All Together Now ...
This swine flu epidemic that has everyone running Chicken Little is kind of the icing on the cake of a world already on tenterhooks trying to cope with the international financial collapse. With tourism shutting down and people becoming inordinately nervous - thanks to the hysteria blaring at us from the various news media - looks like another bit of faltering on our way to resolving the initial crisis.
There'll be all kinds of fall-out. Already countries like China and Russia have placed an embargo on importing hogs; Egypt has begun a mass slaughter of pigs, poor things. As though it's their fault. And that slaughter is needless to begin with. People seem to think that handling and eating pigs will render them vulnerable to this new type of influenza. Which has been lethal in some small part, in Mexico, but not yet elsewhere that it has surfaced.
Hog producers are outraged. Their industry has been hard hit as it is, another result of dreadful fiscal management they had nothing whatever to do with. Now they feel slandered by naming this new strain of influenza, swine flu. The World Health Organization, mindful of economic fall-out, has agreed it makes more sense to re-name it; hence H1N1.
The tourism industry which filters millions of people yearly from northern climes to the sunny, sandy beaches of Mexico was already in free-fall from the global economy collapsing. Now it's reeling again. Mexico, already in trouble as a result of drug-gang wars imperilling innocent members of its society, and attempting to cope with its own financial woes is triply hit.
Various countries of the world attempt, on the one hand, to instill a sense of confidence in their populations by assuring them that everything is under control, their governments have taken all appropriate steps to meet the hazards of a pandemic, and on the other hand, sending confused messages. That everyone must take personal precautions to protect themselves from flu transmission because the potential fall-out from a serious pandemic could be catastrophic.
But don't worry. Be happy, but be vigilant. And, says U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, stay close to home. Eschew air travel, don't frequent crowded venues. Sensible advice, no denying. But for a top-level political executive, um, not so good. His careful, clear and correct words of caution herald a garrison mentality. And oh for heaven's sake, the economy...everything's fine, people.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has enunciated a clearly more politic and careful statement somewhat echoing Mr. Biden's, but mindful of the effect on the economy. "......if they're feeling sick they should stay off of public transit or confined spaces because that, indeed, is the advice that we have been giving." If'they feel sick', they already are, with something.
The U.S. Travel Association is howling at the "inflammatory" remarks at a time of public fear. Public fear? Wait now; who instilled that fear? Clumsy politicians, not quite knowing how to react and communicate, and cautious health professionals not having a clue, along with emergency-happy news media, exploiting the story for all that can be squeezed out of it. When no one outside Mexico has mortally succumbed to that swinish flu.
As for the Air Transport Association of America, they're apoplectic over the very hint that airline travel might be injurious to one's health, that the air quality on board a commercial airliner might present as some problem to people encased within that airborne breeding ground for viruses where the air quality is known to be compromised. Travellers coming from Mexico may or may not bring unwelcome germs with them. Repeat: no one has died from extreme flu symptoms elsewhere.
Unlike Mexico, where some have. And where Mexican President Felipe Calderon has ordered a closing of government offices and businesses not directly essential to the economy. And who has calmly recommended that people remain safely away from transmission: "There is no safer place than your own home to avoid being infected with the flu virus."
The thing of it is, people kind of get a kick out of having the bejezus scared out of them. As though without that frisson of fear life cannot really be enjoyed. And a little bit of panic excites the nervous system, while alerting one to the irreplaceable treasure their lives represent.
There'll be all kinds of fall-out. Already countries like China and Russia have placed an embargo on importing hogs; Egypt has begun a mass slaughter of pigs, poor things. As though it's their fault. And that slaughter is needless to begin with. People seem to think that handling and eating pigs will render them vulnerable to this new type of influenza. Which has been lethal in some small part, in Mexico, but not yet elsewhere that it has surfaced.
Hog producers are outraged. Their industry has been hard hit as it is, another result of dreadful fiscal management they had nothing whatever to do with. Now they feel slandered by naming this new strain of influenza, swine flu. The World Health Organization, mindful of economic fall-out, has agreed it makes more sense to re-name it; hence H1N1.
The tourism industry which filters millions of people yearly from northern climes to the sunny, sandy beaches of Mexico was already in free-fall from the global economy collapsing. Now it's reeling again. Mexico, already in trouble as a result of drug-gang wars imperilling innocent members of its society, and attempting to cope with its own financial woes is triply hit.
Various countries of the world attempt, on the one hand, to instill a sense of confidence in their populations by assuring them that everything is under control, their governments have taken all appropriate steps to meet the hazards of a pandemic, and on the other hand, sending confused messages. That everyone must take personal precautions to protect themselves from flu transmission because the potential fall-out from a serious pandemic could be catastrophic.
But don't worry. Be happy, but be vigilant. And, says U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, stay close to home. Eschew air travel, don't frequent crowded venues. Sensible advice, no denying. But for a top-level political executive, um, not so good. His careful, clear and correct words of caution herald a garrison mentality. And oh for heaven's sake, the economy...everything's fine, people.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has enunciated a clearly more politic and careful statement somewhat echoing Mr. Biden's, but mindful of the effect on the economy. "......if they're feeling sick they should stay off of public transit or confined spaces because that, indeed, is the advice that we have been giving." If'they feel sick', they already are, with something.
The U.S. Travel Association is howling at the "inflammatory" remarks at a time of public fear. Public fear? Wait now; who instilled that fear? Clumsy politicians, not quite knowing how to react and communicate, and cautious health professionals not having a clue, along with emergency-happy news media, exploiting the story for all that can be squeezed out of it. When no one outside Mexico has mortally succumbed to that swinish flu.
As for the Air Transport Association of America, they're apoplectic over the very hint that airline travel might be injurious to one's health, that the air quality on board a commercial airliner might present as some problem to people encased within that airborne breeding ground for viruses where the air quality is known to be compromised. Travellers coming from Mexico may or may not bring unwelcome germs with them. Repeat: no one has died from extreme flu symptoms elsewhere.
Unlike Mexico, where some have. And where Mexican President Felipe Calderon has ordered a closing of government offices and businesses not directly essential to the economy. And who has calmly recommended that people remain safely away from transmission: "There is no safer place than your own home to avoid being infected with the flu virus."
The thing of it is, people kind of get a kick out of having the bejezus scared out of them. As though without that frisson of fear life cannot really be enjoyed. And a little bit of panic excites the nervous system, while alerting one to the irreplaceable treasure their lives represent.
Labels: Economy, Environment, Health, Human Fallibility
posted by Pieface | 2:02 PM
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