Media Alarmism, a brief history

Due to the insane "the sky is falling" style of reporting on the recent pig flu, I felt the need to compile a brief history of media alarmism:



The 1980s: Killer Bees!

I was convinced swarms of killer bees would cloud the sky and kill us all. Total deaths since they came to the United States over 20 years ago: 14




2000: The Y2k Computer bug!

This one was entertaining because at the time I worked for a company that sold computer supplies. Being asked if the printer ink we sold was "Y2K compliant" was especially funny. I wanted to say "No, at midnight on New Year's it will start spraying ink willy nilly!". I will admit it was a genius marketing device by whoever came up with it.




2002: West Nile Virus!
Citronella sales boomed! In the United States since 1999, an average of 113 deaths per year. For comparison, in the U.S. horses cause an average of 200 deaths a year. Where is the media coverage to alert us of our impending doom from horses!? We're all in grave danger! Horses!





2003: SARSSales of surgical face masks skyrocketed. SARS related deaths in the United States: zero. Average lightning strike deaths in the U.S. per year: 62. Number of masks invented to protect us from lightning strikes: zero.





2004: Mad Cow Disease
Deaths in the United States so far: 3. Unless you eat the brain or spinal cord of a cow, chances are you'll be ok. You should be almost equally panicked about vending machines. They kill 2.18 people a year, so be careful out there.





2005/2006: Bird FluU.S. deaths: zero. The surgical mask industry enjoys another spike in sales after the post-SARS decline.





2008: SalmonellaPeppers, tomatoes... nothing seemed safe. Well, not salsa at least. Which in Texas is second only to oxygen in our daily requirements. Total deaths in the U.S.: 11. Total number of salmon eaten per grizzly bear per year: 3000. Yes, I know salmon and salmonella are not related.





And now we have the pig flu. Zero U.S. fatalities so far. The "regular" flu kills 36,000 a year.

My point here is that people need to keep things in perspective and not trust the news media. Most of these illnesses only cause either flu like symptoms or diarrhea in most people. Most of these illnesses can be prevented by washing your hands and not letting people cough on you. This morning there were reports that the pig flu actually responds well to regular flu treatments like Theraflu. Before you take a news story too seriously, note how many times they use the word or words "alert" "panic" "cause for concern" to direct your thinking. Also look out for near-comical graphics in the corner of the screen like crazy red-eyed pigs and story titles in bold letters that are done in graphical fonts to look like they are oozing blood.


I actually did two days of research on this and all the facts are correct to my knowledge. Unfortunately I didn't think to save any of my sources for reference.. so you'll just have to trust me on this.