Comments on: Fear Factory

By: ER

ER — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 13:23:38 +0000

And sometimes there’s plenty of smoke, but still no fire.

By: RL

RL — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 01:14:09 +0000

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-ebola-usaelections-idUSKCN0IA0BB20141021

Ebola has moved to the front of campaign issues before U.S. November elections, as fear and criticism of the government's response to cases of the virus in the United States opened a new line of Republican attacks against President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats. Republican Senate candidates have bashed Obama's handling of Ebola, linking it to border security and calling for a travel ban from West African countries hardest hit by the virus.

And if you want a trip to insanity: https://www.google.com/#q=obama+bringing+ebola

By: SDG

SDG — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 23:23:31 +0000

I don’t watch the news and avoid right-wing sites, so I don’t remember ebola being used as a weapon against Obama. The media coverage I remember, just not the part about Obama.

Still, I don’t think you can make the case that zika is being downplayed compared to ebola and also recognize that zika is hardly the threat ebola was. Since zika is a much smaller threat it stands to reason there is less worry and news about it.

I’ll grant you the political what-ifs in the South are intriguing.

By: ER

ER — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 20:07:36 +0000

What I was pointing out was how they are being handled differently in the political arena. Ebola was used as a weapon against the Obama administration, as if his alleged incompetence in dealing with it was going to threaten the entire country. Of course, the epidemic fizzled out on its own, just as the medical authorities predicted, because it was attacked at its source, in Africa.

But I predict that if Zika does become a serious problem it is inevitable that a major treatment option will be abortion of potentially infected fetuses. How this plays out in places like Texas or the Deep South, where the Aedes mosquito and anti-abortion sentiment is common, is going to have profound political implications. Whether or not it does become a problem, or if there is a sudden upsurge in demand for abortions in states where they are strongly discouraged is simply speculation on my part. But we live in a society that even politicizes its public health priorities (Remember AIDS?)

By: SDG

SDG — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 18:20:18 +0000

Ebola was a threat to everyone and was transferred through direct contact. The perception of Zika is that it is only a real threat to pregnant women or women who wish to become pregnant. Also delivery by mosquito is a much lesser threat in colder climates. Zika is still serious, but a drastically smaller percentage of the population need be overly worried.

The Olympics factor is an interesting wrinkle. I think its purposely being downplayed some, because attendance is already down and nobody wants to see the Olympics fail.

By: ER

ER — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 04:02:51 +0000

Or is the Zika Crisis being deliberately downplayed? Its hard to tell without real statistics, which I have absolutely none of. But I get the feeling that the possibility of a Zika epidemic is not receiving the same breathless attention Ebola was. And remember, Ebola was never considered a big health problem in the US by our health authorities, but as you point out, that didn’t stop it from being manipulated into a big issue.

I know I’m an overly suspicious cuss, but could it possibly be that a real Zika outbreak in the US, or even a perceived Zika epidemic, would lead to a substantially increased demand for abortions? And that could spell big trouble for a political party determined to frustrate or even reverse women’s choice rights, and which relies on that heavily in its political calculations.

Remember the thalidomide scare? That did not have the culture war or political implications of Zika, but the prospect of thousands of cases of highly-visible microcephaly across the population would have a profound effect on voters. Right now, the Zika situation in Brazil is not being well-publicized, and is not very well documented or even understood, but with the Olympics getting underway, and with all the international travel we can expect to that country, this could really become a big issue. The press would push it, because it sells papers. But there would be a lot of pressure to downplay the story, too, with an election coming up in November. Talk about an October Surprise…

How ya doin’, Marshal Mcluhan? Welcome to the global village.