SHOOT: We've had so many false alarms and false starts that it is hard to tell the difference between the game world, the movie world, biblical rants, the news, real life, and, well, real REAL life. What, in the scheme of reality, if reality can be called a SCHEME, is a pandemic?
The one answer is this: A pandemic is a distraction, it's a political chess move designed to distract us from our economic woes etc etc and it's all paranoia, 7 people have died in the world and more people die from eating chewing gum so this is all a hoax, go back to sleep everyone.
The other answer is this: During the H5N1 outbreak there were similar worried signals and also a cacophony of chuckles and jibes. It's an exotic virus that fills your body up with puss. But only 300 people have died.
So why is H1N1 different? Well for a few reasons. It's a hybrid that combines several strains of lethal avian and swine flu, and has learnt to get into the body. H5N1 never learned human transmissability. Swine flu has. swine flu also models closely to 1918 pandemic flu, and is showing a similar pattern - first wave mild. The complacent majority tag the words 'mild' and 'no need to panic' and 'underlying medical condition' in each story and so decide, it's no big deal. Well, in the history of our species, there is unlikely to be a bigger threat than pandemic flu. No, not even from nuclear weapons.
Now I don't know about you. If you live in New York City and someone walks into the Empire State Building says, "Hi, I'm Vlad, I've got a nuclear weapon in my backpack - made in North Korea, assembled in Iran," are you going to start having a picnic in the Empire State Building Garden, or are you going to, I dunno, perhaps find out if it is a credible threat. Call the authorities just to be sure. Or are you going to pat Vlad on the back and say, "Nice one," and get yourself a latte. Because if there is a way for a crisis to slide into present day reality, it is to be so arrogant to not even be able to imagine the likelihood. The present level of dismissiveness is not very discerning, in fact it's dangerous.
The question is - is it paranoid to not be paranoid? When the costs of being wrong are now skyscraper high, when your life is potentially at stake, I'd say it is better erring on the side of panic [concern] than complacency [calling everything paranoiad bananas].
But let's get back to swine flu. What is a pandemic really about? What might we expect? I think one possibilty no one is considering is this one thing: global paralysis. We're heading that way. That means on a global scale a repetition of what happened in Mexico: people not going to work, or to school, or getting on aeroplanes or boats, or filling soccer stadiums. Everyone stays home, for perhaps a few weeks, perhaps longer. They empty the shelves of supermarkets, and once empty they pretty much stay empty. Then systems start to break down because no one is working. Garbage isn't collected, the lights flicker a few times then stay off. Then the water does too. Perhaps everyone sits tight for a few weeks and then it's just SYSTEM RESTART, right?
Well, what about crime? Do the cops stay home during a pandemic?
What about the fact that it could change, and worsen. It's an organism. It's not inert, like toxic gas. And it wants to survive. The more it spreads the better it gets at playing chemistry with human guinea pigs, finding the right cocktail. And swine flu has a lot to work through - the world's AIDS infected millions, the world's cancer patients, the pregnant, those addicted to drugs of some sort, those who live in highly populated and polluted places, and, simply, the poor and overstressed.
In a system that is as integrated as the global economy is, and even local economies are, swine flu presents an underrated scenario for a systemic collapse. It's actually entirely probable. Not only for the human body, but for what remains of a shattered finance system. But remember: DON'T PANIC. And if you don't panic, why worry at all?
The one answer is this: A pandemic is a distraction, it's a political chess move designed to distract us from our economic woes etc etc and it's all paranoia, 7 people have died in the world and more people die from eating chewing gum so this is all a hoax, go back to sleep everyone.
The other answer is this: During the H5N1 outbreak there were similar worried signals and also a cacophony of chuckles and jibes. It's an exotic virus that fills your body up with puss. But only 300 people have died.
So why is H1N1 different? Well for a few reasons. It's a hybrid that combines several strains of lethal avian and swine flu, and has learnt to get into the body. H5N1 never learned human transmissability. Swine flu has. swine flu also models closely to 1918 pandemic flu, and is showing a similar pattern - first wave mild. The complacent majority tag the words 'mild' and 'no need to panic' and 'underlying medical condition' in each story and so decide, it's no big deal. Well, in the history of our species, there is unlikely to be a bigger threat than pandemic flu. No, not even from nuclear weapons.
Now I don't know about you. If you live in New York City and someone walks into the Empire State Building says, "Hi, I'm Vlad, I've got a nuclear weapon in my backpack - made in North Korea, assembled in Iran," are you going to start having a picnic in the Empire State Building Garden, or are you going to, I dunno, perhaps find out if it is a credible threat. Call the authorities just to be sure. Or are you going to pat Vlad on the back and say, "Nice one," and get yourself a latte. Because if there is a way for a crisis to slide into present day reality, it is to be so arrogant to not even be able to imagine the likelihood. The present level of dismissiveness is not very discerning, in fact it's dangerous.
The question is - is it paranoid to not be paranoid? When the costs of being wrong are now skyscraper high, when your life is potentially at stake, I'd say it is better erring on the side of panic [concern] than complacency [calling everything paranoiad bananas].
But let's get back to swine flu. What is a pandemic really about? What might we expect? I think one possibilty no one is considering is this one thing: global paralysis. We're heading that way. That means on a global scale a repetition of what happened in Mexico: people not going to work, or to school, or getting on aeroplanes or boats, or filling soccer stadiums. Everyone stays home, for perhaps a few weeks, perhaps longer. They empty the shelves of supermarkets, and once empty they pretty much stay empty. Then systems start to break down because no one is working. Garbage isn't collected, the lights flicker a few times then stay off. Then the water does too. Perhaps everyone sits tight for a few weeks and then it's just SYSTEM RESTART, right?
Well, what about crime? Do the cops stay home during a pandemic?
What about the fact that it could change, and worsen. It's an organism. It's not inert, like toxic gas. And it wants to survive. The more it spreads the better it gets at playing chemistry with human guinea pigs, finding the right cocktail. And swine flu has a lot to work through - the world's AIDS infected millions, the world's cancer patients, the pregnant, those addicted to drugs of some sort, those who live in highly populated and polluted places, and, simply, the poor and overstressed.
In a system that is as integrated as the global economy is, and even local economies are, swine flu presents an underrated scenario for a systemic collapse. It's actually entirely probable. Not only for the human body, but for what remains of a shattered finance system. But remember: DON'T PANIC. And if you don't panic, why worry at all?
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