Bureaucracy Pushes Swine Flu

As I had implied in my earlier posts, Swine Flu is not as dangerous as the Media had suggested. And guess what? The whole story has been dropped from the BBC's and Sky News' front page.

So what happened? And why is our Bureaucratic society still pumping out advice leaflets which have come much too late and are completely counter-factual?

The answer to the first question is rather easy. The reason that Swine Flu was dropped as a story is because it doesn't make money anymore. A few days ago it turned out that there were hardly any real cases of Swine Flu. It certainly wasn't a Pandemic. However, instead of the Media companies admitting to blowing the whole thing out of proportion, the Mexican Government was blamed for over-reacting. I don't think it's particularly fair to start blaming the Mexicans for getting it wrong. Since when do we hear out news from Mexico?

The interesting thing is that the 'Economic Downturn' is back in our midst. As soon as the Swine Flu story died, a new fearmongering story about the drop in house prices has burst onto the scene. And for some reason there is also a story about a woman who had a face transplant.... which is pretty cool.

So, if the threat wasn't really there and the Media companies have stopped reporting on it, why are we still getting letters and leaflets through from the Government and our Employers? I recieved a badly photocopied 'Health Information and Advice' leaflet from my University today which states that Swine Flu "has already proved to lead to deaths at a higher rate than usual". Didn't I say that normal Flu kills at least 680 people a day? The Swine Flu death toll hasn't come near that, and it probably wont. And what about the "Catch It! Bin It! Kill It!" thing? Surely it's a bit late considering it's all under control, right?

Final Thought Byte : So what does this show about our society? Well, to start with it shows that our Bureaucratic tendencies are still alive and that the old Bureaucratic Engine is still very hard to stop. Unfortunately, the recent events have also shown us the impact that the Media has on our whole society. It's a real shame that everyone, no matter who they are, are so willing to believe everything they are told on TV.

Tags : Swine Flu, Pandemic, BBC, Sky News, Bureaucracy