I posted this on D&G...I'm just stunned at what Govts are letting the media get away with. At some point we're going to have to get media controls before these morons destroy the world economy single handed...what did more economic damage to the US...the 9/11 terrorists or the media/govt over reaction after??
A Doctor, who happens to be a old friend of my Uncle, was interviewed on a Sydney radio station today...he's a Virologist or whatever the specialist label is for this sort of bug.
He's simply dismayed at the level of panic caused by media and Govt alike over what is, essentially, nothing.
One statistic he used was 35000/annum die of Typical Flu in the US...think about that !!...it's nearly 100/day, every day, week in and week out, year after year.
What are we up to now...200 spread over Asia and North America in the last several months...even if it was 2000 is it worth the reaction being ellicited by frenzied Media bored with the war?
60 Minutes report last night drew direct comparisons with 1919 Flu pandemic and the Black Plague...suggesting 747s are the rats of the 21st century
They ask Doctors who have been working around the clock and who are exhausted leading questions get the sort of emotional answers which lead to panic, and do so with no thought other than to ratings.
What price freedom of the press?
40 million people died of Flu in Europe over something like 2 years just after WW1...that's 55555/day...in a period in history before anyone understood personal hygene and before antiviral drugs were invented.
Where's the comparison??
A few times every century a bug comes along and knocks off a chunk of the population...this, in the Doctors professional opinion, is not one of those.
Chuck
Last edited by Chimbu chuckles; 14th Apr 2003 at 23:02.