Yep, I just threw the flag on it.
A recent news search on google.com showed me that there are a grand spanking total of *ZERO* deaths attributed to Swine Flu in the United States.
Zero.
And there's an estimated 103 in Mexico, a place where merely drinking the water can under the right (or wrong) circumstances make your guts stop working properly.
Oh no, woe is us!
The real problem is the mass media, turning this metaphorical mole hill into a mountain, and then telling everyone there's an avalanche in progress.
I'm sick and tired of the media blowing unimportant things out of proportion.
Why aren't we hearing more about the civil rights violations of students or photographers? We occasionally hear about the initial incident, but rarely the aftermath or resolution.
What am I talking about? Cases like:
1) http://www.aclu.org/studentsrights/privacy/12877prs20000815.html
2) http://articles.latimes.com/2002/may/01/local/me-thong1
And for a mere sampling of the long list of incidents involving photographers:
3) http://www.carlosmiller.com
I'm not ancient and I'm not naive, but I can and do remember a time when the media actually spent (at least some) time reporting on stories of corruption and wrong doing, bringing the dirty truth into the light, while it's kicking and and screaming. I think they called it "investigative journalism." And I'm pretty sure that the current trend should be referred to as, "lazy ass sensationalism."
Granted I can only speak for myself, but I'm tired of it, and I know they can do better.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
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First death reported this morning in Texas, a 23 month old. No doubt this will cause deaths, just as the regular flu does each year. No one ever seems to report that 13,000 people in the U.S. have died from the regular flu since January, or that 36,000 in the U.S. die each year...all from the regular flu.
ReplyDeleteThat's part of my point. Why are people flipping out over something that's killed less than 120 people when we already have a consistant "killer" on the loose.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.smh.com.au/world/only-7-swine-flu-deaths-not-152-says-who-20090429-aml1.html
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, far more media attention than needed. There are more important things in the world than the flu.
Hmm, part of the URL got chopped off.
ReplyDeleteThe rest is: who-20090429-aml1.html
Here's a tinyurl version: http://tinyurl.com/cy3kup