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tularetom

(23,664 posts)

36. This is America, we panic over everything

Tue Aug 5, 2014, 01:28 PM

Aug 2014

What passes for news here is really fear mongering.

And our news media are quite skilled at keeping us scared shitless, particular when a scapegoat can be found for us to vent our fears on.

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Why would anyone panic over a very ill person [View all] MineralMan Aug 2014 OP

Fear motivates and sells if you want to sell upaloopa Aug 2014 #1

What is being sold in this case? MineralMan Aug 2014 #2

Fear of desease is in the media. That gets attention and next upaloopa Aug 2014 #3

I'm sorry, but I'm still not understanding your point. MineralMan Aug 2014 #5

I guess you don't watch TV or know how advertising time is sold upaloopa Aug 2014 #18

I do on both counts. MineralMan Aug 2014 #24

The news is being sold. jeff47 Aug 2014 #31

My newspaper had a poll this morning ... Historic NY Aug 2014 #68

I didn't get it either. cwydro Aug 2014 #89

We are a nation of woosies and the reality is that the fastest way to find a cure is if.... Bonhomme Richard Aug 2014 #4

A cure or vaccine for Ebola would be a wonderful thing. MineralMan Aug 2014 #7

You mean all the African pathologists and pharmaceutical companies are waiting for white Americans Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #9

Money, money, money, and politics. WCLinolVir Aug 2014 #51

Well, there's not much money in it for the pharaceutical companies laundry_queen Aug 2014 #62

Not really. longship Aug 2014 #39

Maybe I am being too snarky but it struck me....... Bonhomme Richard Aug 2014 #84

Because people in general sharp_stick Aug 2014 #6

I suppose. But death threats? Panic? MineralMan Aug 2014 #8

Death threats? From where? nt. NCTraveler Aug 2014 #11

Phone calls, emails, and letters have been MineralMan Aug 2014 #14

Don't see that as unusual. nt. NCTraveler Aug 2014 #15

Death threats are a dime a dozen sharp_stick Aug 2014 #13

It is a nasty virus and the symptoms are -- for lack of a better word -- spectacular. Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #16

Should I be afraid of Ebola? MineralMan Aug 2014 #23

Afraid? No. But with your driving analogy at least you have a degree of control Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #26

We have an annual epidemic of influenza. MineralMan Aug 2014 #33

OK, but none of that says Ebola CAN'T become a serious epidemic. Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #41

It's a matter of probabilities. MineralMan Aug 2014 #46

Of course the two most recent actual films about a viral epidemic portrayed Bluenorthwest Aug 2014 #27

All true but who wants to be numbered among the infected in the mean time? nt Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #32

Early symptoms are somewhat benign, like a flu. WCLinolVir Aug 2014 #55

That hospital is directly across the street from the CDC which has some of our foremost medical jwirr Aug 2014 #63

I'm not seeking to keep the patients out of the US. I'm merely presuming to voice Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #82

I work in a hospital. Do you? WorseBeforeBetter Aug 2014 #29

I think many people who have worked in hospitals feel the same way. mnhtnbb Aug 2014 #35

Yup. I'd say I'm somewhere between... WorseBeforeBetter Aug 2014 #42

Yes. I think you have to add in the fact these two people mnhtnbb Aug 2014 #49

No, I do not. I considered medical school and scored in the 90+ percentile MineralMan Aug 2014 #40

+10 840high Aug 2014 #56

Your concerns are justified because that is what keeps us safe in situations like this. Thank you. jwirr Aug 2014 #66

Thanks, jwirr. This was... WorseBeforeBetter Aug 2014 #77

Because people in general are ignorant about science AlbertCat Aug 2014 #75

There are no scary Hollywood movies about the flu n/t leftstreet Aug 2014 #10

Maybe there should be. Influenza has killed MineralMan Aug 2014 #12

Contagion was pretty good. nt redqueen Aug 2014 #19

Oh! leftstreet Aug 2014 #25

Ebola is a gruesome disease and few understand epidemiology REP Aug 2014 #17

I suppose, but there is a lot of information available about MineralMan Aug 2014 #21

That information is out there about the flu, whooping cough, etc ... REP Aug 2014 #43

I guess so. MineralMan Aug 2014 #45

prob the same reason people worry about vaccines but not polio, measles and chicken pox La Lioness Priyanka Aug 2014 #20

Yes. That's probably it. We act on almost zero information, but don't MineralMan Aug 2014 #22

makes more sense than panicking over a healthy person, doesn't it? unblock Aug 2014 #28

Because it makes people sit through commercials, awaiting the latest fear. arcane1 Aug 2014 #30

Because we're all being told to be afraid. GoCubsGo Aug 2014 #34

This is America, we panic over everything tularetom Aug 2014 #36

Well, you have to be pretty easily influenced cwydro Aug 2014 #90

Unfamiliarity jeff47 Aug 2014 #37

In 1991, I became a CDC statistic. While in Illinois, MineralMan Aug 2014 #44

But MinMan, Science is hard and Panic is easy!1! We are a nation of scientific illiterates, sadly Hekate Aug 2014 #91

We have had one too many disaster movies about this topic. totodeinhere Aug 2014 #38

Ebola is a Class-4 pathogen lapfog_1 Aug 2014 #47

We're very aware of it, and are actively studying it. MineralMan Aug 2014 #50

Form of isolationism, I think. malthaussen Aug 2014 #48

wan't this doctor also using isolation technique 2pooped2pop Aug 2014 #52

Isolation protocols where he was working are quite MineralMan Aug 2014 #54

It's a symptom of the rethug line that "government can't do anything right" Lee-Lee Aug 2014 #53

I'm a die-hard Dem and don't 840high Aug 2014 #57

WMDs in Iraq, Bush v Gore, NSA blanket surveillance, the Vietnam war, 'corporations are people', KurtNYC Aug 2014 #78

Either they think these two missionaries are foreigners and they do not want them in this country or jwirr Aug 2014 #58

I don't know. From what I've seen, the fretters on DU MineralMan Aug 2014 #60

Too bad about the biographies because that knowledge is exactly what makes me feal confident jwirr Aug 2014 #64

Yes. Biographies aren't very popular with folks, it seems. MineralMan Aug 2014 #67

People think irrationally and believe everything plays out like a movie. Drunken Irishman Aug 2014 #59

Hmm. Plague movies are works of fiction. MineralMan Aug 2014 #61

I think they know it...but it still molds how they look at viruses and shit like this. Drunken Irishman Aug 2014 #65

It makes me despair. MineralMan Aug 2014 #69

we lost a lot of friends when my wife was diagnosed with leukemia dembotoz Aug 2014 #70

I think everyone with a deadly illness faces that. MineralMan Aug 2014 #72

OK, dembotoz? They were not your friends. Skittles Aug 2014 #86

I agree that many people do not handle illness very well ... slipslidingaway Aug 2014 #87

Remember killer bees? Spitfire of ATJ Aug 2014 #71

LOL! MineralMan Aug 2014 #74

I definitely worry about the flights. hamsterjill Aug 2014 #73

Ebola is actually pretty well understood, in terms of communicability. MineralMan Aug 2014 #76

Not just a very ill person malaise Aug 2014 #79

Libertarianism in a Nutshell: MineralMan Aug 2014 #81

That's it in a nutshell malaise Aug 2014 #92

Americans have grown soft. Katashi_itto Aug 2014 #80

Because the media must sell ad time... awoke_in_2003 Aug 2014 #83

because they are stupid Skittles Aug 2014 #85

Ebola is a level 4 pathogen. Iron Man Aug 2014 #88