Media coverage on the Swine Flu has encouraged an all around panic and over reaction what appears to be almost globally. Each year there are around 36,000 deaths of the common flu that everyone expects to show its face as the weather turns in the fall. We may hear of a few of these if they are local to our area but I have never heard of that many Flu related deaths myself.
I have heard over the past few days the terms deadly, pandemic, epidemic, global, I even heard one radio talk show host suggest a national lock down. Looking back over the course of this topic it could have all been kept into perspective on day one had the media not needed something new to obsess over. To start with, the first panic was the child passing here in the states. Very unfortunate that he passed, but the media blasted the first us death. Had that been express a little more clearly they would have found a way to express in the headlines that the young child had just arrived here within hours of dying for the purpose of medical treatment, and was not someone in the U.S. per say. The other misleading piece from the news that swayed many into their frenzy was the death toll that they were taking in Mexico that had never been confirmed were all cases of the flu. It is only recently that the numbers have been “confirmed” and although it seems to be quickly spreading the deaths thankfully are not following. This could also be explained by the specific location in which the wide spread in Mexico took place. It wasn’t until yesterday (Sunday) that it was shown what kind of living conditions the majority of infected deaths took place. Many of those cases did not have the opportunity to seek medical attention. Of the many cases that have been confirmed of the virus here in the states they are being described as mild. The word pandemic is being used in every report without explaining the meaning. Pandemic is only referring to the ability for it to spread, not the number of lives it takes. In perspective this is another virus that is going to go around just as every other virus that hits us every year. I have had the flu before and although it was 8 days of hell the flu is not always lethal.
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I completely agree with everything in this blog. I feel that the media is trying to make everyone worry to death. My advice is to not watch the news, as sad as that sounds. I have recently been sick, and I went to the doctor to get antibiotics, and i said i had a sore throat and a slight fever and the nurse freaked out and gave me a mask! I could not believe it. Americans just need to stop worrying. We have a lot of medicine that can help the swine flu, although the vaccine is not ready yet, it will be soon. Also, you can eat pork! I wish that people would do a little bit of research before making something up that is completely absurd.
ReplyDeleteI also agree. They are making such a big deal out of this flu. As a whole I think Americans are quick to jump to the worst conclusion and expect the worse case senario. I work at an urgent care facility and people have been bombarding us witht the fear they have the swine flu. Not one person actually had it. The media has played up the situation and is sending the panic to such extreme levels which it need not be. I think that if people took a step back and did research on their own and ddidn't rely on the media, they would be so much better off.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with this blog. I think the media does a rediculous job of blowing things out of proportion. Yes, it is very sad that there have been deaths because of this illness, but I think people have taken that to an extreme! The media makes it seem that I have a better chance of getting swine flu than catching the common cold. People need to use better judgement when it comes how they interpret the news.
ReplyDeleteYes, as soon as I heard about the swine flew I was already tired of it. A family member went out to buy emergency supplies, claiming we could get stuck in lockdown, or civilians would overrun the grocery store getting their emergency supplies. People changed their whole routine over this flu. It disgusts me how worked up people get themselves over their fear of death. Everyone gets a cold and they think they are dying. Well, just because people don't think about it there are still people dying every day from random ass shit. Its the same thing with those people who say the end of the world is coming by 2012. Sure, lets stay huddled in a hole like animals avoiding our inevitable death. If some pandemic was actually killing off half of our country, im going out having fun, not huddled in a house of fear. It's amazing how quickly people panic, versus staying calm and thinking about it or looking up more information.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I tend not to rely on our media for information. More people die from the flu vaccine than swine flu every year. The media is just trying to use scare tactics to make people watch their channel every second of every day. And what do they do when they don't have something sad or horrible to report on? Put on some news that something in the world is going right? Nope. Anyone remember when Anna Nicole Smith died and it was on the news for more than two days? That story shouldn't have even been on for a second let alone be classified as news. That's what tabloids are for.
ReplyDeleteThe Swine Flu did take everyone by surprise. It was almost a mandate to wash your hands just from speaking with someone! That was crazy. Just yesterday I was in a public restroom and this guy did not wash his hands. That scared the crap out of me because hasn’t he seen the news…With anything that causes mass hysteria, people will behave in ways that you didn’t expect them to. My sister-in law recounted how she was at the grocery store and there was a lady by the pharmacy and she was sneezing and coughing. She then told me that she went all the way around the store to avoid this sick lady. Was that going to far? I think the media could do a better job to not play with the public’s emotions by constantly obsessing and instilling fear.
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