The Media, AKA Henny-Penny of "The sky is falling" fame, are blasting us with non-stop details, mostly of pending doom, supposedly to keep us informed and safe. Cable news has it going 24/7 non stop, except for commercials - mostly from the pharmaceutical companies that will make ton's of money from the flu.
Should we really be scared? Consider this, 13,000 people in the USA have died from the good old seasonal flu since January of this year but you didn't see the 9/11 style news coverage that this swine flu outbreak is getting. As of this writing, the US has had only 91 confirmed cases. Mexico has had about 160 deaths so far from swine flu. Put that in perspective, Mexico City's population according to 2008 records was 8,836,045. 160 out of 8 million plus is a spit in the ocean and we're talking 160 out of the whole country of Mexico. I'd bet more people die of starvation in Mexico in a month than have died from this flu this month.
Anyone believing that this flu is the biggest threat they will face this week, month, or year should think about this - According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 37,313 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2008. Now that's a reason to stay home.
I found article to be be a helpful and interesting take on the current swine flu scare. I think we need to hear some common sense about this swine flu scare and get focused on what we should really know about the causes and preventions of this and other viruses:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/29/Swine-Flu.aspx
Let's be smart about this, use precautions, mostly wash our hands regularly. But we don't need to shut down our lives or get obsessed with the news coverage.
That's my point of view. What's yours?
