I'm trying hard to figure out the hysteria, yes, hysteria, over swine flu.
36,000 people in this country alone, give or take a couple thousand, die each season from flu, and it never even causes a ripple in the headlines. Roughly 650,000 people in this country die of heart disease each year, give or take 10,000.
Roughly ten children between the ages of 1 and 4 die every day from homicide and accidents in this country alone.
Yet swine flu, which has claimed one toddler's life in this country (a toddler who had "other complicating health problems") causes hysterical panic. Schools are closed. Vacations are cancelled. But mostly, an entire people, Mexicans, are vilified.
I think we are a people in search of a panic. We seem to need to feed our fears each day: the economy, the threat of terror, and now, the flu.
According to our very own torture-mongering CIA, the infant mortality rate projections for Mexico this year are 18.42 deaths/1,000 live births. For the good old US of A ? 6.26 deaths/1,000 live births.
Oh, and 89 people in this country die every single day of the year from homicide or suicide with guns.
Now there's a statistic I can get hysterical about.
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1 comment:
I think so much of it is the media hype and the words they are choosing to use with the bold headlines. You are right. It's as if it is one more dire predicament to bemoan, when each and every day, so many people leave us for very preventable reasons.
Hugs to you today. :c)
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