| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/12/2009 9:09:25 PM | How is it that people are only worried about whatever the #1 news story on CNN/Yahoo is?
Just a little fyi the top 3 killers on earth are
1. Tainted Drinking water
2. Malaria
3. famine
If any of you think swine flu is gonna destroy the world, congratulations your the media's little ****! | |
|
| |
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/12/2009 10:03:24 PM | Bears and elephants are both very dangerous.
Wikipedia once told me that the number of elephants in africa done tripled in the last decade!
Sometimes the truthiness of things can be very scary.  | |
|
| |
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/13/2009 1:23:45 PM | That flue did WONDERS for the journalists, newspapers, and fear mongerers who capitalized off of it's brief stint. Personally I'm waiting for a Bird Flue Mutation, that will be real intersting if it can mutate.
Leave it to sensationalism to instill fear into the psyche of the populace to sell more specialized commodities. Capitalism at it's best!! | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/13/2009 1:28:30 PM |
Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/12/2009 9:09:25 PM
How is it that people are only worried about whatever the #1 news story on CNN/Yahoo is?
I would answer you but apparently there is a young white girl missing so I must not leave my TV. | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/14/2009 7:31:05 AM | | It has to be tree, I seen it on TV ! Or I think I did, I dunno there's so much dust I'm waiting for a new report that tells me how to clear that up. | |
|
| |
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/14/2009 7:47:03 PM | Oh, DUDE! Don't even get me started on this. I fail to see how the swine flu should make any headlines whatsoever.
DANGER! A new version of the flu that is exactly like the regular flu is sweeping across the land in exactly the same fashion that the regular flu does every single year.
Whoa! I need to completely change my lifestyle and develop a plan for something I typically ignore every year! | |
|
| |
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/14/2009 9:06:20 PM | OMG...even the feds bought into it and contributed to the SWINNNE FLU HYSTERIA even when medical professionals were stressing there was no need for panic just concern..universal precautions..and to think that >30,000 die each year of influenza and TB.. but does that get the airplay? NO , of course not..it doesnt sell. $$$... thats the name of the game with these media entities..good luck on getting reliable and nonbiased info anymore | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/14/2009 9:22:37 PM | Not to mention nobody's freaking out over the annual mini-holocaust that happens when people drive cars... men, women and children all die due to this and nobody gives a fig.
Pig flu can kiss my arse. | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/15/2009 1:03:15 AM | Well , yesterday I met somebody here in Canada who had a relative die of Swine Flu. I guess it's not quite out-of-sight/out-of-mind.
It's not quite the sensationalism that some people would prefer to label it as.
We've been waiting for some time for another radical mutation of the flu virus to come along and give us a repeat of the Spanish Flu. Simply put , we're due for it. The only thing that's stopping it from having its way with the human population IS the media and its sensationalism. I don't think people recognize the risk that this sort of thing poses to us. Without all the communication and governments taking this thing seriously , nobody here in this forum would be quite so brash in pronouncing this flu to be some great media ploy to generate hysteria. Sure , newspapers make money this way...so what ? It still IS a very real threat. Drop the quarantines , the screenings , and all the other measures put in place to limit the spread of the Swine Flu and then we'll see if anybody here still thinks it's just some conspiracy to sell a few more copies of the paper.
The Spanish Flu claimed something like 25 million people pretty quickly. That's just our best guess but it's probably in the right area. Today , we could easily double , triple , possibly even quadruple that figure due to population increase. Some people will say "Yeah...well , there's too many of us anyway. Besides , it's not happening in my neighbourhood." That sort of talk goes right out the window when your brother catches it and winds up deep-sixed after a few days. | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/15/2009 7:24:28 AM | ^^^^Education is ONE thing, education by the media is a GOOD THING, causing widespread panic IS NOT by them or our govt. and now they're all trying to back peddle (and thats EXACTLY what was happening)And to juxtapose... ok, I know plenty of people that have died from the flu does not mean we are suppose to cancel our way of living..which has what has been proposed because of this.
Look, Im right down here in the crux of this going in and out of mexican immigrants homes and I EDUCATE my patients and tell them to be very concerned and aware.. not SCARE THEM HALF TO DEATH..there IS a difference | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/15/2009 4:33:25 PM | ...Well , yesterday I met somebody here in Canada who had a relative die of Swine Flu. I guess it's not quite out-of-sight/out-of-mind...
From what I have read there was only one death that was related to Swine Flu and they where not able to conclude if that was a main cause of death.
EDMONTON -- The death of a northern Alberta woman last week is Canada's first associated with swine flu, but no one knows if H1N1 killed her, officials said Friday.
The woman, identified by family members as a 39-year-old who checked herself into hospital in High Prairie, Alta., with asthma problems, died April 28. Doctors didn't suspect the flu virus. On May 5, her mother, who shared a house with her on a northern Alberta Metis settlement, was found to have a mild form of the disease caused by the H1N1 virus. That's when the provincial government took a closer look.
http://www2.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=1577571
Apx 4000 people die each year in Canada from the flu. | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/15/2009 5:10:16 PM | | Right now I'm concerned with the migration of fire ants making their way to the midwest... those suckers hurt... | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/15/2009 10:10:12 PM | | Come on people, give the journalists a little slack, there are only so many puff pieces that can be run about the President on any given day. Is it really that surprising that they were hoping for a repeat of 1918? I'm sure some of those beacons of truth could get years of stories out of a real pandemic(which I think is a matter of when, not if, given the nature of our brave new world). | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/16/2009 4:15:14 AM | James Bottomtooth III,
I never said her relative came from Canada.
Pisceseyes,
Well which is it ? Show me a newspaper that screams out "You're going to die of the Swine Flu if you don't hurry up and seal yourself in a bubble !!!!!". You won't find this because it doesn't exist. What you will find instead are newspapers reporting on the Swine Flu. If you want to view that as sensationalism or "scaring people half to death" (well there's a healthy dose of hyperbole on your part) then go ahead but that's your take on it. If a headline scares you that much then be careful the next time you open up a medical textbook. | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/16/2009 6:41:30 AM | First off, global warming has to be on the top 10 list of what's going to kill most of us, if you go by what you read in the newspaper
But, in regard to the H1N1, I think the original scare had more to do with the Mexican's inability to ascertain the confirmed cases of that flu and the number of deaths due to it. In the first week, if I remember correctly, they were reporting a death rate of about one in ten, and in young, healthy people. A few weeks later, they were better able to report what had actually happened. So, what's it at now: around 1 in 1000 and even less in the northern part of North America? Now we know there is nothing to be worried about
But in Mexico they were so scared at the beginning of the outbreak that they banned public gatherings, going to movies, etc. I can't blame our media for picking up on that scare. Governments don't go to that length unless they truly believe their people are at risk. Although the original death rate was highly overestimated, at least Mexico was open about the problem and the rest of the world was able to be vigilent. Better than what happened with SARS, where China was not forthcoming with what was happening and a lot of people died because of that.
Sure, the media jumped on this story, but in this particular case, I can understand why. However, now that we know that it's no more virulent than any other flu, let's enjoy our lives again. | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/16/2009 7:07:14 AM |
Bears and elephants are both very dangerous.
Wikipedia once told me that the number of elephants in africa done tripled in the last decade!
Sometimes the truthiness of things can be very scary.
OMG!!! What about BEARS... WITH Swine Flue!!!!
How will we survive! | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/16/2009 7:12:34 AM |
First off, global warming has to be on the top 10 list of what's going to kill most of us, if you go by what you read in the newspaper
When Rachel Carson wrote "Silent Spring," it spawned a whole series of doomsday prophecies. According to such literature of the '60s and 70s', the oceans should be dead by now and we should have about a square yard of living space due to overpopulation.
During the '70s, I took a college science class (for nonscience majors) which dealt with how to survive the coming eco-holocaust. As a result of that class, I stockpiled food and expected the imminent fall of cities.
It is 2009 and it hasn't happened.
This isn't to say that it can't and won't happen, but I just don't buy into doomsday scenarios anymore. | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/16/2009 7:54:11 AM | I was being sarcastic about the "global warming hype" because the media follows it so closely and believes everything every politician says about the matter. And, as you point out Gwendolyn, environmental prophecies can be exaggerated
However, I wouldn't dismiss the warnings of all conservationists; our oceans are, in fact, in distress, from dead areas as large as the size of Texas, to cod depletion, to pH changes killing shellfish...there's a lot going on that we don't see here on terra firma
I think there's a place for the alarmists and the cynics; because of the alarmists like Rachel Carson, we've invested in conserving our environment, implemented effective management practices for pesticides and other harmful chemicals, mitigated the acid-rain threat, among other measures. Things would be worse if not for those measures. But the cynics do add a dose of reality from time to time and keep us from focussing on just one issue.
My personal belief is that if something does actually threaten the entire human species, it won't be a flu, or global warming, or any of the other doomsday prophecies that we're trying to control, but it will be something we're not expecting...And that's why it will get us, because we won't have taken any measures to protect ourselves. | |
|
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/16/2009 12:16:14 PM | Yes, I have read about Oceanic dead-zones, assuming they are real (and the ocean's don't really look too healthy) this should be the number one threat to people right now.
I wasn't saying Swine Flu isn't a threat, I'm saying that compared to all the other problems in the world, its relative threat level is non-existent.
Personally, there just are not enough people in the right mind-set here on earth to exact any major change, every problem will more then likely continue to get worse, til the breaking point.
My prediction that ww3 will be a war mostly of civil strife, and survival. There may be mass military vs. military conflicts, but it isn't for sure yet. Keep in mind, if a society completely breaks down, that means everything that goes with it. A military marches on its stomach, and if Farmer Dan can't feed them, you have no military.
This is why people should of voted for Wesley Clark (when the had the chance anyways), instead of a newbie senator with no Command Experience. Clark is highly resourceful, and motivated, O'bama just seems to worry about whatever the political pundits deem is the major hyped-up threat this week. If he had any sense at all he would of not even mentioned Swine-Flu in any of his speeches. | |
|
| |
| Swine flu the biggest threat EVER
Posted: 5/16/2009 4:53:19 PM |
I wasn't saying Swine Flu isn't a threat, I'm saying that compared to all the other problems in the world, its relative threat level is non-existent.
Well that's the crux of the matter.
This is basically a matter of triage. Indeed the world does have 'worse' things to worry about but the idea is to keep this from becoming one of those things. Nobody is actually reporting that the Swine Flu is the beginning of the end for humanity. Nobody is trying to panic anybody else for that matter. What's happening is that we've got a nasty new strain of the flu , it's killed some people who probably would have survived a "normal" flu and the media picked up on this. This wasn't an accident either...responsible governments WANT the media to report on this at every opportunity as long as the facts are straight. Saves the feds a bunch of our cash in the end so I'm okay with it. Anyway , as I said , as long as the media is making a big deal out of the Swine Flu , the government doesn't have to wait for it to actually become a big deal and THEN try to and fix it. The media IS the early warning and , in a way , the first line of defense when it comes to battling any epidemic.
It's the repetition of the story coupled with our contemporary penchant for cynicism that has people calling this sensationalism. It's true that it seems like every few months there's some new world-ending catastrophe just waiting to pounce on humanity yet it never plays out that way. Like the boy who cried wolf though , we can always expect the media to make a big deal out of anything. The trick is to figure out what is worth paying attention to and what isn't. This is worth paying attention to. | |
|
Home
login 
