Amid swine flu outbreak, racism goes viral

[jdobbin]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30467300/

“No contact anywhere with an illegal alien!” conservative talk show host Michael Savage advised his U.S. listeners this week on how to avoid the swine flu. “And that starts in the restaurants" where he said, you “don’t know if they wipe their behinds with their hands!”

And Thursday, Boston talk radio host Jay Severin was suspended after calling Mexican immigrants "criminalians" during a discussion of swine flu and saying that emergency rooms had become "essentially condos for Mexicans."

I guess this isn't much different than in previous pandemics when Jews were blamed.

It hasn't been conservative talk radio or columnists finest hour.

[Topaz]

They changed the name of the "swine flu" to H1N1 because the pork producers in North America were screaming bloody murder that no one was touching pork. Well, you may not catch pig flu from eating pork BUT you can get pig flu from "touching" a pig and all this came from one pig?????

[JerrySeinfeld]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30467300/

I guess this isn't much different than in previous pandemics when Jews were blamed.

It hasn't been conservative talk radio or columnists finest hour.

If the disease comes from Mexico, what's wrong with staying away from people who come across the border from Mexico.

That's not "racism", that's commons sense.

Oh...wait. In the name of multicultural sensitivity, maybe we should grab the first mexican we see and breath in his exhale.

[WIP]

They changed the name of the "swine flu" to H1N1 because the pork producers in North America were screaming bloody murder that no one was touching pork. Well, you may not catch pig flu from eating pork BUT you can get pig flu from "touching" a pig and all this came from one pig?????

There is a growing suspicion that a U.S. owned factory farm near Mexico City is responsible for this three-headed mutated virus. If this turns out to be true, will Americans take the blame for creating this pandemic, and causing death and suffering in Mexico through their negligence?

[jdobbin]

That's not "racism", that's commons sense.

And the Mexicans are pigs comments? Just common sense?

[Sabre Rider]

There is a growing suspicion that a U.S. owned factory farm near Mexico City is responsible for this three-headed mutated virus. If this turns out to be true, will Americans take the blame for creating this pandemic, and causing death and suffering in Mexico through their negligence?

Doubtful, after all they didn't take the blame for the Spanish Flu pandemic at the end of WWI. Though thought to have originated in Asia, it mutated into its killer strain in the US. First recorded cases were in US Army camps in Kansas. As US Dough Boys went overseas to fight in the trenches, they brought along with them a silent killer, what was to become known as the Spanish Flu.

From 1917 the flu first struck in Europe, however due to concerns about moral at home, it was under-played. In Spain, which was not at war at the time, the effects and virulence of the flu strain was reported in the media, hence the name Spanish Influenza. Just an interesting piece of history.

[Sabre Rider]

They changed the name of the "swine flu" to H1N1 because the pork producers in North America were screaming bloody murder that no one was touching pork. Well, you may not catch pig flu from eating pork BUT you can get pig flu from "touching" a pig and all this came from one pig?????

The H1N1 virus is the same virus that caused the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918 and apparently mutated into what we now mistakenly call "Swine Flu". The current stain is interesting:

The 2009 flu outbreak in humans that is widely known as "swine flu" is due to a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 that was produced by reassortment from one strain of human influenza virus, one strain of avian influenza virus, and two separate strains of swine influenza virus. The origins of this new strain are unknown, and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reports that this strain has not been isolated in pigs.[2] It passes with apparent ease from human to human, an ability attributed to an as-yet unidentified mutation.[3] This 2009 H1N1 strain causes the normal symptoms of influenza, such as fever, coughing and headache.

There is a lot is misinformation and sensationalizing going on in the media right now about the potential pandemic, and the pork producers were well in their rights to scream bloody blue murder. Again from the same site:

Direct transmission of a swine flu virus from pigs to humans is occasionally possible (this is called zoonotic swine flu). People who work with pigs, especially people with intense exposures, are at risk of catching swine influenza. However, only about fifty such cases of direct infection have been recorded in the medical literature since the middle of the 20th century. Importantly, eating pork does not pose a risk of infection. However, swine flu can very rarely pass from humans to human. In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general, namely chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.

As for the OP's original post, sadly there are some frightened tiny dicked people in this world such as Michael Savage and apparently poster JerrySeinfeld who have nothing better to do then to spew venom and hatred towards those that are "different" from them. As I said, they are frightened tiny dicked individuals who are best ignored.

Edited May 2, 2009 by Sabre Rider

[bush_cheney2004]

There is a growing suspicion that a U.S. owned factory farm near Mexico City is responsible for this three-headed mutated virus. If this turns out to be true, will Americans take the blame for creating this pandemic, and causing death and suffering in Mexico through their negligence?

Nah...I think it surely started in Toronto. Just picking up where SARS left off.

[bush_cheney2004]

As for the OP's original post, sadly there are some frightened tiny dicked people in this world such as Michael Savage and apparently poster JerrySeinfeld who have nothing better to do then to spew venom and hatred towards those that are "different" from them. As I said, they are frightened tiny dicked individuals who are best ignored.

Do you mean all "tiny dicked individuals", or just the frightened ones? How about the ones without "dicks" at all ?

[Radsickle]

There is a growing suspicion that a U.S. owned factory farm near Mexico City is responsible for this three-headed mutated virus. If this turns out to be true, will Americans take the blame for creating this pandemic, and causing death and suffering in Mexico through their negligence?

Our idiotic Prime Minister would have to call a press conference to re-name it the `American Flu' after he stupidly called it the `Mexican Flu' recently.

[cybercoma]

If the disease comes from Mexico, what's wrong with staying away from people who come across the border from Mexico.

That's not "racism", that's commons sense.

Oh...wait. In the name of multicultural sensitivity, maybe we should grab the first mexican we see and breath in his exhale.

Because it's not just Mexicans that come across the border from Mexico. Ranting about illegal aliens is pretty stupid, considering they've been in the US while this outbreak was happening, while WASP tourists have travelled back and forth from infected areas.

[betsy]

Just on the news this morning (2 May) it's being reported that:

This H1N1 is not a mutation.

This is not like the flu of 1918.

This strain is considered mild.

That by WHO raising its alert level to #5 only raises the panic level. This is just like any other regular flu.

[charter.rights]

Because it's not just Mexicans that come across the border from Mexico. Ranting about illegal aliens is pretty stupid, considering they've been in the US while this outbreak was happening, while WASP tourists have travelled back and forth from infected areas.

In fact the spread of H1N1 throughout NA is a result of Americans and Canadians bringing it back, not washing their hands, and coughing and hacking in public places with no regard for others' safety. Don't blame the Mexicans for this one.