Friday, May 01, 2009
This swine flu craziness demonstrates in capital letters why excessive TV watching makes you bat-shit crazy.
I've thought that for quite awhile. If you watch local Los Angeles TV news, you'd think the city was overrun by gangs, murders, exploding houses, car chases, and strange people taking photos near elementary schools. Yes, those things happen. Los Angeles is also a city with more than 15 million people in the greater metropolitan area. If you had as many bad things happening in Kalamazoo, Michigan, you'd be right to assume that something weird had found its way into the water supply, making everyone act like homicidal maniacs in a real-world version of the movie "The Signal."
But, in a city of 15 million people, you are bound to find people somewhere doing crazy things. TV newscasters in the LA area have an easy time finding disturbing things to report, and since reporting on the negative aspects of big city life makes people watch more TV news, they tend to emphasize the negatives.
The swine flu "pandemic" is following a similar trajectory. Granted, like SARS, it is probably a flu that its best to avoid catching, but when people start to speak of it like the Black Death's second coming (as FOX news apparently did recently), you know the people who pick stories in back rooms are spinning a bit too fast in their chairs.
I've thought that for quite awhile. If you watch local Los Angeles TV news, you'd think the city was overrun by gangs, murders, exploding houses, car chases, and strange people taking photos near elementary schools. Yes, those things happen. Los Angeles is also a city with more than 15 million people in the greater metropolitan area. If you had as many bad things happening in Kalamazoo, Michigan, you'd be right to assume that something weird had found its way into the water supply, making everyone act like homicidal maniacs in a real-world version of the movie "The Signal."
But, in a city of 15 million people, you are bound to find people somewhere doing crazy things. TV newscasters in the LA area have an easy time finding disturbing things to report, and since reporting on the negative aspects of big city life makes people watch more TV news, they tend to emphasize the negatives.
The swine flu "pandemic" is following a similar trajectory. Granted, like SARS, it is probably a flu that its best to avoid catching, but when people start to speak of it like the Black Death's second coming (as FOX news apparently did recently), you know the people who pick stories in back rooms are spinning a bit too fast in their chairs.
Labels: swine flu
