Well, it was only a matter of time before someone who fancies themselves as clever, urbane and erudite makes fun of those concerned about the outbreak of Swine Flu.
It’s No Time for Hysteria Over New Flu
By SUSAN DOMINUS Published: April 26, 2009
Nobody panic. The government may be spending its last dime on the bailout package, but it’s apparently filthy rich with stockpiles of Tamiflu. We’ve been told that officials can mobilize ventilators on the turn of a dime (which is supposed to be reassuring). And the cases of swine flu confirmed at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens appear, so far, to be relatively mild.
Besides, it’s not as if there aren’t guidelines on how to handle even scarier outbreaks of influenza than this one. Consider “Preparing for Pandemic Avian Flu: Family and Neighborhood Readiness Workbook,” published in 2006 by Joe and Rita Sterling, a couple whose vague online biography says that they have been “guiding corporations and communities to succeed for nearly two decades.” (Avian flu, which can be deadly in humans, is different from the H1N1 swine flu now causing illnesses from Mexico to St. Francis, but it’s interesting reading nonetheless.)
“What if there is lawlessness?” asks a hypothetical question in the 150-page book. “I need to protect my family and myself. What are essential safety items to have?” The authors note that this is “a very personal question, of course” (of course!), and advise neighborhoods to start having group conversations about it ahead of time.
“Someone in your neighborhood will surely ask about firearms.” (Surely!) Collaboration reduces fear and stress, the Sterlings advise, before going on to list the “minimum” items for a safety kit: duct tape, work gloves and a cellphone, among them. Also “hatchet/ax,” “deterrents (Mace, pepper spray, whistle, etc.),” and, oh yeah, “a folding shovel.” In your car you’ll want an air horn, a deck of cards (there’s only so much fun you can have eating a year’s worth of canned goods) and a Taser.
Who would have thought that swine flu might be just the comeback opportunity Rudy Giuliani has been waiting for?
We do well to inform and educate… not so much when we ridicule.
Isn’t that really horrifying?? How can someone be so glib about over 100 deaths in Mexico??
Oh…I see….no AMERICANS have died yet…so this is apparently not a big deal. And the CDC and WHO warning that this *could* become fatal in the U.S. is just “panic” and “overreaction” because it hasn’t caused any *serious* harm here yet.
How ridiculous.
yes, it is flip and silly. and it made me laugh! surely there is a place for some humor in all this? humor, and horrible black humor that offends in ordinary times, will happen even in situations when a lot of people are dying. it is one of the things that helps people keep going.
and yes, during the 9/11 crisis the editors would have seen no place to publish such humor in their paper. they should have appended a comment to this piece providing sane guidance for those who read it. i blame not the author but those editors who don’t seem to have waked up to their full responsibility yet in this affair.
Martha you do make a good point. I don’t wish censorship on anyone at anytime. And I do respect a lot of the really controversial art that came out of 9/11. In fact right now I am in a course called “Art and Catastrophe” and this is exactly the sort of thing we discuss.
But to me Susan Dominus’s comments aren’t creating any kind of art, or saying anything true that might be seen as controversial…she’s just being disrespectful. I don’t think she is trying to be, necessarily. I think perhaps the gravity of the situation just hasn’t hit her yet. But you’re right, it should be the editor’s responsibility.
It’s always a tough issue where sensitive subjects and writing or art in any form comes in to play. There is always controversy and it’s never black and white.
Martha and Katie: Thanks for your thoughtful comments!
Martha, as an ex-cop with a passel of police in my family (father, brothers, husband, son) I can well appreciate “gallows humor”, police have their own “special flavor” that oft would make a “civilian’s” toes curl, it’s a well known psychological coping mechanism.
That said, however, my point, which I really didn’t make well, is that right now people need credible, personally meaningful, relatable, and accessible information. As I’m sure you can appreciate, influenza is a complicated disease on an individual level, it’s not “just the flu” when it’s a true case of influenza. What people do not need right now is to be belittled or have their concerns belittled. Or, at minimum, that’s my personal take on it.
FYI, i only laughed at this part:
“Dr. Frieden, who toiled in India for five years combating tuberculosis, might be the kind of leader who stands out in a new New York, a New York that looks beyond money as its core value (if only because it no longer has any).
The prospect of a flu pandemic could make anyone nostalgic for the good old days when our biggest worries were rising gas prices and China’s seemingly unstoppable growth. Actually, a book like “Preparing for Pandemic Avian Flu” could make anyone nostalgic for the good old days when our biggest worries were a global financial meltdown, high unemployment and entire neighborhoods inhabited by squatters.
For those inclined to big-picture angst, the weather hasn’t helped. By Sunday, it was hot enough to raise inevitable questions of global warming. Would rising sea levels and widespread flooding soon enough make us all nostalgic for the good old days when all we had to worry about was swine flu?”
i do think her attempt to make fun of that book falls flat, but i also find whenever people start planning for things like fending off looters with your own shotgun i get really turned off. a group of store owners in new orleans took that approach, and i guess they’re happy now they still have their stuff. but i’m glad there weren’t too many of them and they didn’t hurt anybody. i guess i don’t find humor aimed at such an approach to be out of line. (though that is not what she is doing here.) just noticing my own reactions here, didn’t even know i thought that until now.
no quarrel at all here with your basic point. now is not an appropriate time to muddy the waters by poking fun at those who would take the trouble to be prepared, and for one thing lessening any burden they might put on strained services.
speaking for myself, this weekend i finally got around to doing some of these actions. i feel safer, and i’m realizing it’s just common sense to anticipate VARIOUS scenarios. especially since i live near a nuclear power plant and have been ignoring their instrux for preparation for a nuclear accident. it costs very little to prepare and the benefits are potentially so great, i’m finally getting that. even if it doesn’t save your own life, it might, and it is still a good way to contribute to one’s community and society.
thanks so much for keeping this blog!