WHO (world health organisation) has declared influenza A(H1N1) commonly known as Swine Flu, to be a pandemic,the first in last 41 years.The media seems to be on a flu alarm.And the figures keep coming in. Over 27,000 people infected reportdly from 74 natons,16 cases confomed till now in India and also 141 people succumb to the flu worldwide.Hong Kong kindrgarten primary school shut down and some countries even thinking of imposing ristrictions on travel.as per WHO fears that one third of world population could be infected in the short span of a year.
This scary picture has surfaced thanks to the comptition between bad news and worse news to grab the attention of the public.Any news paper,news magzine or TV news channel serves up huge servings of bad news.
No sooner does one move his eyes away fron swine flu you hear about another Indian getting bashed up in Australia or Canada.Even though you ae not in any of these countries still its soo frightful.But it seems better than being blown up in mid air in a plane like the Air France accident.Its chilling, Curry bashing in Australia/Canada,blowing up in mid air or geting the swine flu,its probably better not to travel and stay back home.
But how safe is home?Every other day news reports show people getting robbed, and murdered,in many cases by domestic help.You may decide even to remove the maid and get a dishwasher instead and order pizza for food.But then pizza contains lots of unhealthy calories and do you know urban Indians are part of the biggest group at risk for obesity, heart disease and diabetes?
So then no pizza go for a walk instead to get some exercise to the nearest park only to be bitten by mosquitos.And then you get news that some mosquitos have developed immunity to all forms of available antimalarial remedies.
Now you just want to go to work and not think about any of this but how long do you have a job?The news tells you there are millions of Americans without jobs and you may be next in line to loose yours.Outsoursing may be stopped to Bangalore, the fiscal deficit is seemingly out of control and exports have dipped sharply.
Riots are happening again in Srinagar,India is one of the most corrupt countries, tigers are disapperaing ,Himalayan glaciers are melting away and their rivers will dry up by 2030 leading to draught and famine But before all this the Taliban my take control of the Pakistani nukes and blow us all away.
A very gloomy story of nothing but doom.It sure is a miracle that the earth has managed to survive for some 4 and a half billion years.
So is it ok to be bothered by the swine flu pandemic , is the question. But the actual pandemic is closer to home than any thing else and much more widespread.
Its nothing but the pandemic of NEWS.Neveending exploitative Worry Syndrome.