Filip Plesha Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 Reading about prediction from people at WHO, it's really depressing. They say its just a matter of time when it happens and that in worst case 1.5 billion people could die, and that entire nations could be wiped out in the third world. sounds like a bad drea, my brain just can't concieve that is will most likely happen in the next few years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickson Sorensen Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 Reading about prediction from people at WHO, it's really depressing. They say its just a matter of time when it happens and that in worst case 1.5 billion people could die, and that entire nations could be wiped out in the third world. sounds like a bad drea, my brain just can't concieve that is will most likely happen in the next few years And in the year 2000 all computers will stop working. And film will be replaced by video tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominik Muench Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 so far worldwide 70 people have died of bird flue, bird flue is known since 70 years and since this time every year a few birds die of that fever in almost every country.every year 2000 !!!! people die in europe of normal flue or pneumonia. whos panicing there ? what to worry about ? sure it is something that has to be monitored carefully, but its just panic making at the moment. after all pharmaceutical companies wanna sell their "tamiflue" vaccinations. health is a business as hard and as dirty as any other ;) just stay away form those deep fried seagulls they sell at macstupid and kfc ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 Bird Flu? You mean, Media Flu? FADE IN: NEWSROOM DAY. The news director enters. News Director: Ok what have we got on for today folks? Producer: Nothing, not a darn thing, no murder, rape, bank robbery, fires, floods, nothing good at all. News Director: Right, throw on a Bird Flu story, that always scares the crap out of people. Producer: Right chief!! ((Yes I know my script is in play format)) You might think my above scenario is a joke, well I worked in TV newsrooms for many years and I can tell you this is not a joke. That is litterally what they do. And right now nothing grabs ratings more than Idiot Flu, er I mean Bird Flu. At the last news operation I worked at the story to toss on during a slow news day was, high gas prices. "That always pisses people off," the senior producer would say. Did you see that last episode of Scrubs on NBC? They actually made fun of this very concept. The doctors are sitting at home and the news woman announces an outbreak of E. Coli. The doctors have scared looks on their faces because they know that once the media does this the er will be flooded with stupid people who think they have what they media says they should have. They arrive at the hospital and there's no one there, they think this isn't so bad, next thing they know the whole hospital starts to shake as thousands of people storm the er all claiming to have E. Coli. The media drive this nonsense, don't pay any attention to those idiots! I hope members of the news media read this, don't think I can be fooled I used to be one of you!! R, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filip Plesha Posted March 18, 2006 Author Share Posted March 18, 2006 And in the year 2000 all computers will stop working. And film will be replaced by video tape. There is no trouble now because the virus has not mutated into a form that can be carried among humans. In 1918 5% of world population died of spanish flu That's the same type of virus, only that one was called N1H1, and this one is a different mutation A deadly flu pandemy is something that happens every few decades, periodically, what makes you think it would magically stop happening this time? All it really takes is one man with regular flue to get the Bird flu, and the virus would mutate into a form where it can be transmited from human to human The media drive this nonsense, don't pay any attention to those idiots! I hope members of the news media read this, don't think I can be fooled I used to be one of you So media keeps inventing a deadly flu pandemy every 20 years or so? How come millions die then, placebo effect from media? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 "So media keeps inventing a deadly flu pandemy every 20 years or so? How come millions die then, placebo effect from media?" What millions are you talking about?????????? Millions have not died from bird flu. I see the media has done a nice job on you, you buy the crap they spew out. R, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Hughes Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 Of course no millions have died from bird flu yet. But as they say, past performance is no indicator of future &etc... Could go any which way. A few years ago (1999) I distinctly remember senior market analysts' interviews on television, saying with a straight face that the new economy exists so that stock markets can not go down, they can only go up. And we all know how true those predictions were. :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jijhh Posted March 18, 2006 Share Posted March 18, 2006 richard, the millions filip was referring to were the millions who died from the spanish flu in the early 1900s, not from bird flu. he was merely giving an example of what these pandemics are possible of, which i think is somewhat credible as i can't imagine there's some huge difference between spanish flu and bird flu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 19, 2006 Share Posted March 19, 2006 Here's a classic example of media hysteria that happened just recently. Any one heard of SARS? I live in southern Ontario, which was ground zero for the outbreak in North America. After all the hysteria and flap fewer than 50 people died. Good grief how many people die each day in Canada and the USA from drunk driving and smoking? Well over 50. The whole thing was driven by an out of control media obsessed with TV ratings and scaring the crap out of stupid people. And since stupid people are 85% of the population they succeeded very well. A pilot friend of mine nearly started a riot in a US airport when he told the woman at the check in counter that he was from Toronto. People started freaking out and running for their lives, these daft as door knobs people actually thought they might catch SARS just because my friend was from Toronto. If you believe in a million dying from bird flu then I have some nice real estate in New Orleans I want to offer you. R, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted March 19, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted March 19, 2006 It's a tough line to draw between impressing upon the public the need to take flu outbreaks and a potential pandemic seriously in order to get action on the part of institutions, governments, industries, and general populations to work on preventing an outbreak, and simply creating hysteria for the sake of TV ratings and newspaper sales. It seems, unfortunately, that you really have to scare people in order to get them to do anything preventative. For example, there have been no atomic bomb attacks on populations since 1945, but that doesn't mean we no longer have to worry about the proliferation and potential use of nuclear weapons. So when the media scares people about a possible terrorist attack using a small nuke, does it help or hurt? Does it lead people to take disarmament and non-proliferation talks more seriously -- or merely create a climate of fear that gets strong-armed militaristic politicians elected? I don't know. Sometimes people DO need to get scared, but it really depends on how they handle their fear and what actions it causes them to take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filip Plesha Posted March 19, 2006 Author Share Posted March 19, 2006 What millions are you talking about?????????? Millions have not died from bird flu. In 1918, 40 million people have died, in 1957 two million people worldwide. All within months. It's always a bird flu virus that keeps returning in different mutations (N1H1,N2H1 etc.) which i think is somewhat credible as i can't imagine there's some huge difference between spanish flu and bird flu. The spanish flu was another variation of the bird flu. Only the new one (N5H1) is a bit more agressive. That's where the alarm comes from. Considering the qualities of this mutation compared to the one that happened during the pandemic of spanish flu, if the same happened as in 1918, there would be possibly more victims. It's a tough line to draw between impressing upon the public the need to take flu outbreaks and a potential pandemic seriously in order to get action on the part of institutions, governments, industries, and general populations to work on preventing an outbreak, and simply creating hysteria for the sake of TV ratings and newspaper sales. It seems, unfortunately, that you really have to scare people in order to get them to do anything preventative. For example, there have been no atomic bomb attacks on populations since 1945, but that doesn't mean we no longer have to worry about the proliferation and potential use of nuclear weapons. So when the media scares people about a possible terrorist attack using a small nuke, does it help or hurt? Does it lead people to take disarmament and non-proliferation talks more seriously -- or merely create a climate of fear that gets strong-armed militaristic politicians elected? I don't know. Sometimes people DO need to get scared, but it really depends on how they handle their fear and what actions it causes them to take. I have not quoted any journalists in this thread. What I'm talking about are the opinions form the scientists of WHO refered to in many articles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Keith Mottram Posted March 20, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted March 20, 2006 i'm more worried about zombies, I mean I've had flu and I survived, but those zombies they eat your brains... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Collier Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 I live in alaska, close to asia, and it has been predicted that we will see the first outbreaks in the US. last I heard from ABC national, is that we will see the flu in as little as 3 weeks (this prediction was broadcast 2 weeks ago) the problem is we just got another foot dump of snow last night, and I dont see migratory birds start to show up until June. who knows if I see a parakeet headed out to Gridwood toating skis with him, then I will be worried. But I am in the media and have been talking to people at the CDC and around town who are experts in this field. In the last few months we have gone from relativley few confirmed cases, to several per week. no this doesnt mean that it is a sure sign of an outbreak, but bird to human occurances are getting mroe frequent. Dont panic, just know/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolfe Klement Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Anyone noticed what the share price for Tamaflu has done since the bird flu scare? How many billion dollars did the US and UK spend on Tamaflu - yet both governments cut the budget for primary education? How can a virus that is not transmitted between humans be a H5N1? What about the same scare in 84 when they thought AIDS would mutate and be carried by mosquitos? Anyone seen how many people (and children) die every day in Africa from semi automatic weapons? Rule number one - "it is all about the benjamins" my 2 cents Rolfe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filip Plesha Posted March 21, 2006 Author Share Posted March 21, 2006 Well the scare comes from the fact that it has happened before, periodically, not from imagination Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Keith Mottram Posted March 21, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted March 21, 2006 Well the scare comes from the fact that it has happened before, periodically, not from imagination so have zombies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K Borowski Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 My take: The media (especially in the United States) blows everything out of proportion. Were one to take the 10 o'clock news as an accurate snapshot of America, we do nothing but break the law, use drugs, murder one another, and succumb to deadly epidemics. The media's overreporting of some issues might do more damage through desensitization than not reporting such things at all. I feel this is true of the possible Bird Flu Pandemic. They blow it way out of proportion, and then when nothing comes of it, people treat it as if it were a joke (as most of what the media reports is). We need to be constantly vigilant, but not take it to the point of hysteria. The Ebola Virus, AIDS, and a Flu Pandemic are not issues that any sane person would take lightly. At the same time, there's not really much the average joe (especially a Joe Cinematographer) can do about it. The best one can do is be vigilant and not be stupid about it. "Hey, I have this really weird flu I caught while vacationing in Europe, but I won't tell customs about it when I fly back to the US." = STUPID Let us hope our elected officials and scientists can help reduce any impact that one of these threats can have should isomething like this happen. In terms of probability, it is a mathematical certainty, that, over time, there WILL be another serious disease outbreak. Anyone that has taken Calculus or knows what the limit of a mathematical function approaching infinity is knows what I mean. Regards. ~Karl Borowski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Hughes Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 And what happened to Anthrax? One month it was all over the media - all anthrax, all the time - then the next day it was - anth what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Tyler Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 Keep an eye out for those killer bees too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Dan Goulder Posted April 6, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted April 6, 2006 I caught the Bird Flu Pandemic when they opened up for Anthrax at the Forum. Awesome show! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bass Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 Don't you guys know anything? Not ALL zombies eat your brains. Some spew acid, and some will eat any part of you they can, infecting you with Zombitis in the process. Do your research, people. Jesus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Pacini Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 You guys who doubt this is going to happen, need to do some homework. It is YOU who are only getting your information from the mainstream media, so that's why you think this all originated there. Believe me, I think the media is full of crap most of the time, but that doesn't mean that EVERYTHING they say isn't so. This is like denying that there is a war going on in Iraq, just because we keep hearing about it in the media. THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE, and by the way, there were lots of people in 1918 laughing it off too... until it showed up and wiped out 25% of their towns. You need to get on the WHO website and do some reading. I read a book about the 1918 pandemic, and let me tell you, this is some scary poop. And it has happened since the beginning of time, and will continue to happen until the end of time. MP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Peich Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 Breaking news..... In an attempt to thwart the spread of the bird flu, George W. Bush has bombed the Canary Islands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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