It's Tea Time

Is anyone else tired of media scare tactics? Who's buying this crap anyway. Apparently if you throw an animal name in front of the word "flu" people flip a shit.

Here's the thing though: Swine Flu is essentially normal flu with a cherry on top (the name). The same people who have to be concerned about "regular" flu should be wary of this one, namely the very old and very young. That's it. No panic necessary.

At least with the bird flu there was a genuine fear. Mortality rates at points were recorded at 90-100%. Look, if you have a one in ten chance of surviving an infection regardless of your age and physical health, that's scary. That deserves to be monitored. However, when you have a lot of other really important things going on in the world, like I dunno, the Taliban pushing towards Islamabad or the global economy fighting it's own bout of the flu, let's not report this bologna 24/7.

They should have called it Babe Flu. That name alone might have helped to assuage the number of jack asses who will be visiting the hospital with a runny nose. As if we don't have enough problems with hospitals not being able to afford the hypochondria incarnate that is the good old US of A.

"But I was here first! So what if he's holding his own severed fingers, I have a mild cough and some sniffles, SAVE ME."

edit: OK, this flu variant does have some troubling aspects to it. The one that got me the most is who it's been killing (young, healthy folks), not so much because I fall in that category, but more because it represents a significant difference in the function of the flu itself. In other words, we're all gonna die. Get a good book, some bottled water, some Tostitos and get your ass in the closet.