Piggish on Fear
Posted May 5th, 2009 by sean@bevx.com
in
We have nothing to fear… but everything? Is this what we have become as a society, as humans? Is this evolution, have we gone soft, is life too free of genuine struggle, are we so easily controlled? (Have I asked too many questions?)
All of my life I’ve heard that pigs are the cleverest of the farmyard population. Is this the hatching of their master plan? Probably not. Napoleon in Orwell’s Animal Farm always struck me as a live and let live sort of boar. These piggies are not to blame.
The information age has offered many blessings. Hell, I am keenly aware of this trend having launched a cyber magazine as opposed to a print publication. Paper news is in the decline and rightfully so. We left the horse and carriage behind, not too long ago in the span of man, so continued progression is to be expected and desired.
While I firmly embrace the tech age I do find myself longing for the pioneer days when I see the world sent into full panic over the reporting of a disease that by all rational examination, is rather a dud. Before you have a knee-jerk response (another symptom of our times) please be assured that I don’t take a single death lightly. On the other hand, death is part of life. I’m sure that I’m not letting you in on any secret when I say that we are all going to die. With any luck that day won’t come for many decades to come.
Influenza comes in many forms. Regardless of the form, influenza is a stubborn burden and sometimes killer that strikes every continent, every year. In the US, roughly 36,000 people die each year due to influenza-related illness; this comes to about 100 people a day. One hundred people a day – have you seen anything like this worldwide with this swine flu? This is a handy number to keep in mind when watching the daily ticker of diagnosed cases and fatalities. The unemotional observer may remark that if posed with the prospect of contracting the flu, make mine swine. It doesn’t appear to be nearly as deadly as the “regular” flu which is something that everyone over age 10 has experienced.
Perhaps the greatest problem is the 24-hour news cycle. This industry has been the cause of many of modern man’s maladies but that doesn’t absolve us. We can switch it off or better yet, we can use our given common sense and ask some pretty simple questions. The news industry, like any other, has products to sell. In decades past the news was delivered daily and it was primarily an account of the previous day’s events. Quite valuable to those too busy working and living their lives to be everywhere and witness everything firsthand. The news has always had a “top-shelf” product; fear. Fear is extremely valuable to the modern 24-hour news outlets. Fear keeps people glued to their TV sets and raises the value of the news commodity. In short, the media sells fear. We have the option to pass but sadly we often don’t.
This past week was a master’s course in this theory. You see, the past week I have been in Mexico – the epicenter of the supposed swine flu pandemic. Each day I would read the news stories available online and for as long as I could take, I watched CNN Headline News. After watching the TV news for a few minutes I was made to believe that people where dropping in the streets. I looked outside and saw smiling faces and healthy mortals enjoying the day. I turned back to the TV and was treated to a parade of “experts” that speculated on how the virus would multiply. Outside, all was still upbeat. It became like watching a tennis match. Window – TV – window – TV and so on until the TV off switch was struck and the real world outside remained. Outside the commodity was life. On TV, the commodity was fear. I bought life. The price was right and it was free of the pesky buyer’s remorse.
Sadly, there was more to the reality outside my window in the various bars, restaurants, and shops I visited. The very real, very tangible, and presented with 100% probability is that many of the people I interacted with in the preceding week will be out of jobs soon. Most of the charter holiday companies in the US and Europe have suspended their business in Mexico for the coming weeks. The small Riviera Maya town of Playa del Carmen, where I now sit, has seen a steady outflow of visitors with no incoming passengers to take their place. Day by day the streets, shops, and restaurants became more sparsely populated. Reservations have trickled to a near stop and as most businesses here are independently-owned, staff is being cut and many entrepreneurs who risked their life savings to pursue their dream may find themselves holding an empty bag in a few weeks. Real enough for you? It is for me, to be sure.
Today, as this is being published and read I will be questioned and diagnosed before being allowed entry in to the country that I call home. Perhaps we should all have a bit of self-examination and ask ourselves how we have allowed external entities to control our fears and emotions so deeply, or maybe I’m just feverish. (I’ll put my soap box away for now.)
All of my life I’ve heard that pigs are the cleverest of the farmyard population. Is this the hatching of their master plan? Probably not. Napoleon in Orwell’s Animal Farm always struck me as a live and let live sort of boar. These piggies are not to blame.
The information age has offered many blessings. Hell, I am keenly aware of this trend having launched a cyber magazine as opposed to a print publication. Paper news is in the decline and rightfully so. We left the horse and carriage behind, not too long ago in the span of man, so continued progression is to be expected and desired.
While I firmly embrace the tech age I do find myself longing for the pioneer days when I see the world sent into full panic over the reporting of a disease that by all rational examination, is rather a dud. Before you have a knee-jerk response (another symptom of our times) please be assured that I don’t take a single death lightly. On the other hand, death is part of life. I’m sure that I’m not letting you in on any secret when I say that we are all going to die. With any luck that day won’t come for many decades to come.
Influenza comes in many forms. Regardless of the form, influenza is a stubborn burden and sometimes killer that strikes every continent, every year. In the US, roughly 36,000 people die each year due to influenza-related illness; this comes to about 100 people a day. One hundred people a day – have you seen anything like this worldwide with this swine flu? This is a handy number to keep in mind when watching the daily ticker of diagnosed cases and fatalities. The unemotional observer may remark that if posed with the prospect of contracting the flu, make mine swine. It doesn’t appear to be nearly as deadly as the “regular” flu which is something that everyone over age 10 has experienced.
Perhaps the greatest problem is the 24-hour news cycle. This industry has been the cause of many of modern man’s maladies but that doesn’t absolve us. We can switch it off or better yet, we can use our given common sense and ask some pretty simple questions. The news industry, like any other, has products to sell. In decades past the news was delivered daily and it was primarily an account of the previous day’s events. Quite valuable to those too busy working and living their lives to be everywhere and witness everything firsthand. The news has always had a “top-shelf” product; fear. Fear is extremely valuable to the modern 24-hour news outlets. Fear keeps people glued to their TV sets and raises the value of the news commodity. In short, the media sells fear. We have the option to pass but sadly we often don’t.This past week was a master’s course in this theory. You see, the past week I have been in Mexico – the epicenter of the supposed swine flu pandemic. Each day I would read the news stories available online and for as long as I could take, I watched CNN Headline News. After watching the TV news for a few minutes I was made to believe that people where dropping in the streets. I looked outside and saw smiling faces and healthy mortals enjoying the day. I turned back to the TV and was treated to a parade of “experts” that speculated on how the virus would multiply. Outside, all was still upbeat. It became like watching a tennis match. Window – TV – window – TV and so on until the TV off switch was struck and the real world outside remained. Outside the commodity was life. On TV, the commodity was fear. I bought life. The price was right and it was free of the pesky buyer’s remorse.
Sadly, there was more to the reality outside my window in the various bars, restaurants, and shops I visited. The very real, very tangible, and presented with 100% probability is that many of the people I interacted with in the preceding week will be out of jobs soon. Most of the charter holiday companies in the US and Europe have suspended their business in Mexico for the coming weeks. The small Riviera Maya town of Playa del Carmen, where I now sit, has seen a steady outflow of visitors with no incoming passengers to take their place. Day by day the streets, shops, and restaurants became more sparsely populated. Reservations have trickled to a near stop and as most businesses here are independently-owned, staff is being cut and many entrepreneurs who risked their life savings to pursue their dream may find themselves holding an empty bag in a few weeks. Real enough for you? It is for me, to be sure.
Today, as this is being published and read I will be questioned and diagnosed before being allowed entry in to the country that I call home. Perhaps we should all have a bit of self-examination and ask ourselves how we have allowed external entities to control our fears and emotions so deeply, or maybe I’m just feverish. (I’ll put my soap box away for now.)
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