Not sure if this should be here in IMHO or in Cafe Society, but will start here and let the Mods move if they feel CS is more appropriate.
This SARS epidemic is reminding me of the how the Super Flu got started in The Stand by Stephen King. Firstly, I don’t think we’re being given all the information about it and how it got started–the most that has been said so far is that the virus is in the same family as the cold virus. Could it be that someone working on biological weapons somewhere in China might have accidentally gotten infected–which is very similar to what happened in the King novel, except that was a facility in the US! Mind you, that is just a WAT on my part, and very much influenced by the fact that The Stand is my favorite SK novel. LOL And perhaps just a bit of paranoia thrown in for good measure. After hearing that there was a possible case in Baltimore, from a woman who had ridden the bus down from NYC, I must admit to not wanting to go through the Baltimore bus depot, which I would have to do this weekend, and now am considering taking the train to avoid having to go there! The train being more than twice as expensive.
Anyone else think of this comparison, or am I by my lonesome?
I like The Stand too, but I think you’re going way, way overboard, my friend. See, the thing about Captain Trips is that is was really, really good at killing people. And SARS - media hype to the contrary - isn’t. I’m gonna go out on a limb here, and say you probably aren’t elderly or immunosupressed. Which means that even if you got SARS, it almost certainly wouldn’t kill you. You’d be sick. Big deal.
Further - remember Occam’s Razor, the simplest explanation will tend to be the correct one. We know viruses mutate all the time in nature - the simplest explanation is that this virus simply and naturally mutated in an interesting way. No reason to invoke a more complex explanation (biowarfare) when a simpler one fits the facts just as well.
I’d thought of the comparison several times already, actually. Tis true, I’m not elderly (not quite yet, that is!) nor am I immunosuppressed, but still, the media hype does make one think SARS is much more deadly than it probably is. I’ve had a pneumonia shot, though, so guess that I’m covered in that possibility. :eek:
Mr. Excellent, I guess I’ll see you on the streets of Las Vegas. From the tumbrel, of course. Never mind, I’m sure Mother Abagail will protect me.
Seriously, yes, I have thought the same thing many times. Tarragon, for what it’s worth, we’re not panicking in Toronto, and many things are continuing on as they normally do. From what I’ve read in King’s novel (and I’ve read it a few times), Captain Trips works just too darn fast. If SARS was Captain Trips, we’d all be dead now. As it is, we’re going to work, eating out, enjoying spring, washing our hands a lot … you know.
But the important things is that we’re not allowing it to panic us. We know about it and we know how to avoid it as best we can. And I have had neither dreams about Mother Abagail nor Randall Flagg.
I have had dreams about angry clients who want their work immediately, but that’s another story.
I’ve had this dream about a cornfield, but I am pretty sure it’s not related.
Actually, I have a bit of the opposite reaction to the media coverage that some have mentioned in this thread…
I think it’s nothing more than a very serious flu bug with a catchy name. Many other flu bugs have gotten overkill press coverage too.
But I will be honest, when the story first broke, I don’t know if Cpt. Trips was the first thing I thought of, but it was in the top three.
Yeah, I thought of Captain Trips almost right away. Of course, as weeks wore on, and things didn’t start getting “flaky around the edges”, as SK himself is so fond of saying, I kinda forgot about it. Then, when I got a kidney stone attack a couple of weeks ago, I became much more concerned about medical science and kidney stones than SARS!
BTW, The Stand is one of my favorite SK novels, too!
Captain Tripps is a cominbation of SARS & AIDS–an air borne illness that will kill you. It’s only a matter of time until someone developes this, and/or AIDS mutates to an air born virus and/or SARS mutates into a 100% fatal disease.
See, the thing about Captain Trips is that is was really, really good at killing people. And SARS - media hype to the contrary - isn’t. I’m gonna go out on a limb here, and say you probably aren’t elderly or immunosupressed. Which means that even if you got SARS, it almost certainly wouldn’t kill you. You’d be sick. Big deal.