have you noticed?
Fewer than 200 people have contracted swine flu, and everyone gets mask-happy. Meanwhile, MILLIONS have died of AIDS, yet some people still don’t use condoms.
I’m not saying swine flu isn’t real.
But it is a fact that masks do not prevent transmission. I also believe that mass hysteria never ever helps. Example: Once upon a time, people believed in witches. So they hung/burned/drowned these alleged witches. Also, their cats. Then the rat and flea populations exploded. Hello, bubonic plague.
Posted on April 30th, 2009 under Grenada • Tags: history, hysteria, random, reality check, swine flu. • 
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April 30th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Excellent point! I noticed the papers were saying today “A PERSON HAS DIED OF SWINE FLU!!”
Wow. Big deal. More people have already died this year due to freak accidents involving household appliances. Hmm!
Joely Black´s last blog post..Answering questions
April 30th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
i just made a similar statement today…it’s crazy.
i think it’s because certain diseases have been “labeled” (“only gays, junkies and whores get aids…”), while we all know the flu is universal and rather haphazard. hence denial on one end and panic on the other.
April 30th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Well said! This whole frenzy is ridiculous – to put swine flu further into perspective, tens of thousands of people die every year of “regular” flu. I’m amazed by people’s tendency to get unnecessarily (and lamely) hysterical. And the WHO, as well as the media, should be acting responsibly instead of pandering to hysteria.
Debra Snider´s last blog post..Ersatz Wisdom
April 30th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
You aren’t being serious about the cats, are you? Witchcraft trials were much more common during the Reformation, long after the Black Plague. C’mon, former history major!
I have to say I’m more worried about this than most public health scares. Which is to say: only slightly. But this spreads a hell of a lot faster than AIDS.
April 30th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Thanks, Jared. What I said was indeed an oversimplification, and you are of course correct that witchcraft trials were much more common later. It is true, however, that cats were associated with witchcraft, witches and the devil. Some considered cats to be witches in disguise. During the Middle Ages people who kept cats were objects of great suspicion, and in Europe cats were hunted almost to extinction. The resulting lack of rat-hunters was instrumental in spreading the plague, if not in starting it.
April 30th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
i think the hysteria, gives us something to worry about besides the economy. i think alot of folk are getting mis-info though. someone in the caribbean told the other day about the thousands who died worldwide and said the way they are reporting it it sounds as if tens if not hundreds are infected in canada. so far total canada numbers 18 all mild cases
April 30th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I’m very skeptical about this. Where did you hear it? It sounds way too much like an urban myth. The Wikipedia article on the History of Cats also claims this, without a source. A little time with Google scholar and Amazon Look Inside don’t turn up any relation between cats and plague, or references to cat hunting.
But, you know, it was very amusing procrastination.
April 30th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Wearing masks does not help?? Tell that to the few people I’ve seen this week in New York on the trains and in the streets wearing them. Crazy. Yet, like you said, so many people are dying from HIV when they could take action and wear a condom.
Carlana Charles´s last blog post..Better customer service
April 30th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Yes. 2.7 Million new HIV infections per year with a net total (dead – new infections) of 700K worldwide. Yet we somehow push it to the back pages. Swine flu = this weeks news cycle and a way to make tamilfu execs even richer. Isn’t that right, Donald (Rumsfeld)? Meh.
April 30th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Nuttin’ like some anti-fouling, mucky sea-water and “waters” to boost the immune system. People in Greenz already saying “Ah doh care about de pig flu, but we better not have a sal’fish flu!”
YingYang´s last blog post..Chuckle for the day – Prez-Obama and Brian Lara
May 21st, 2009 at 11:16 am
swine flu isn’t real