EVERYBODY PANIC

(Isn't swine flu kitty cute?)

So here we are, once again, being inundated with EVERYBODY PANIC! news coverage of this swine flu thing. And, as with every new catastrophic pandemic the dumbest portion of the population will generally be glued to their tv while sitting in a plastic bag with all the windows and doors duct taped shut waiting for the news to tell them its ok to come out again.

I tend to not watch the news while stuff like this is going on if only to keep my sanity. I saw a headline today which read something to the effect of First confirmed case of death due to swine flu in the US. Pretty scary stuff, right? Wrong. What the Scaretastic headline doesnt mention, and the article only casually mentions as well, is that the person that died was a citizen of Mexico and had come here to the US for treatment. And while that is tragic, not quite as dramatic as the headline would have you believe.

I would like to now casually point out that the normal flu that goes around every year kills, on average, 64,000 people according to the CDC. Where are all the panic headlines for that? Currently, this swine flu has caused the deaths of around 100 people, all in third world countries, namely Mexico, that have sub-par medical treatments available. The fact is that many of the people that have been infected here in the US are doing quite fine and the risk of death for them is substantially lower.

I know you are probably saying right now lolz, but mike if we dont panic the next one might be the real thing and we wont be prepared. I am not saying to not be prepared. And Im quite sure we are pretty well prepared already, hence the lack of US deaths related to swine flu thus far. I just wish the media would stop blowing things completely out of proportion simply because there is nothing else to talk about.

But, lets face it, scaremongering sells. The media has a feeding frenzy every time something like this happens because it knows that people will be terrified and watch their channel 24/7. Remember SARS a few years back? Of course you don't because it caused the zombie apocalypse that ended humanity.

The number one leading cause of death for humans has and will always be life.

There, end diatribe. Now for mine and your amusement: The Jack In The Box Mini Sirloin Burgers Commercial. Beware, the song will be in your head all day.