring for someone who is sick, wearing a mask yourself can also help reduce exposure to the droplets from a cough or sneeze that spread infection. If there is an outbreak in your community, masks can be helpful tools to reduce your exposure to the virus in confined or crowded places, like buses, trains, and airplanes.
Not all masks are created equal. To prevent the inhalation of most virus-bearing droplets from a cough or sneeze masks and respirators should be labeled N-95 or higher, which means they have been cleared by the FDA. They may also bear a label from the National Institute for Occupational Safety.”
I’ll task my lead from the AMA…let me know when you finish med school.
— Jamison Lee · May 13, 01:45 PM · #
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