Media overblowing threat of swine flu
(Last updated: 11/02/09 7:34pm)As fall turns into winter, people prepare to get sick. For most of us, we either have had, or will encounter, some kind of illness.
Eric Thieleman
In the end, all that happens is a few days of feeling bad and perhaps having to make up an assignment we missed when we didn’t go to class that one day, not because, let’s face it, we couldn’t, but because we would rather not.
However, this year is unlike any flu season we have encountered, because it’s not just a normal flu season. This year we have to deal with the dreaded “swine flu.”
Now before you get yourself worked up and scared to touch anything or be around people for the rest of the day, read this: Swine flu is not that bad.
I know I just contradicted everything you have read and heard in the news, but that is because the news needs to over-cover and sensationalize things to keep you glued.
Now, if you were made to believe you will die if you get swine flu, you would be more attentive to the news on the subject. The fact is that the media is a business. News organizations thrive on people watching, reading and listening to the information they produce. Therefore, they need to keep you continuously returning to get updates on the information you saw before or find new things to keep your attention.
By blowing up this flu to be a deadly pandemic, they scare the public into wearing ridiculous surgical masks and avoiding other people altogether. All this to prevent the flu.
Why don’t we do this every year? The flu is the flu. Putting “swine” or “bird” in front of it is not going to make it any worse.
It is true that there have been deaths because of swine flu. There are deaths every year because of the flu. Those deaths are in the elderly and the very young age groups, not the mid-age people who are the majority of those buying into this hysteria.
This past weekend I was walking into Meijer when I witnessed a family of four — a father, mother and two kids around 13 — all wearing surgical masks. I was floored. I would have asked them why they were wearing the masks, but someone beat me to it.
The woman who works as a greeter for Meijer asked if they were ready for the swine flu and the mother nodded and continued to walk out. After regaining my composure and laughing at this sight, I realized how ridiculous this hysteria has become.
The media has gotten into people’s heads. No matter what media source you use, you will find stories about swine flu.
Like the average seasonal flu, 36,000 people will die from complications from the flu and 90 percent of those will be older than age 65. Just like the regular flu, preexisting respiratory conditions will be the cause of most deaths. The rest will be caused by pneumonia in the elderly due to long periods of inactivity in the hospital.
The swine flu is no different in the effects it will have on the public as a whole. That effect is a pain in the ass. That’s all. It will cause some to be hospitalized, but no more than the seasonal flu. Yet we run around as if it will kill half of us.
The media and government are using this to distract us while the government slowly strips us of our rights and liberties. Sure, call it a crackpot theory, but it is not just the swine flu.
The media often drowns us with coverage of the same exact things for weeks. For example, the death of Michael Jackson. I need not go further into saying the media over-covered and shoved this down our throats so much so that I honestly do not like Michael Jackson anymore. Every time I hear a Michael Jackson song I cringe and think of the countless hours of coverage to assure us over and over that he was in fact dead and that he was a big star.
The purpose of this column is not to knock you as an individual for your concern about swine flu, it is to show you how the media can take something and make it into a much bigger issue than it is. The drive for ratings and attention causes them to sensationalize everything to keep you chained.
For our own sake, let’s keep things in perspective. Do not let the media guide your mind.
Eric Thieleman is a State News guest columnist and political science senior. Reach him at thielem4@msu.edu.
Originally Published: 11/02/09 7:34pm
Huh
11/02/09 9:23pmFor once, you have written something I can agree with. Congratulations!
But I’m a slimy bastard, and cannot resist: why don’t you apply the same deductive reasoning to what you hear from FOX “News”?
Tom
11/02/09 9:32pmFinally, some rational commentary on this topic. Thanks.
Kristin
11/03/09 12:16amYou’re right… We shouldn’t be listening to the media and their tendency to toss around made-up statistics just to get people’s attention.
“Like the average seasonal flu…90 percent of those [who die] will be older than age 65.” Uh huh… Clearly you believe that the CDC is just another media organization that is throwing around meaningless data as a scare tactic.
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OldTimer
11/03/09 1:19amThe two big worries are fast mutation and zero immunity.
The last close relative of this flu came by around 50 years ago. Notably, our grey-haired elders mostly got that flu, and their immune systems mostly remember. Could this help explain their lower death rate? You, on the other hand, have never met any version of this bug.
Fortunately, it’s not too bad at this point.
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Bleed Green
11/03/09 1:58amWell said, old timer.
Myself, I’m glad to see people are generally concerned about their health. That people are trying to keep up their immune systems, are more conscious of hand-washing, and are actually staying home when they’re sick are all positives, pandemic or no. These are things that should happen anyway, but it took something like the threat of H1N1 to get people really doing these things consistently.
Do people sometimes overreact? Is the media guilty of sensationalizing nearly everything? Yes and yes, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be aware and shouldn’t keep up with these positive steps.
Retract This
11/03/09 2:13amThe State News should be ashamed to allow such utter falsehoods to be published. The severity of H1N1 (Nobody who seriously discusses the issue calls it Swine Flu) is not an opinion piece that is to be debated. Dealing with it is a mixture of scientific and medical knowledge and known effective public health policy decisions.
Yes, the media has overreacted; however, it is even more dangerous to pretend it is not a serious issue because of overblown media coverage.
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overreactions are to be expected
11/03/09 11:53amSure, almost 3,000 people have died of the flu this year. But 36,000 die every year, so we really aren’t out of the ordinary. People just need to chill. All this hysteria will do nothing but make things worse by convincing people to go to the hospitals when they don’t need to, both using up limited medical resources and exposing themselves to other infections while in the hospital. Way to go, Eric, just don’t be surprised when all the over-reactors get all upset with you. It’s what they do.
MSU31
11/03/09 2:45pmYou had the chance to write a valid article about people overreacting to H1N1, but instead opted to spout uninformed dribble and then fail to back anything up.
“In the end, all that happens is a few days of feeling bad and perhaps having to make up an assignment we missed when we didnât go to class that one day, not because, letâs face it, we couldnât, but because we would rather not.”
Poor English aside, this is incredibly ignorant.
First of all, not everyone has mild symptoms.
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H1N1
11/04/09 11:40amI’m here baby and will be coming to a dorm room near you soon! Look out Eric…
Andy
11/04/09 1:47pmBut…you ARE the media…how am I supposed to believe what you are saying?!?
Tiffany
11/04/09 4:17pmYou are sooooo right. Governmental hoax to step aside from the lack of action being taken on the health care bill…
Who knew, ‘Wag the Dog’ was right… Thank you Business Ethics MGT 409.
Pork Lobby
11/05/09 2:36pmYou call it H1N1 because we spent lots of money to get the government to stop calling it swine flu because our sales were going down because people thought they could get it from eating pork. You see how the system works.
SevenOne
11/07/09 1:55amSo an uninformed opinion piece on the severity of H1N1 suddenly turns into an anti-government conspiracy theory rant?
What is this guy smoking? Putting swine or avian in front of the flu DOES make it worse because most humans will have no immunity to it.
Perhaps we should bring in a doctor to write opinion pieces on this. You know, someone that is actually educated on the subject?
Michael J Crasto
11/07/09 7:09amView full comment »