Ye Gods, yes yes YES, Ive heard about the First American Case of OMFG! EBOLA! EBOLA! WERE GONNA DIE! TOLD YOU SO! TOLD YOU SO! AND NOW AT LEAST I CAN DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH KNOWING I WAS RIGHT AND YOU WERE WRONG WRONG WRONG! EBOLA HAS COME TO AMERICA AND WERE ALL GONNA DIE I HOPE YOURE HAPPY! Okay, maybe thats not what doctors are actually writing on the guys chart, but yeah, I heard. Thanks. Folks, the guy wasnt just walking down the street in Anytown, America and suddenly WHAMO! Surprise Ebola! He got it in Africa. In Liberia. From, you know, in the middle of the infection zone. By touching sick people. And yes, yes, YES. I know. He flew to the US on an OMFG! AIRPLANE! EBOLA! EBOLA! Except he wasnt showing any symptoms and likely he wasnt infectious. Unless you were sitting on his lap sucking on his tonsils, youre probably going to be okay. Again, perspective. Just as a comparison, 30,000 Americans died in car accidents last year. About that many died of gun violence. And drug overdoses. And from booze. And from the flu. And from just plain old booger eating stupidity. As an American, youre about a billion times more likely to trip over your cat and take a header down the stairs than you are to catch ebola on any given day. Should you be aware? Sure. Should you get the facts and take the same precautions you would during cold and flu season? (i.e. the same basic hygiene any intelligent person should be practicing every day?) Yes. Should you maybe rethink your Christmas vacation plans to the Congo? I dunno, ask the CDC. Should you be listening to the for-profit media panic mongers? They spread more snot-soaked pestilence than the actual disease, thats how they make a living, but now? Now youre going to take them at their word? Okay, you do that. Crawl into your bunker and weld the door shut behind you. Go right ahead. In fact, you know what? Dont go out in public, dont travel, DONT fly. I could use the leg room.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 23:50:33 +0000