April 29, 2009

La Grippe

This flu thing--it frightens me. I live in a major population center. I'm already at war with my immune system. I have reason to be scared, a little.

But I won't let people manipulate and exploit that fear, mine or anyone else's. (No, not even you and your prosciutto monopoly, Rick.) This is too important and the consequences too great, both the consequences of panic and the consequences of feeling safe when we're not.

So I read a little news and explanation, from reliable sources. I avoid speculation, my own and other people's. I'm ruthless, perhaps even vicious, with rumors and misinformation. And when I'm threatening to think about it all too much, I sing a little Squirrel Nut Zippers to cut through the tension, albeit not as well as these folks.

La Grippe

There's a full moon howling at the night....

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can quit worrying now.
Look at the numbers. Cold hard data is good for an uneasy mind.

FBI statistics record 15K murders in 2000.

NOAA estimates lightning kills 90 people a year in the US.

NTSB estimates put auto accident deaths at around 42K a year.

Regular seasonal influenza mortality figures at around 36K a year based on the CDC estimates.

Swine Flu ??? 1 Not 1K just 1.

Toaster Sunshine said...

A single adult course of Tamiflu has skyrocketed to $450 on drug reseller websites. Profiteering is disgusting, especially when the panic is largely driven by a desperate 24h news cycle.

William Carlton said...

The president struck a good tone in his 100 day presser. Common sense, concern, not panic.

Stephanie Zvan said...

Anonymous, your numbers are both too big (focusing on ongoing, not emergent, issues) and too small (considering that this is a global flu now). I'm not going to be consumed by worry, but I won't dismiss this either.

Toaster! Let's not forget that the news coverage is its own sort of profiteering. Sept. 11 was the first time I suggested to someone that they might be better off turning off the news and doing something else for a while. It wasn't the last.

William, Obama has disappointed me a few times, but none of them have been when he's directly addressed the nation. It's that common sense, lack of downplaying problems and pointing out to people that they can't fix things alone, but they can take actions that make a difference.