Sunday, May 03, 2009

Swine flu, climate change, terrorism: we're living in a culture of fear - Telegraph

I liked this article by Bryony Gordon in the Telegraph...so true. Malaria is killing thousands of people a day and yet there seems to be relatively little world concern about that. When these schools close because of a suspected case all the kids go to the mall...how is that helping?

Swine flu, climate change, terrorism: we're living in a culture of fear - Telegraph

'A secondary school in a seaside town…' said the news reporter morbidly. 'A mutant flu virus from another continent…'

I peered at my set-top box and checked that it hadn't over-heated and switched itself from Sky News to Sky Movies. It had not. I scratched my head for a moment. And then I realised that my life – our lives – had begun to resemble an especially crummy B-movie, complete with killer pigs, and that we were all probably doomed.

If the swine flu doesn't get us, it'll be the collapse of the economy. Should we survive that, an ice cap will most likely melt on our heads, and if that doesn't happen, there's always a terrorist happy to blow you up. I feel sorry for anyone who remains alive afterwards: think you're safe? Fool! You're going to starve to death due to a food shortage."