S.W.I.N.E. Flu

I find myself watching the reaction to all of the hype about Swine Flu with a mixture of irritation, humor and a deep sadness. The news media, always pleased to blow almost everything completely out of proportion, has done a bang up job with the Swine Flu. The media over reported a very small story and we, the public, have responded just as we have been instructed. The fact that we are so easily led and manipulated by the media should scare the living hell out of us.

The whole Swine Flu Pandemic has reminded of something that happened during my time in college. It was the opportunity I had over 40 years ago to interview Al Capp on the local radio station. Serving as the President of the Student Body, I was able to invite Mr. Capp to the campus to make a speech. At the time I was also earning some money doing news reports on the Richmond, Kentucky, radio station, WEKY. That odd mix of power and positions allowed me to interview Mr. Capp live and in person on the radio.

Alfred Gerald Caplin, better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip "Li'l Abner." His political commentary in the strip was consistently on target. My interview with Mr. Capp took place in the mid 1960's, a time of political unrest for our nation and the college campuses were, of course, a hotbed of that unrest. There was a new cause for sit-ins, marches, demonstrations, strikes and even riots almost every week. It didn't take much to get a group of students together to protest something - anything. In his comic strip Mr. Capp developed a college group called S.W.I.N.E. – Students Wildly Indignant about Nearly Everything. Even as a campus leader and a bit of a student radical, I knew S.W.I.N.E. was funny. He absolutely nailed us politically involved and self involved college radicals with that moniker. And I knew it. My sense of humor has always overruled my politics, thus my lack of political correctness.

Capp was just as funny to talk to as I had hoped. He had lost a leg in a childhood accident and, when I met him in 1967, he was obviously not a healthy man. Getting up the stairs to the second floor studio for the interview was very difficult for him. But he was hilarious. It was one of the most enjoyable and impactful afternoons of my college career. He was funny and nobody and no group were safe from his biting satire.

So, when media began reporting the Swine Flu PANDEMIC, I couldn't help but be reminded of the earlier S.W.I.N.E. Could this SWINE flu really be known as the Silly Wimps Idiotically Nervous about Everything Flu? Or perhaps it is the Simpletons Worried Irrationally about Nothing and Everything Flu? How about the Stupid Wonks Incited to panic by Negligible Events Flu? Go ahead, have some fun and make up something.

Has the media over reacted to and over reported this flu outbreak? Hum, let me see? Is the Pope a Catholic? Yes. Has the media gone way over the edge on this? Absolutely. Let's put this horrible pandemic in perspective, shall we? As of yesterday, May 5, 2009, worldwide, 30 deaths connected to the Swine Flu have been confirmed. There have been 2 deaths confirmed in the United States, alone. Is that sad? Yes. Is it worthy of the coverage it is getting from the media? Absolutely not. Especially when one realizes that in the years 2007 and 2008, there were reported an average of 697 deaths per week from the more common strains of flu. 697. Per week. We are closing entire schools and school systems because someone sneezed. We are sadly ridiculous. Is it a shame that people are dying from the flu? Yes. Is it deserving of the coverage it is getting? No. This flu "outbreak" is just not worthy of the near panic response it is getting.

What is wrong with us? We are afraid of everything all of the time. Instead of the Swine Flu being the lead headline night after night on the news: Instead of entire school districts closing for fear the flu might show up: Instead of the entire populations of huge metropolitan areas wearing cloth masks that will do little or nothing to control the spread of the flu: Instead of going nuts over every possible negative scenario the press and government officials can come up with, how about we stop living in fear? We are such a frightened society that we have almost become paranoid. Just take a look a how we hover over our children. We are urged as Christians to not live in fear. We are told to use some sense and trust in God. If we can't manage to trust God, perhaps we could at least use some sense.

What should be happening in response to the Swine Flu? First of all the press really does need to shut up about it. Go find a newsworthy story or stories to report and report them. The local governments need to keep an eye on how things are going and if the flu become a problem, do something about it. The Federal government should have done enough research and have enough scientific information to know that this outbreak of the Swine flu will have very little impact on public health. But they need to get to work on a vaccine because if the Swine flu comes back a second time it could be nasty.

I realize my ideas are crazy – talk less and do more? Quit living in fear. What a concept. Live life fully instead of hunkering down every time we hear of the slightest threat. And we, the public, need to spend much less time fearing everything about life and just start living.

Copyright © 2009, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved