Overblown Hype

Yes I do realize the potential dangers of ebola. It is a very nasty and deadly virus. But although it can be transmissible relatively easy, the average person is still many times more likely to catch the flu instead.

What is more worrisome to me is the amount of fear being generated from virtually every outlet right now. I'm not sure if its the bandwagon effect or something more in the works. I was watching a tv special on ebola the other night and the whole time they had this gloomy, melodramatic music creepily playing in the background. Maybe it was for added production value but to me it seemed like a subconscious effort to instill a sense fear and paranoia in the viewer.

So we already know quarantines will begin to be strictly enforced on US soil and rightly so. Here is a scenario I foresee. We are currently going into flu season. Most people who get sick will assume the worst. Hospitals here are not prepared to handle the mass volume of patients. The sick will begin to be quarantined in large makeshift domes such as those in Katrina. This will contain the few potentially infected patients well, but at the same time invariably infect those who were carrying some other type of bacteria or virus. This basically creates a petri dish primed for growth.

Another scenario is quarantine at the town/city/county level. No entrance or exit, curfews, militarily enforced.

Not sure which is worse.

Oh I agree 100% that there's a certain sensationalist fear being pushed on the people and that the root of this outbreak is a conspiracy to make money and further restrict the rights of the people. It's a serious illness and I think this will cause damage.

No doubt it's overblown but there's certain dangers to it as you know and they know how to exploit it.

The biggest danger will be mandated vaccination!!

a reply to: VoidHawk

Nothing like frightening the public. Then rounding them up and forcing vaccinations.

Maybe this is one of the occasions they'll need all that ammunition they've stockpiled....

Ebola is the newly detected virus in Africa but is going to spread through infected persons and planes those carrying infected ones through flights from one destination to another so strict health check up and tests should be mandatory before boarding and suspected ones should be taken care of and watched and may be given preventive medicine. People should be made aware of this dangerous virus and it is the education that helps preventing its spreading further.

a reply to: kushness

During flu season, everyone with a cold or flu should stay home from work. Perhaps wearing a mask when going out is something we may get used to seeing, if people are careful about not contaminating others/ or breathing in germs.

One rule I remember from not long ago was to discourage people from visiting more than one hospital and person per visit and to wait a couple of days before visiting more. A padre comes to mind here, as well as those who visit the sick on a regular basis from church groups for instance. The norovirus is horrible if it spreads in an institution.

There does seem to be a seeding of fear on the part of the media and social media, while on the other hand strong leadership and coordination of planning efforts to counter it seem to be lacking. Just my humble opinion of course.

From what I've read on line about it from various sources and the comments on those sites, the American (if not Global) population is so woefully ignorant of the basics of medicine, quarantine and simple hygiene that no amount of education will ever fill the gap, not in a hundred years.

But as I've been saying for over a month now, the symptoms of Ebola are indecipherable from those of the seasonal flu and a lot of other bugs, which means starting NOW (since school just started) and ramping up through the Thanksgiving Gotta Go Visit Gramma season, followed immediately by the aptly-named BLACK FRIDAY, followed by a cheerfully encouraged by the retailers who will Die of Something Else if we don't all cooperate 'shopping season' Tra La La La Deck the Halls, followed by once again getting on a plane, train, bus or in a crowded car with your loved ones and visiting gramma, and the other gramma, etc... with all the little snotty nosed kids, and the college students, all swapping infective DNA samples, and all of whom will go back to their respective petri dishes AKA schools in between...

By January between the bad bugs, and the Really Bad Bugs, and the hypochondriacs, the Emergency Rooms will be far past capacity, as will every hospital in the country/world, the supplies will be running low and so will the willing employees, who right now are at skeleton crews everywhere you look.

Medical care is already a disaster, this is the Titanic combined with WWIII combined with an Alien Invasion, all by it's very own self. Or, it could peter out and turn out to be something that can't hack Polar Vortexes, or Droughts, or Midterm Elections, even.

Personally, I think this was Plan D, (after A, B and C didn't work) answer to "What Do We Do When the Can We Have Been Kicking Down the Road Disintegrates??"

Nothing like a pandemic to take people's minds off the fact that a few thousand people have willfully crashed the entire global economy and they can't keep up the Ponzi scheme anymore...

But not to worry, they built underground hideaways complete with enough food, water, and creature comforts to last for years, all with YOUR money. You, Mr. Citizen Sucker, are out of luck.

Did y'all know that COG or Continuity of Government, along with Martial Law, was declared on 9-11-2001 and has never been repealed? Sure explains a lot when you see how the cops act, huh?

it might be a warning to uncooperatives , some sort of 'threat' or blackmail, thug tactics, thankfully the cure already exists

a reply to: kushness

Thanks OP, I'm glad that someone has finally called the overblown doom porn circulating, on ats if nowhere else. I've suspected some kind of agenda from the beginning and accordingly not read a single word on the subject here.

I'm in the UK and, oddly, there is nowhere near the level of panic here. In fact, believe it or not, it has not cropped up in every day conversation for me, so far.

a reply to: signalfire

Hey you sure are on a roll tonight, so stars for you, lol. I just realized that it's past my bedtime. Catch you again. G'nite.

This spreading factor in first world countries is imo overblown indeed, here in Europe they are not very concerned about it spreading.
There are safety measures, but it's not like we al gonna die.

But they have to put more effort in containing it in West Africa...

My heart goes out to all the victims of this horrible disease.

a reply to: kushness

Totally wrong the average person has much less chance of catching the flu because we have developed resistance to it over 1000s of years.

take the average cold 99.99% of people will not catch it around you or die but introduce it to some remote tribe that has never encountered it before and 95% of them will die.

ebola is the cold and 95% of the world is the tribe.

a reply to: joho99

I was comparing the mode of transmission, should have been more clear. But even so the point stands, there will be significantly more people getting sick with the flu or the common cold than people getting sick from ebola this year. And no ebola does not work like smallpox if that's what you are getting at. That would be a whole different animal.

a reply to: kushness

Your title suits your own post perfectly!

a reply to: kushness

What's O been up to lately? I told hubby this very thing last night.

a reply to: kushness

One more thing over 30 000people die of the flu each year and with some complations.

Good post s&f

originally posted by: VoidHawk
The biggest danger will be mandated vaccination!!

That is the Absolute truth..

a reply to: kushness

Considering the flu and cold are endemic and ebola is just starting it is obvious more people will catch a cold or flu this year.
The overblown hype as you call it is not about your odds of catching it now it is about your odds of catching it in the future as the numbers grow.

originally posted by: joho99
a reply to: kushness

it is obvious more people will catch a cold or flu this year.

This is the whole idea. Many people will mistake the flu for ebola this year due to the paranoia being generated by media/social media. Not sure what it is you are trying to argue against.