- Apr 30, 2009
Media sensationalism makes me sick
Total # of deaths from "swine" flu: 8
Total annual deaths from regular old human flu: 250-500 thousand
http://tiny.cc/swine511
http://tiny.cc/flu611
Turns out this isn't the first panic over "swine flu"
Only 1 person died from swine flu in 1976. Hundreds of Americans were killed or seriously injured by the inoculation the government gave them to stave off the virus.
http://www.capitalcentury.com/1976.html
Of course it isn't just about ratings and selling papers. Some of it is human nature. I think we enjoy panicking.
I understand that people have a hard time taking history into account. If it didn't happen in one's own lifetime it becomes an abstraction, and therefore not something to learn from. But "bird" flu was only, what, 3 years ago? The "global pandemic" of bird flu killed a little over 200 people world-wide over the course of about 5 years.
Before that was y2k. It was supposed to shut down every computer, crippling all of modern civilization.
The supposed financial "crises" hasn't even wore itself out, and already we are on to our next one.
I stopped watching/reading "news" a long time ago, and yet somehow I keep hearing about this stuff.
I keep imagining to myself that somehow humanity is going to collectively stop being so stupid.
I know how terribly deluded I am.
I think I should just give in.
Anyone know where I can buy one of those masks?
Total annual deaths from regular old human flu: 250-500 thousand
http://tiny.cc/swine511
http://tiny.cc/flu611
Turns out this isn't the first panic over "swine flu"
Only 1 person died from swine flu in 1976. Hundreds of Americans were killed or seriously injured by the inoculation the government gave them to stave off the virus.
http://www.capitalcentury.com/1976.html
Of course it isn't just about ratings and selling papers. Some of it is human nature. I think we enjoy panicking.
I understand that people have a hard time taking history into account. If it didn't happen in one's own lifetime it becomes an abstraction, and therefore not something to learn from. But "bird" flu was only, what, 3 years ago? The "global pandemic" of bird flu killed a little over 200 people world-wide over the course of about 5 years.
Before that was y2k. It was supposed to shut down every computer, crippling all of modern civilization.
The supposed financial "crises" hasn't even wore itself out, and already we are on to our next one.
I stopped watching/reading "news" a long time ago, and yet somehow I keep hearing about this stuff.
I keep imagining to myself that somehow humanity is going to collectively stop being so stupid.
I know how terribly deluded I am.
I think I should just give in.
Anyone know where I can buy one of those masks?
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