Swine Flu? I’m not worried…Should I be?

I normally do not turn the TV on during the day.  I can’t stand the constant noise and so, typically, the TV doesn’t come on until late afternoon when I finally allow the kids to watch cartoons for a little while. 

But I’ve felt a little out of touch with the world lately, so the last two mornings I’ve turned on the news while I make breakfast, only to turn it back off within 10 minutes because AAAHHH the constant sound makes me insane!

I was a little humored this morning to hear the talk about swine flu.  I, of course, do not take the fact that something like this could potentially become pandemic lightly, but I had to laugh at the journalists insistence that we all be terrifed.  It’s like the newscasters feed off the fear they create in their viewers and this morning they seemed hungry.

More than 160,000 kids are out of school today due to school closings in infected areas.  Diane Sawyer’s question to a CDC rep. went something like this:

“If it seems imminent that a pandemic is coming, why not take the ultimate precautionary measure and close down all school?”

Uuuhhhh…first of all, is it imminent?  And second, because the nation can’t shut down in a time like this and what on earth will working parents do with thier kids?

Really, sometimes these things get taken a step too far.  If any shut down needs to occur, it’s the closing of the borders.  Do that before closing the schools.  But this constant yammering and fear-mongering is just slightly over the top. (Slightly as in ridiculously ludicris)

I’m the type of girl who wants the news how it is.  Give it to me straight.  Don’t specuulate on what you think will happen.  Tell me what’s happening right now and let me draw my own conclusion.  This is, of course, why I rarely watch the news.

Again, I know this flu thing is real and I’m certainly not planning any trips to Mexico in the near future, and of course if my son’s school reported a case of this flu strain then I would be more inclined to take this a little more seriously.  But putting us in a state of constant fear that we’re all going to the pigs is just plain silly.

It’s silly I tell ya!

And that’s all I have to say about that.