What a pointless blog post by someone who doesn't think twice (the blogger, not you mattgup) before making comments, clearly someone who wants to have his own 'frenzy'.

And a lot of word is being done for each of these diseases. What the 'frenzy' is about is that there is now a NEW disease.

No it doesn't kill (or hasn't yet) as many people as Aids or Malaria, but that doesn't mean it's not a cause for concern.

The reason for the frenzy is because this is a very manageable disease. With the proper control and the proper response and prevention, it doesn't have to spread. That's not the case with the other diseases.

You have a valid point, however I wouldn't say his post was pointless or meaningless. Awareness about Swine Flu is important to help stop the spread, but something should be said about the absolute sensationalism with which the Media has reported this terror de jour.

But that's normal for reporting and how the media works. All those other diseases are not new, so it's not news. Yes, there should be awareness about those diseases, but it's not news.

That's why we have AIDS awareness campaigns, cancer awareness and charity campaigns, etc. etc. There's no media frenzy, because there's no news.

Sensationalism? For the most part it has been rightfully underplayed.

Most people are laughing it off and talking about how few people have been even hospitalized.

Now the swine flu of 1976 was greatly sensationalized - mainly for political and tremendous financial gain.

Of course the swine flu of 1918 which killed millions and millions of people worldwide is always on the back of people's mind.

Just this morning on the news they were saying that they might be too late with the frenzy. I don't know what the verdict is, but they assume it's already in Scotland. That obviousle came from Mexico. If they had responded more, and quicker (with media coverage) this might have been avoided. The hardest and most complicated thing in an event like this is stopping the spread.

One disadvantage of our world becomming smaller and smaller.

Underplayed by the media?

This may be true, but that is not reflected in the news. I should clarify, not every outlet is sensationalizing this news but the usual suspects are.

It is a no-win situation.

If this bout of swine flu is like the one in 1976 people will be angry that the media overplayed it.

If this strain mutates to a form similar to the one in 1918 people will be angry that the media underplayed.

Comparing the coverage to cancer, diabetes, etc is just silly and meaningless. It is apples and oranges


on another note, it didn't take long for the regular idiots to blame the republicans for the outbreak.

I am waiting for some to pick up on the fact that Tamiflu seems to be the best treatment for this version of swine flu. They will connect Rumsfield to the company that created it and that Bush had it stockpiled.

They won't credit Bush with having foresight or the dumb luck in stockpiling it. No, they will turn it into a conspiracy theory. They'll claim that Rumsfield, Bush, and probably Haliburton created this flu to make money and to attack the poor and minorities.

From what I've seen on Canadian news, this story is both sensationalised and underplayed.

The only thing on the news today is the swine flu*
but the stories are about "OH MY GAWD WE'RE GONG TO DIE THERE ARE 5 PEOPLE WITH IT IN TORONTO AND SINCE TORONTO IS THE CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE WE'RE SCREWED!!! ZOMG THERE ARE 22 PEOPLE WITH IT IN THE US!! WE'RE DOOMED!!!!"

How do I think this story is underplayed? There are no details given about the flu in Mexico, and nobody is talking about simple prevention techniques. Sure, Tamiflu is advertised, but I've yet to hear one healthcare worker interviewed who mentioned the effective and simple "washing hands" technique.

Anyway, I upvoted this story since it will hopefully remind people that there are still many deadly diseases out there such as malaria, and maybe people will realize how much easier it would be to rid Earth of them if we put as much attention on them.



*I want to hear more global news! How are things going on in Lebanon? Where's the feature story on our corner of Canada coping with over 1m (roughly 4feet for you non-metric hooligans) of snow in the last 24 hours???

Malkin definitely is an idiot (a hot idiot), but I don't think she really is blaming the GOP. I think she's actually complaining ;)

She's linking to the site that is blaming the republicans for reducing the amount of money for pandemic preparedness as if a few more dollars would have had any effect on the current situation.

Hey, Democrats are opportunists too. No it wouldn't have made a difference. They are capitalizing on the media coverage to say "I told you so" to republicans, and continue to push their agenda, but Malkin point this out is the epitome of "the pot calling the kettle black."

*edit* Oh, I forgot to mention: yes I know that's what you meant, I was being funny turning it around on Malkin.

Apparently Swine Flu is still trailing "Bullet Flu" on the list of things that can kill you in Mexico:

I agree, you can not get diabetes by infection, it is not the same. When HIV started it wasn't this big either for a long time. Now it is. This flue might be the next biggy, or not. Precautions should be important, but that seems to be the last thing the media is interested in.

I don't know how you can say that. Every mention I've seen has also mentioned handwashing as the main precaution.

By the way, the news just reported deaths in California due to swine flu. It's heeeeeere......

Themepic = awesome.