| 29 April 2009
The H1N1 swine flu has come to the United States people are freaking out. Had not one viral carrier stepped off a plane from Mexico City on our soil, I hardly think many Americans would give a flying or floating turd about the virus. People become hysterical about issues and 
events only when they fear their lives being affected in some way.
Certainly, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that a mass influenza could kill thousands of people. After all, it happens every year in this, the wealthiest nation in the world. In fact, an influenza strain in the 1910's killed a set of my great grandparents and great aunts.
What gives me alarm more than swine flu is the reaction that people are already having to it. The incessant media coverage of a virus that has so far claimed only one American already has millions of people on full alert. But how does freaking out over swine flu actually make preventing its transmission any easier? It only incubates more paranoia, rashness and irrationality.
Whenever something catastrophic happens in our part of the world, Americans lose their cool and become unreasonable (remember the Patriot Act, Iraq War, duct tape sales and the other manifestations of mass hysteria that followed the 9/11 attacks?). Swine flu hasn't even been on the public's mind for a week and there is already a crescendo of voices blaming immigrants, legal or otherwise, for its transmission when not one case on this side of the border has been linked to an illegal immigrant. Rather, of the more than two dozen New Yorkers infected recently most had been on a spring break trip to Cancun. That's hardly a trip that requires swimming across the Rio Grande. But the irrational chorus of self-importance is only warming up. It's possible that more people will die from this strain of the flu virus up here in the States. After all, seasonal flu viruses kill more than 35,000 Americans annually. It's certainly worse in other parts of the world such as South East Asia where epidemiology and health care are less advanced and extreme poverty force people into an existence that puts them at higher risk for infections. 
Although I think it's reasonable for people to guard against infection, I think it is entirely self-important for people to build a culture of fear around a virus that has affected relatively few Americans (most of whom have survived). Already people are canceling trips to Mexico and other parts of Latin America, wearing masks and demanding an impenetrable God-proof fence be erected from Texas to California as a means of preventing an epidemic. But maybe before we get too wrapped up on all of that, Americans should consider the advice of our own governmental health agencies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
[W]ash your hands. Try to stay in good general health. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food. Try not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Sounds reasonable to me. How about you? With the exception of the occasional person in a public restroom we all observe not washing his hands after emptying his bowels, most Americans follow basic hygienic standards and that may benefit us in preventing a mass spread of the swine flu.
It just seems to me that we have the collective emotional intelligence of a kindergarten classroom whenever we hear Wolf Blitzer, Brit Hume, Brian Williams or any other media celebrity talking about something we only partially grasp that seems frightening. On occasion the networks play stories on the national epidemic of obesity, running b-role footage of the lower halves of fat people as they cross streets or sit in fast food joints. Even if it turns into an epidemic, swine flu will likely kill less Americans this year than fatness does. In reality, that pork chop you eat with a side of mayo is far worse a public health threat than the flu for which the porcine family is currently being blamed. Still, I haven't seen anyone wearing cotton to protect themselves from the lard hanging off of others.
People want to feel important, I suppose. A national tragedy or a looming epidemic actually serves a perverse purpose of injecting some excitement into their day-to-day life. Worrying about the next terrorist attack or skin eating bacteria is far more stimulating than minding the heart attack or skin stretching caused by being morbidly obese. And yet, America is a relatively safe country to live in. Despite our bad habits and the fact that some people out there want to kill us, we live pretty long lives. An American has far less to worry about from terrorists than a person in Iraq, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Indonesia or Somalia. A deadly virus is more likely to rip through Sub-Saharan Africa than New York City.
Sure, it could happen, but freaking out about it isn't going to help the situation. In the meantime we all need to shut the fuck up, relax, turn off our cable TV networks and find something more meaningful to do. It's far worse to get sick from worrying about swine flu than becoming ill from swine flu itself.
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Comments (3)
Subscribe to this comment's feeded hopper is a machine
W.H.O just raised the threat to level 5 out of 6
check this out:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms...488281&z=5
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mayo
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Um, looks like all those hours Thrillho and I have racked up playing Left 4 Dead may actually come in handy
When you see it you WILL shit brix!
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