Swine Flu Madness – Make Your Own Choice
I’ve been wanting to write about the swine flu before my entire family got it two weeks ago. You see, there’s lots of misinformation about the H1N1 vaccine that’s being thrown out there. And it seems that more than half the people I know have some pretty wild theories about the vaccine. None of which are based in fact, but that’s not surprising as the vaccine discussion has taken on a tone not of public safety, but rather a political one.
Pundits are not your friends
Yes, the talking heads on both the extreme right and oddly enough, some on the extreme left, are out there spreading fear. The extreme right thinks the swine flu is a secret plan by the Obama administration to somehow inject something into your body which will, I don’t know, make you liberal?
Truth is, the extreme right wingers don’t like anything which comes from this administration. If tomorrow, President Obama announced that all Americans have been given the gift of immortality by some alien race, Rush and his ilk would be playing clips of “To Serve Man” and warning you that immortality is somehow a sure path to communism while Lou Dobbs would ask “just what kinda dirty aliens are they?”
On the other side, you have the extreme left wingers, who don’t trust the government with anything, even when their guy is in the White House! They’re also out there questioning the validity of the vaccine and spouting some weird conspiracy theories, some of which seem influenced by a bit too much partying.
And while it’s usually fun to watch the political machinations of the Right v. Left and how the misinformation trickles down to the misinformed, who clench their talk show deities’ rhetoric as their own; this time it’s not so fun. You see, this illness is real.
As in can kill you real.
The REAL dangers of the swine flu
Too many extremists in the media are manipulating a health care issue to advance their own causes. They either don’t think about or don’t care about how the crazy things they are saying actually influence the average person’s decision making.
Let’s use Joe as an example. Joe isn’t a political guy. He votes sometimes, but for the most part, he doesn’t listen to the rhetoric from the right or the left. It’s all he can do to work and support his family.
While Joe doesn’t pay much attention to the left and right media, many of his friends and his family are. And they’ve been talking about this swine flu virus. They’ve been telling him horror stories they heard on TV, radio or read on the web.
Even though Joe doesn’t put a whole lot of stock into what someone like Glenn Beck says, Joe does put stock into what his family and friends say. Joe begins to suspect that maybe all the people opposed to the vaccine are onto something. He’s not sure, but there’s enough doubt (or fear) in his mind to keep him from acting.
Not acting, of course, is acting. He’s making a choice not to get the vaccine.
He then persuades the rest of his family not to get the vaccines. Maybe Joe doesn’t get sick. Or maybe he gets sick and dies. The point is, Joe was indirectly persuaded by politics to not get vaccinated.
Should you get the vaccine?
I’m not telling you to go out and get the vaccine – that’s your choice. I’m simply saying to recognize that some of the people who claim to have your interests in mind, do not. They don’t know you. They don’t care about you. Much of what the talking heads say is either to cause dissension or to play to their audiences’ fears and prejudices and drive ratings (and earnings) up.
All they care about is propagating their political and financial causes. They should be ashamed of themselves and the unknown damage they are wreaking.
Educate yourself on the vaccine and make your own decision. Don’t take your medical advice from pundits – or overweight daddy bloggers. Consult someone who actually knows something about the issue – like your family doctor.
Question: Have you gotten the vaccine? How much of your decision is based on what you’ve heard in the media?
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24 Responses to “Swine Flu Madness – Make Your Own Choice”
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Great post!
Too often this debate splits people into political camps, when science shows that, yes, human beings are susceptible to a lot of nasty bugs, just like nearly every life form on this planet.
As always, facts beat fear in analyzing the swine flu debate. Consider the sources of your information.
Great job, Mr. Wright!
At some point very soon I plan to rant on my blog about “Dr”. Jenny McCarthy and all the pseudo-experts who think vaccines are causing autism and global warming and the Giants to lose to the Eagles.
Is someone is worried about the swine flu vaccine I suggest talking to your doctor, who has no political agenda and doesn’t make dime one off of vaccinating you. He/she will ultimately say “get it.”
David´s last blog ..“Upselling” and “Suggestive Selling”
I’m interested in reading your rant against Dr. Jenny. My oldest son has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum. It makes me sad and angry how much fear-mongering and taking advantage of scared people is going on in the autism world.
I am a strong advocate of teaching parents and pediatricians and others involved in the care of young children the warning signs of autism, because early intervention is so important. However, I also think it’s important that people know that a large part of the huge increase in the number of reported cases is better diagnosis and diagnosis of milder forms of the disorder like my son has.
It’s not fun to be a parent with a kid on the spectrum that went on to fully vaccinate her subsequent children. I do understand that parents who choose not to vaccinate feel that they are doing the right thing for their children, I just don’t appreciate the sheeple type comments lobbed at those of us who choose to vaccinate because we strongly believe it’s the right thing to do for our children. I’ve no idea if vaccination can trigger certain cases of autism, but I do know that children have been made blind, deaf, mentally retarded, sterile and have died from the diseases vaccinations help prevent.
Tracy´s last blog ..Scary Products Contest Winners
For the record, that’s the other Dave who has a rent against “Dr. Jenny.”
Good blog. It’s not so politicised here in Australia, but we have our own loonies. Get the vaccine! The 1918 flu killed 20,000,000 people, we don’t want this one to have the chance to mutate.
Deb´s last blog ..Fridge Magnets Are Fun
You wanna talk about Hype?
At work, we have a “Pandemic Planning Committee”. One of the managers (who I suspect has zero medical background) has been made “Pandemic Planning Officer”.
Managers have to take mandatory “pandemic awareness training”. (Which is a 15 minute video telling you not to sneeze at people).
But they will NOT be giving out flu shots at the Factory. They suggest we look up the provincial websites to find public injection sites.
They didn’t provide us the links, though. (Apparently to lazy and/or stupid to do so…I’m betting on the latter).
But at least they’ve given out hundreds of “information kits”. Envelopes with instructions on how to stay home if you’re sick, and we each got our own DIGITAL THERMOMETER. (Oooh, ahhh).
Of course, we work in a Nukular Facility, where due to potential contamination, there are some areas you’re not supposed to put food are anything in your mouth.
Which makes you wonder what we’re supposed to do with the thermometers.
Are they trying to tell us something?
No, I haven’t gotten the shot. However, I will, as soon as it becomes available.
I guess this is another one of those controversies I haven’t heard much about, since I don’t watch much TV — and certainly don’t in to the political hype shows on the radio or TV.
Mike Goad´s last blog ..Finally dry!!! and NEW pictures
Bravo David! I love these types of posts!
I didn’t think I needed to get the vaccination because I am not high risk. I’ve been to the Drs twice in the last month and my Dr has not mentioned me getting the vaccination either. I go back to the Dr in a couple of weeks and will ask her then.
You hit the nail on the head with the headline–Fear Everything. It is so difficult these days to get sane information about lots of things because of the Fear Factor (and not the TV show). It’s insane.
I got the vaccine because I don’t want to get the flu. I don’t believe most vaccines are harmful or a socialist plot to kill us all.
I don’t watch mainstream news any more because of the mass hysteria they try to generate, Bubble Boy being the last good example.
The voice of reason. Very smart post Blogger Dad!
Great post.
I’m not one of those that are terrified of the Swine Flu. I hate how the media has been working the public up into a frenzy about it.
Here in Canada, they’ve started vaccinating high risk groups first. And guess what? They ran out of the vaccine. Figures.
Will I be getting vaccinated? Probably. *IF* the vaccine comes out in time. Why am I making this choice? Not because I’m afraid I’m going to die…but simply because I can’t afford to be sick. Hopefully this will provide me with some protection against that.
MommaSunshine´s last blog ..Rough Night
Jason – Thanks, glad you liked it.
David – Yeah, I know the first place I go when seeking health advice is to actors and actresses. I’d be more convinced if Zach Braff endorsed something. Because at least he can say he played a doctor on TV.
Deb – Thank you. I imagine that there’s nowhere on this planet free of loonies. If you find such a place and its not the South Pole, let me know.
Friar – LOL, Pandemic Planning Officer! I love how companies give people important sounding titles to get employees all involved. I guess Thermometer Passer Outer didn’t have the same prestige?
Mike – Be glad you’ve avoided the static. Stay healthy!
Lisa – Well, you know I can rant.This, of course, is the toned down me.
Loran – Well said. It’s hard to avoid watching any news – for me, anyway, I was a news junkie – I just make sure I balance it out with many sources.
MommaSunshine – Well, of course, you’re for the vaccine, you’re from the Big Socialist Evil Empire of Canada where the next Hitler/Stalin/Antichrist is plotting to take over the world. I mean, you guys are killing people right and left with your evil ways.
(tongue firmly planted in cheek)
I think it is sad that you assume anyone who has a talk-show with a conservative stance doesn’t give a damn about anyone but themselves. You therefore are simply exposing your own bias.
Most people will have the swine flu and get through it no problem, just like any other flu. My family had the flu in July and I’m pretty sure it was swine flu. It was horrible. But I practiced the usual good advice you would follow for any flu and we all survived just fine.
Frankly, there is so much hype in the media about ANY new disease because guess what? ALL news media outlets need listeners to make money, not just the conservative ones. Think SARS and Bird Flu. Frankly, I think Swine Flu will be as much as a blip (not to downplay the deaths at all – I am just saying that the hype compared with the actual numbers of those affected and total numbers of those who will get seriously ill or die). The reason the Swine Flu SEEMS to us to be such a big deal to us is because those other two never really made it to our hemisphere! Now because we have this disease in No. and So. America it is a “pandemic.”
And asking your family doctor about whether to get vaccinated or not is silly. Your family doctor will NEVER tell you not to get vaccinated. They follow the “party line” concerning vaccinations, period.
FYI, not everyone can know how a vaccination can affect them. I have known since I was teenager that I am allergic to thimerasol but didn’t know until just a few years ago that most vaccines have thimerasol in them! Frankly, when I tell a health-care practitioner that I am allergic to thimerasol, most of them don’t even know what it is.
You are responsible for your health. And the so-called “right-wingers” you talk about want you to get all the information you can get – both sides – just like most well-meaning people. Yeeeesh!
Anne – Did you read the entire post? I clearly point out both pundits on the extreme right wing and extreme left. So, no bias here.
I don’t cater to a particular party line’s way of thought. While I have leaned left on many issues, there are those which I lean right. I worked for a conservative newspaper for three years, so I was blessed with a view from both sides of the aisle which, I believe, has made me a very balanced person who sees issues from several sides.
I don’t state that only conservative news outlets are out to make money. I clearly state that talking heads (after already calling out both sides) are fear mongering in the name of profits.
On your last point, that “right wingers” are well meaning people. I don’t disagree that many people on the right ARE. I have friends and family on the right. I am pointing out that extremist pundits – once again, on BOTH SIDES – do not care about the truth. They pretend to, they say they do, they even claim they do. But they don’t. It is clear what their goals are. Profit and division. Nothing more, nothing less.
Thank you for weighing in.
Thanks BloggerDad for responding to my comment. Yes, I did read the entire article. And I perused it again and note that you only specify by name those you consider “extreme right-wingers” (as in Rush?) whereas you don’t name anyone on the so-called extreme left. I felt your blog leaned well to the left.
And again, I strongly disagree with your final advice which is to consult your family doctor because I can guarantee not a single one of your readers will have their family doctor tell them not to get the vaccine. When educating ourselves concerning health decisions, we better be willing to do a lot of reading and research. But the fact is most people are too lazy.
I think we would probably disagree on the definition of “extreme right-winger” as well. But enough of that. Glad to know you are engaged with your kids. The greatest gift you can give them.
Anne’s own biases are shining through. Dave your post was very fair and did not favor any side more than the other. Anne’s probably a right winger who got a little hurt that you criticized Glenn Beck….
Anne – If you want a name on the left, Bill Maher is the one that comes most readily to mind for his recent comments against the vaccine, which I thought were irresponsible. Yeah, I did name more people on the right because most of the noise I’m hearing is coming from the right.
However, this post isn’t about Left v. Right, but rather how much I loathe that the vaccine issue has become politicized. It is a danger and a disservice to people for pundits to be engaging in political one-upmanship regarding something so serious.
And as for my final advice, I DO tell people to educate themselves (first line in the closing paragraph). And I also tell readers to consult their physicians rather than taking advice from people paid to stir up dissension and plant seeds of doubt. I didn’t say to let the doctor make up their minds for them. But if people don’t feel they can trust their physicians, they should seek different medical providers.
Hi BloggerDad,
Hmm. We are not a nation of Joes. We are not responsible for Joe’s choices. “He’s making a *choice* not to get the vaccine.” We all make choices. We also choose to listen to fearmongering ( which many seem to think is the new “terrorism”) — from pundits or our families. Sometimes we live or die by those choices. Freedom comes with the price of personal responsibility. Blaming the pundits’ influence for Joe’s decision is a step in the direction of control, not liberty.
Lori Hoeck´s last blog ..What color code are you today?
Lori – I’m all for personal responsibility, which is why I tell people to do their own research and make their own decisions. And while you, I, and others DO make their own informed choices, many people’s opinions on such issues are shaped by the media and their friends and family. Yes, their decision is ultimately theirs and theirs alone. However, to ignore the impact that the media has on the average person’s thoughts is unrealistic. In my opinion, nothing makes fear mongering right or absolves the news media’s responsibility to the public.
Let’s say that seatbelts were to become a political issue. Say that the Obama administration began increasing the number of seatbelt-related Public Service Announcements. Now let’s say those who oppose Obama decide they now want to counter the seatbelt ads with their own constant stream of stories and opinion pieces spotlighting rare (by comparison) instances where seatbelts actually did more harm than good. Let’s say those pieces begin to shape public opinion and lots of people decide to not wear seatbelts on the off chance that they are one of the rare cases where they might be harmed by wearing one. If deaths from not wearing seatbelts were to suddenly skyrocket would the media outlets who perpetuated the stories not be somewhat responsible? I’m not talking of legal responsibilities but of moral responsibility.
Call me an idealist, but I think the news media should be in the business of giving people balanced information to make informed decisions and not hyping and creating stories and spreading misinformation on something as serious as this.
Oddly, many people I know who now complain that people ought to be able to say whatever they want on TV and the radio without any responsibility for their words and the actions they incite are the same people who screamed loudest a few years ago about violence and sex in movies, music and video games and how they were responsible for the moral decline of our country, Columbine and every other problem.
@ Blogger Dad – The news should be in the habit of reporting NEWS not opinions as they so often do. They report the opinions of the show hosts from their stations as freakin’ news when it is most often an opinion.
Anyway, I don’t know what some people here are getting so upset about but I can assume it is the right vs left game they so buy into. They are missing the point! Get a vaccine. Or don’t. It’s your choice…. as the title of this entry suggests.
Yes, you are an idealist.
In 1981-82, I took my journalism classes from old men with fire in their bellies about what a reporter should and should not be. They are all now rolling over in their graves. Gone are the days of good journalistic ethics as the norm.
And yet, is this history repeating itself? Recall the dark days of yellow journalism. This is from Wikipedia on that:
Frank Luther Mott (1941) defines yellow journalism in terms of five characteristics:
1. scare headlines in huge print, often of minor news
2. lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawings
3. use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseudo-science, and a parade of false learning from so-called experts
4. emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements, usually with comic strips (which is now normal in the U.S.)
5. dramatic sympathy with the “underdog” against the system.
–
As for seat belts, vaccines, or anything else, I am responsible for me. Not the government, not the media, not Glenn Beck, not Rachel Maddow, not my relatives. Therefore, to answer your question: I don’t think many of the news media are sources of legitimate information. They have lost my vision of them as the fourth estate. It is more of a buyer beware issue now. We need to wise up and teach our kids discernment, not stamp out free speech, even if that speech is inflammatory.
Lori Hoeck´s last blog ..What color code are you today?
Unfortunately Walter Cronkite is dead and so is respectable journalism. Most news sources are owned by the entertainment industry and it’s now a business for making money. I agree with Blogger Dad that everyone needs to do their own research, make up their own minds and ignore they hype. However, that said, most people won’t check out sources and make an informed opinion. They seem to run on high octane fear and that is too bad.
To answer your question BD, we haven’t been vaccinated yet because supplies keep running out but will when we can. I’m not inordinately afraid of any sort of flu, but I’d prefer not to deal with it.
While I agree that people have a responsibility to educate themselves, I also think that the news media has a responsibility, too. And the public at large (I include myself) has a responsibility to say enough all freaking ready and stop watching and reading the exploitative, sensationalistic garbage that’s out there.
Tracy´s last blog ..Scary Products Contest Winners
Lisa- Yes, much of the news these days is tainted by bias of the corporate overlords who control both the tone and story choices even if they don’t necessarily inject opinion into the news.
Lori- I never argued for censorship of the pundits. I am simply speaking out against their brand of fear mongering. I do think they bear some responsibility for their message when they are knowingly misleading the public. However, I also believe in allowing people to decide for themselves to ignore/not watch them and if enough people tune out, so do the advertisers which support such programming.
I find it interesting that now that Democrats are in control, so many people on the right are suddenly interested in free speech. This isn’t a jab at you, as I don’t know your prior stances on the subject, but rather a jab at some people I know. People who cried foul about violence on TV, The Dixie Chicks, Harry Potter and everything else which offends them or might possibly offend someone somewhere at some time. These self-appointed moralists make tons of money fund raising while trying to rid the world of everything which offends them. Way I see it, monitoring what a kid watches on TV is the parents’ job, not the government’s or the church’s. There’s even a convenient V-Chip in each TV set nowadays which allows you to filter out shows by subject matter.
I similarly recall a rather angry backlash and no support for freedom of speech for people who questioned and opposed the Iraq war in the early stages. As I recall, such people were branded traitors and terrorists and threatened with violence.
We’ve gotten way off point here, but since you touched on the subjects of free speech and censorship, I felt inclined to weigh in with some of my own thoughts and how this is not suddenly an issue just to go after the right wing pundits, as some of the pundits are incorrectly claiming.
To be frank, I’ve pretty much divorced myself from politics a while ago because I’ve seen how both sides are so incredibly corrupt. I’m pretty much jaded on the subject and maybe a bit more cynical than the average person. However, I still stand by the message of this post and that is to inform yourself, consult with your doctor and ignore the crazies (and overweight blogger dads.)
Loran & Tracy – There still are some respectable journalists out there. I know of a few personally, but unfortunately the market and politics are at odds with most Real Journalism these days.