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Saturday, May 16, 2009

Paranoia and Hysteria



Most of the New Zealanders quarantined for suspected swine flu have been released. Even those who had confirmed cases had such mild symptoms that they have recovered and returned to school and work. The news media has moved on to other stories. So I was surprised to find the above scene when I dropped into my local shops on the way home from work a couple of days ago.

It seemed an appropriate photo for Carmi's human theme at Thematic Photographic. Fear is not confined to humans, but animal fear reacts more to what is real. Only humans manage to inflate their fears beyond what is real (or am I wrong here?)

(Some more background to this photo; those who have possible swine flu are allowed to buy Tamiflu over the counter at the pharmacy here, without a doctor's prescription - as long as they front up in person. Naturally the pharmacists were not too pleased at this policy, hence the notice at this and other pharmacies. I guess crazy government policy is another "human" characteristic).

3 comments:

Kay Cooke said...

That's so funny! ... I've given up on our TV news it is all so much a circus. I don't know how they can justify calling themselves journalists - more like sensationalists.

Dana said...

I misread the sign as saying "Importing Swine Flu."

rashbre said...

Of course, in London, UK, theres an advert explaining how to get seat in the tube by:

a) wearing a big mexican hat
b) carrying a box of tissues

example here