For those of you who aren’t in the mood to hear someone complain, stop reading now. This post is going to be a bit of a rant.
I’m sick and tired of the news blowing everything out of proportion. Everything is “breaking news” or fear or hype. The facts don’t seem to matter anymore…or at least only half of the facts matter. I guess if you make a big enough deal about something or talk about it long enough, however small it is, it becomes important. It seems that the news only reports what it wants to or at least a slightly twisted version of the facts.
I know this is hardly “breaking news” to any of you. This isn’t even a political rant about the liberal media…in fact, most of this rant is about Fox News although the rest of them are just as guilty. I guess when you have to fill the airwaves with news 24 hours a day, you HAVE to blow things out of proportion to create enough material. That’s right, I’m saying these channels “create” the news.
This brings me to the whole swine flu nonsense. Ok, I’m not necessarily saying that the swine flu is nonsense…but how it’s being portrayed is utter foolishness. If you turn on the news you’ll see things like a global map with the entire continent of North America in red…or you’ll see a map of the United States with half of the states colored in with swine flu. Next, they’ll flash a graphic up that reads: WHO (World Health Organization) Confirms Swine Flu Pandemic Imminent. Or, New York City Mayor States Thousands Likely Infected. Why do they subject us to such nonsense?
Don’t get me wrong, swine flu has (and can be) very dangerous. However, if you watch the news you would be led to believe that half the population of the world is going to die from swine flu tomorrow. They can’t even get the numbers right! Let me give you some real facts straight from the WHO website today – as confirmed by the U.S.A. and Mexican governments:
U.S.A. - Confirmed cases: 109, Deaths: 1
Mexico – Confirmed cases: 97, Deaths: 7
Hmm…let’s see. There are approximately 300 million people in the United States and 110 million people in Mexico. By my calculations that’s an infection rate of 0.000036% and 0.000088% respectively. But I thought I heard hundreds and hundreds of people had died from this already? The 1 death in the United States was a child. Did you know that according to the CDC website, there have already been 55 reported pediatric deaths this flu season (2008-2009) alone from the NORMAL flu? Rubbish – absolute rubbish!
Perhaps the more disturbing point I have to make is that people actually believe this garbage. Are people really that stupid or lazy? Are people’s lives really that boring/shallow that they want to believe – that they want drama created for them? Do their ears hear what they want to hear? Seriously, wake up people. I’m not trying to downplay anything, just highlight the utter garbage (and lies, if you want to go that far) that you will see on the news – Fox included. The swine flu is just one small example of what I am subjected to everyday at lunch in the gym when I forget my headphones. It always goes to the extreme – to the worst case scenario. It’s just like Chicken Little telling you the sky is falling. Whatever.
So, I suggest you tune out as I have…unless you like to listen to BS and 100% negativity. It really does affect you, your outlook, and even your faith if you let it get that far. At the very least, know that what you hear or read probably isn’t entirely true…so if you don’t want to stop watching, then just sit back and enjoy the spectacle called “news” that’s rotting your brain.
What? A bus hit a light pole thousands and thousands of miles away in Philadelphia (actual post-swine flu story news)? Yes! Now THAT’S news!