It's New and Improved!
Dec. 8th, 2005 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
perzephone
Americans are so fucking gullible. They're trying to turn this avian flu into 'The Stand'. It's ridiculous. It's not only a new flu, it's not only of epidemic proportions (which, c'mon people - 130 sick & 65 dead? Epidemic?), it's a downright pandemic!
Here's what an epidemic is: affecting or tending to affect an atypically large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time, i.e. 'typhoid was epidemic'
How many people exist right now? A few over 200 have been affected by bird flu? Doesn't sound like a disease of epidemic proportions to me. Now, in New Mexico, w/a small community of Navajo natives - when something like 150 people got sick from the Hanta virus, that was an epidemic.
Pandemic: occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population, i.e. pandemic malaria.
HIV/AIDS is a pandemic. Bird flu is not. But there are people out there stockpiling flu medications, food, water & guns. They're preparing for massive death & disease on a global scale. Yes, there have been some exceptionally nasty flu bugs out there, and most were probably created in labs - things do get out on lab coats & on dirty hands. It only takes one idiot to sneeze down his sleeve to start a chain reaction.
Americans love that, though - everything's got to be bigger, faster, more massive, new and improved, supersize us all the way, baby!!!
Here's another definition - 'mass hysteria':A condition in which a large group of people exhibit similar physical or emotional symptoms, such as anxiety or extreme excitement. Also called epidemic hysteria.
It should be called 'media hype hysteria'.
Personally, I think the bird flu was created by the beef industry as retaliation for BSE. And BSE was probably created by the beef industry so they'd have an excuse to charge $5 a pound for hamburger meat. Alls I know is this: if one more person sends me a 'warning' in my e-mail about avian flu & getting my flu shots updated, I'm going to start throwing raw chicken at people.
Here's what an epidemic is: affecting or tending to affect an atypically large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time, i.e. 'typhoid was epidemic'
How many people exist right now? A few over 200 have been affected by bird flu? Doesn't sound like a disease of epidemic proportions to me. Now, in New Mexico, w/a small community of Navajo natives - when something like 150 people got sick from the Hanta virus, that was an epidemic.
Pandemic: occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population, i.e. pandemic malaria.
HIV/AIDS is a pandemic. Bird flu is not. But there are people out there stockpiling flu medications, food, water & guns. They're preparing for massive death & disease on a global scale. Yes, there have been some exceptionally nasty flu bugs out there, and most were probably created in labs - things do get out on lab coats & on dirty hands. It only takes one idiot to sneeze down his sleeve to start a chain reaction.
Americans love that, though - everything's got to be bigger, faster, more massive, new and improved, supersize us all the way, baby!!!
Here's another definition - 'mass hysteria':A condition in which a large group of people exhibit similar physical or emotional symptoms, such as anxiety or extreme excitement. Also called epidemic hysteria.
It should be called 'media hype hysteria'.
Personally, I think the bird flu was created by the beef industry as retaliation for BSE. And BSE was probably created by the beef industry so they'd have an excuse to charge $5 a pound for hamburger meat. Alls I know is this: if one more person sends me a 'warning' in my e-mail about avian flu & getting my flu shots updated, I'm going to start throwing raw chicken at people.
