While the deadly flu itself isn’t amusing, I find the controversy surrounding it to be. Of all the things we could be concerning ourselves with, the name is getting some rather surprising priority. Swine flu, which has killed well over 150 people in Mexico, 23 month old toddler in the US and is popping up globally, was originally called the H1N1 Virus which I guess wasn’t quite flashy enough for the media. Israel finds offense to the name because Judaism and Islam both consider pigs to be “tainted” (which makes me wonder why they aren’t then celebrating the negative reference) and pork processing nations are offended because despite no evidence of transfer by eating or handling pork, their industry is now suffering a massive decline. Is anyone so misinformed that they believe a juicy pulled pork sandwich will get them sick? When Paris Hilton was asked if she was worried as it was killing so many people in Mexico her reply was “No. I don’t eat that.” So, uhm, yeah, I guess the decline can be contributed in part to vapid peroxide blonds????
Some are requesting it go by Mexican Flu or North American Flu. Why not take the blame game one step further? Let’s hunt down the first person who died from it and name it after them, because clearly this current pandemic is their fault. The Adela Virus? Nice ring huh?
Besides the ridiculousness of this name controversy, I personally keep going back to one thought. With all of our technology, with all of our super convenient, top of the line lifestyles, can you imagine if it’s a flu that shakes the shit out of us and culls the herd? I think AIDS should have, but because it was labeled a gay disease right out of the gate, too many people still have the “doesn’t apply to me” attitude. If we change it to Mexican flu will the same thing happen? There will be small colonies of people living scattered around the globe, struggling to survive in this new dark age with nothing but their own skills and they’ll be sitting around a camp fire muttering “Fucking Mexicans. Thank god I’m not one.”
Even in the face of a WHO level 4 pandemic, we’re still busy making sure we know who to blame. Makes one think that we just might deserve this.
**Update- Looks like we’re level 5 now gang!
