Attack of the Swine Flu

I’ve been slacking on the blog. But worry not, Phil the Pill community…at the end of the day, I realize that this is the only thing I could really see myself doing for the rest of my days, so…The Blog. Will Continue.

So last night I get back from a party and scroll through the news. In my highly reactive state of mind, I read about SWINEFLU and its scary infectious ability. It wasn’t a pleasant thing to read right before bed.

I got up and the media wasn’t really doing much to assuage my fears. Check out this latest update from the Associated Press.

Make no mistake: There is not a global pandemic — at least not yet. It’s not clear how many people truly have this particular strain, or why all countries but Mexico are seeing mild disease. Nor is it clear if the new virus spreads easily, one milestone that distinguishes a bad flu from a global crisis. But waiting to take protective steps until after a pandemic is declared would be too late.

“But wait, Phil, that seems like a reasonable and logical example of reporting.”

I agree. But that wasn’t the lead. This was:

The world’s governments raced to avoid both a pandemic and global hysteria Sunday as more possible swine flu cases surfaced from Canada to New Zealand and the United States declared a public health emergency. “It’s not a time to panic,” the White House said.

Mexico, the outbreak’s epicenter with up to 86 suspected deaths, canceled some church services and closed markets and restaurants. Few people ventured onto the streets, and some wore face masks.

As if seeing this in your nightmares isn't enough, remember that the Megazord cannot defeat Swine Flu.

So is Swine Flu something to be worried about? The front page of Yahoo! News makes me think so. But we have to remember that all of the deaths confirmed to be related to Swine Flu are still concentrated in Mexico. I found this Google Map tracking the potential “pandemic” on Reddit.

So while there have been several deaths and that’s sad, the cases outside of Mexico don’t appear to be as severe. It seems to me that this isn’t as inappropriate as the media’s response to Bird Flu which didn’t spread among humans. I mean, what is it? Are we journalists just inherently easily frightened? It’s not as simple as saying that “it sells more papers (or gets more clicks or whatever).” The media is genuinely interested in the mere potential of a pandemic (a worldwide infection). But I honestly don’t think it’s going to become a plague of death.

Perhaps famous last words.

Here’s a relatively level-headed and balanced article about Swine Flu from New Scientist.
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Things from the internet today. First of all, reader poll – is this a real panda???

And finally, on the subject of adorable things, I WANT THIS:

Vodpod videos no longer available.