Perpetual Ruminations

Wuho (Woo-Hoo) Flu

I know, it's officially named Covid-19 but that's so labratorish (my term) and boring! Besides, what about West Nile Virus, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), German Measles, and Legionnaire’s Disease, just to name a few? I say, to hell with politically correct, and back to the basics of freedom of speech!

But, that's not how things work in this point in history, is it? I mean, look at the panic we are seeing over this pandemic, which statistically is very close to the annual influenza season and it's not like our nation has never seen a pandemic before. In 1916, over 7,000 deaths occurred and 27,363 cases were reported of polio (infantile paralysis) in America's worst polio epidemic. Again in 1949, 2,720 deaths occurred from polio from 42,173 reported cases. Finally in 1952 polio killed 3,300 out of 57,628 cases reported.

1918, nationwide, Spanish Flu killed over 500,000 in the worst U.S epidemic; in 1957 an Asian Flu outbreak killed 70,000. Between 1981 and 2005 the CDC estimated U.S. Aids cases over 988,300 with a total fatality of just over 550,000. More recently, in 2009, H1N1, or the Swine Flu quickly spread to more than 70 countries and between April and October, 22,000,000 (yes million) Americans had contacted the virus. 98,000 required hospitalization and about 4,000 Americans died as a result of H1N1.

As you can see, we have weathered similar storms in our past, some not to far back. So what's changed? Why is there so much panic this time? I suspect that we are seeing more panic as a result of being better connected in this day and age. Sad, our technology and ability to communicate information quicker should help reduce panic, not increase it. But, then look at how the masses react to information; When Trump won the election our nation almost shut down simply because Hilary lost!

Face it, we can't speak our minds without hurting someones feelings, we can't openly practice our religious beliefs without hurting someones feelings. I would like to add here that the first thing that comes to mind is "Merry Christmas" but just this past summer someone let a dog into a local mosque because they felt threatened. So, lets be clear, it applies to everyone! Just this past summer, while taking my family out to a Bonanza Steak House, I heard a person comment as they passed our table, "Look at those savages eating meat! It should be outlawed."

Not an exact quote, but close enough. I wanted to reply, "I'm sorry eating steak at a steakhouse offends you. I would prefer to eat totally vegetarian, but the law forbids cannibalism. Besides, I'm on a low fat diet and you, my dear, do not even qualify t be rated 75% lean!" But I held my tongue and said nothing, although I did wonder why she would en enter a steakhouse.

I hope, and pray this will soon be under control, that the general public will get tired of the restrictions, the empty shelves, and the B-S. But, it is an election year so who knows? I wonder, could that be why things are as they are? Would our politicians use something like this to try and win votes? I think we are on to something here....