Swine flu scare is just absurd hysteria

By The Beacon | September 16, 2009 9:00pm

By Greg Machado

Here's the thing about the Hog Flu: America crying wolf. We're seeing it now and we've seen it before.

There is a pile of garbage piling up bigger than America's biggest landfill: Swine Flu, Bird Flu, West Nile Virus, Mad Cow Disease, Y2K and SARS.

Can you tell me which one of these scares caused at least a million deaths? 50 million deaths? 100 million deaths? The answer: none of these.

None of these "epidemics" have come close to the death toll of smallpox, malaria, AIDS, or the bubonic plague.

Consequences were promised to us if we didn't do anything about these outbreaks.

Has the hysteria made us all more aware or have we all been sold on fear?

Personally, I believe it's the latter based on the formula we sell people on to scare them. Here's the formula (courtesy of Rob Williams of "RAD in the morning"):

One, predict a devastating outcome that will never actually happen.

Two, demand that people act immediately; for if they don't, the devastating outcome will be inevitable.

Three, when the devastating outcome that you always knew wouldn't occur fails to happen, take credit for preventing something that never had any possibility of occurring.

It's funny if you apply this formula to these "epidemics" because they've all come and gone within the last decade alone. Unlike actual epidemics, which have surpassed years, decades, centuries, and some that have still continued into this century; these "epidemics" came and went with a very small death toll.

It is unfortunate that people have died due to influenza, viruses and diseases.

It is also unfortunate that we as a society have latched on to crazed hysterias time and time again.

Bottom line: Fear sells as much as sex sells.

Consider the fact that Americans love riding fast roller coasters, bungee jumping from tall bridges, skydiving from airplanes, outrunning avalanches, traversing haunted houses, rafting class 6 rapids, free climbing vertical rock walls, etc. All of these examples amount to a simple fact; Americans live and love to be afraid.

People are afraid of the Hog Flu because it is nothing like we've ever seen before. The symptoms include fever, unusual tiredness, headache, runny nose, sore throat, shortness of breath or cough, aching muscles and nausea with possible diarrhea or vomiting.

But what are the symptoms of the Flu? The symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, chills, extreme tiredness, dry cough, runny nose and nausea with possible diarrhea or vomiting.

Those two lists sure do look exactly the same.

This H1N1 influenza is not a novel influenza.

It is a common fall/winter flu with a new name.

The CDC and WHO are doing just what Steve Jobs does with Apple and iPods. IPod 1 has a 30GB hard drive for $399 and 3 months later at the convention in San Francisco iPod 2 has a sleeker look with an 80GB hard drive, with a new name, for exactly the same price!

There is already a vaccine for the common flu year after year, and now there is a panic that not enough vaccine medicine will be made available for the "novel" swine flu.

Common sense tells me that the common flu vaccine will suffice if the symptoms are exactly the same. Seems to me Obama has found a method of raising some money to pay off his outrageous stimulus package plans; use the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services as a defense barrier against adults and reintroduce a powerful weapon as a defense barrier against kids: Elmo.

What does Obama get when he uses these organizations as walls to hide behind? He averts more fault and blame and gains more time to push forward his healthcare reform.

Here's my advice: No one should be afraid to go about their day.

No one should be afraid of the "novel" hog flu.

No one should be afraid of the hysteria.

It's always the same, expect everything to happen and prepare for the worst, when nothing actually happens.

Washing your hands and covering your cough or sneeze have been ingrained in us from the day we were born.

Go get your vaccine shots if you want, but I think you're being duped into believing one giant lie.

If you think there is a pandemic coming your way, think again.

Greg Machado is a senior global business and finance major


B