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Re: Interesting, and understandable, stance. (Reply to this comment)
by mongkut
Very well said.
Even with the state of medical technology it is easy to imagine some pandemic wiping out hundreds of millions of people in the not so distant future. Ebola raised fears back in the 80's, AIDs put a crimp on free love, and antibiotic resistant strains of TB and other presumed to be contained maladies worry the CDC and WHO.
Yeah, we're definitely going to meet the next big plague down the road. All the media fear mongering certainly isn't going to be helpful when something big hits. Just like the Gulf coast during hurricane season, the media saturated West could easily shrug off the real pandemic only to realise too late that it, in fact, is too late.
Thanks for the excellent addition to the comments.
Rob
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Aug 31 '09
8:17 am PDT
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Interesting, and understandable, stance. (Reply to this comment)
by talyseon
Here is the bottom line. The human population of earth is six billion; within a decade, it will probably hit seven billion. Most scientist agree that the absolute limit we can handle is nine billion.
Nature is a self regulating system. If things get out of whack, it has methodologies for dealing with things. Plague is one of them.
We will live through Plague years with in my theoretical life time. There is too much globalization for a virulent strain not to escape containment. As the population increases, we probe into and develop new areas that harbour organisms we have no immunity to. Much of the world lives in overcrowded filthy conditions with poor nutrition. We miss use antibiotics, and ruin their effectiveness.
I think much of the parinoia that exists is first, media hype for those all important ratings. But the reason they generate those ratings, is because we instinctively know we have dodged the bullet through many games of Russian Roulette, and we are running out of empty cylinders. We know we have spit in Mother Nature's eye, and we have some idea of how she will react.
The solution, of course, is to regulate ourselves, and reduce our birth rate. Since that will never happen, a world wide Pandemic is inevitable. But I am with you; I am tired of being whipped into a lather over it by the media, just so the media can justify their own existance.
Good piece, thorny issue.
Talyseon.
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Aug 30 '09
10:14 pm PDT
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Gee Rob, (Reply to this comment)
by cmuir
I take a couple months off and now you are burned out?? LOL
Apparently no one around here thinks you can get the swine flu from pork. You can't even touch them at the local farmers sale for under $100.00 for a 10 pounder. Calves on the other hand they are giving away. Go figure.
Hope you come back soon,
Cindi
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Jul 24 '09
3:37 pm PDT
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I'mj a little late getting to this one but... (Reply to this comment)
by popsrocks
...you said it all...and right on.
Just be careful tomorrow if you hear some chicken saying something about the sky falling.
Good stuff from ya.
pops
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Jul 02 '09
7:27 pm PDT
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Re: Just back from two weeks in Mexico. (Reply to this comment)
by mongkut
Hi Gill,
My hopes for a healthy eight days are with you both. I'm fairly confident that you'll be fine.
I agree 100% that we need to be informed of potential dangers when travelling. What we just experienced here in the US is a different thing altogether. The news media has always used a bit of scare mongering to drive viewership but it has gotten much worse as local and national media outlets fight for ratings in an era of online news content.
Here in Florida local news stations milk every possible minute of airtime out of anything remotely approaching a tropical storm. A hurricane headed to South America will be covered with the intensity that used to be reserved for storms heading directly for the station's home city.
In this post 9/11 world people are so apt to flip out over any potential disaster that they make easy pawns for media hype. The sad part is that eventually we'll enter the "boy who cried wolf" mode where something serious will happen and the now jaded public will disregard the warnings.
I guess we get what we deserve, or what all people deserve by default.
Thanks for stopping by, and stay well.
Rob
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May 13 '09
6:37 am PDT
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Just back from two weeks in Mexico. (Reply to this comment)
by gillandtony
With hindsight this was probably not the best choice of destination under the circumstances.
In our defence there was nothing in the media when we booked our trip, though I suspect that the travel companies must have had an inkling that something was afoot.
I agree that the facts have been hyped out of all proportion. However, we did need to have reliable information in order to make decisions about travelling to historical sites, local places of interest etc. and I would have appreciated less drama and more facts from the world press while we were there.
We returned to the UK last night after health checks at the airport and are now spending eight days at home as a precaution to see if anything develops.
Watch this space !
Gill.
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May 12 '09
10:11 am PDT
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Re: It hadn't even occurred to me... (Reply to this comment)
by mongkut
Hi Michelle,
I'm thinking the average schmo who connects pork to swine flu is more than a few credits short of their J.D..
I probably shouldn't be surprised with the Jerry Springer mentality of so many fellow Amuricanz, but really, swine flu comes from eating pork? I mean, really?
The scary part is that these same mental midgets all have the right to vote and the government fully realizes how easily manipulated they are.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Rob
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May 08 '09
6:47 pm PDT
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It hadn't even occurred to me... (Reply to this comment)
by chelledun
to avoid Mexican restaurants! Our small town has three really good ones and pork tacos are a great favorite that I could never give up for any length of time.
We spent last Friday night in a crowded movie theater enjoying opening night of Wolverine, and friends and acquaintances were appalled - "all those germs!"
Michelle
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May 08 '09
5:11 am PDT
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