I’m getting sick and tired of newshows that predict certain death in the near future for hundred’s of thousands or millions. Last night, me and my wife were watching Primetime and they had a segment on a new strain of bird flu. They were comparing this flu to the flu of 1918 that would be very virulent and fatal. Furthermore, they said there is no vaccine and that the only treatment, Tamiflu, is in extremely limited doses in the US. Conservative estimates of death in the US 200000+ according to the show. And it could all happen this winter. :eek:
Now the show didn’t offer any solutions to the problem or what the average person could do in the event that a killer flu was to strike to protect themselves, other than apparently raiding the closest hospital for any Tamiflu. The only thing it accomplished was scaring the begebbers out of my wife.
So screw you Primetime for giving my wife a panic attack. Now we’ll have to move out in to the desert, in an underground bunker, away from any potential contact with any people.
Is it a sweeps month? I love sweeps months because of the local news promos. “YOU HAVE A DEADLY KILLER IN YOUR KITCHEN! We’ll tell you what it is at 10”
Thanks for the tip, I’m going to get my doctor to prescribe me some o’ that Tamilflu!
[QUOTE=August West]
Is it a sweeps month? I love sweeps months because of the local news promos. “YOU HAVE A DEADLY KILLER IN YOUR KITCHEN! We’ll tell you what it is at 10”
[\QUOTE]
Holy crap!!! Hope you survived long enough to find out what it was.
The warnings come from the WHO. It has been commented here too, and this bird flu story has been a news item for some time (And the risk mentionned for a long time) . My (rather serious) newspaper had a rather long article on this issue some days ago.
The newshow is just doing its job by commenting on actual news. You should rather complain to the WHO.
Then you look out your window and it’s chirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirp "
Actually, it’s scary and amusing how sadly relevant Bill Hicks’ routines are considering he died in '93. His stuff about Iraq and George Bush juxtapose perfectly :(.
You’re missing something about the culture of the U.S. Our news shows take great pleasure in reporting anything with any possible danger as the next end of the world. Now this may have been a perfectly respectable and accurate job of reporting, but if so, it was an exception in this country.
The lab is now saying they thing the missing mice were eaten by the other, now all dead, mice.
Yummy breakfast news!
After the piece the anchorblonde was sure to mention-- twice-- that the lab believes IT WASN’T TERRORISTS! In case you didn’t hear it, let me repeat:
TERRORISTS DID[SIZE=1]n’t STEAL THE BUBONIC MICE IN AN EFFORT TO KILL US ALL[/SIZE]
It’s not the substance of the story that I pit. The risk of a pandemic is something that should be prepared for and is a serious matter. What I pit is the way it was handled. The primetime show did nothing to help the situation. The only thing I could see that it accomplished was to educate that Tamiflu is our only defense, lay blame at the Bush administration for not buying more Tamiflu - admittedly bad policy in my book but still nothing of a solution, and tell us that there is no vaccine.
The segment also made it sound like the pandemic flu is already in progress and by this winter will be killing thousands of people in the US and a billion worldwide.
If they’d leave off the scare tactics and quit panicing my wife (and I’m sure untold 1000’s of others) it would make a good story. But as is, it does little more than foster a mass panic/anxiety reaction.
