"The BBC's Jon Donnison in Washington says most Americans are still not sure how concerned they should be about swine flu. "
Sometimes it's hard to be an average Joe. Results must tell you than swine flu is apparently less dangerous than seasonal flu (not as bad as man flu, though. That shit is the pits). On the other hand, the papers are confidently assuring you that if you look at a pig, you will immediately burst into flame.
Stuff like this really fucks me off. Shock journalism does more than bring the media into disrepute, and highlight lazy copywriting, and upset the elderly. The distribution of false information leads to real logistical problems. It can tie up the health services, for one thing. In the case of a potential pandemic (and regardless of swine flu's lethality, anything that infectious has the potential to really fuck a community over) ANY information without official or research related confirmation deserves to be labelled as false.
This disease deserves to be treated seriously. Shock journalism doesn't treat anything seriously. Wade, I hope you wake up with the sniffles.
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