Some interesting stuff out there today:
This bird flu thing is getting scarier every day. Today I heard on the radio that O’Hare airport has set up a quarantine center for international passengers who arrive with bird-flu symptoms. It seems inevitable that will happen in the not-too-distant future. I came across a column that is both interesting and disturbing from Charles Krauthammer about the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, which killed 20-40 million people in about a year: A Flu Hope, Or Horror? Apparently that virus has been brought back into existence by scientists after being absent from the world for 80 years.
The journal Nature has a page dedicated to bird flu, with a timeline of articles over the past several years.
Finally, the news story that is neither news nor story: that the Bush administration “staged” a teleconference with troops in Iraq. Facts:
- Soldiers were not, contrary to insinuations by the mainsteam media, told what to say.
- The soldiers were given the questions that they would be asked in advance, so that they could prepare their own answers, and be comfortable giving them on television, to their Commander-in-Chief, which would be daunting for anyone.
- The media is in the business of staging things, so I’m not so sure why they are so worked-up (actually, I know perfectly well why - Bush is a Republican).
Let’s recall, shall we, a few highlights from the long and sordid history of staged media events. NBC’s Exploding SUVs. Dan Rather’s Faked documents. Reporters clinging to lightpoles during hurricanes. Ring any bells? And let us not forget our illustrious former President Clinton, whose never-ending antics the kind people at the Weekly Standard reminded us of today in their blog:
But then, spying the stones at his feet left by his advance staff to show him where his camera mark was, the President crouched down and began to arrange the stones into a cross. He gathered more stones to finish the cross, and then bent his head as though in silent prayer.
See the full posting here. This is a Clinton ClassicTM.
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60 people in the third world have died from this “pandemic.”
This is the equivelent of Killer Skin Disease and Monkey Pox. My god…what is the big deal about? I can find more than 60 people in the world who have died from West Nile, Staph Infection, how many other deadly diseases can we name here?
SIXTY PEOPLE.
I feel really bad for them and their families, but we live in a country where people inherently have better preventative care…i.e. no dirt floors, no chickens living in the space downstairs, etc.
This bird flu thing is a scare tactic and it’s both sad and ridiculous.
The real story isn’t 60 people in the world dying from bird flu…it’s thousands still suffering because of Hurricane Katrina. It’s thousands suffering because either they or their loved ones are being shipped off to war. It’s thousands who help pay the taxes of the rich while the latter get breaks based on “business need.”
A few responses to QueenBitch:
Did you read the article on the Spanish flu pandemic? That’s a lot of people killed by a genetically similar virus.
You are correct that this is not a pandemic yet, but there are real reasons to be concerned. If the media play that it is getting spurs the right people to begin working on a vaccine and other countermeasures, then it will have been well worth the time.
Look at how many people get the flu every year - very few people die from it, because it is fundamentally not a lethal virus to most people. If this thing manages to mutate so that it is as easily transmissible as the regular flu, look out. Its mortality rate is several orders of magnitude worse.
Finally, I don’t think this story is eclipsing other stories that you deem “important.” The amount of coverage devoted to Karl Rove and other nonsense is actually quite substantial.