Swine Flu: Never Fear, You Can Still Eat Bacon!

This bacon is perfectly safe for consumption.

Your Bacon Is Safe

After seeing days and days of swine flu converage, I kept asking the same question:  CAN I EAT THE BACON??  Well, I am pleased to report that today I heard on the radio that you can in fact eat bacon, as well as any other pork product you’re craving.  So, next time you hear someone on the news talking about how swine flu is threatening to wipe out humanity, just remember that you can still eat bacon.  That’s gauranteed to raise the mood at least 5 points.

Just What Is this Swine Influenza?

Now that I know the bacon is safe, I can begin actually looking at the illness part.  As far as I can tell, this is no different than the seasonal flu, other than the fact that we have no vaccine.  The swine flu can, however, be treated with conventional methods, such as Tamaflu.  So why is everyone freaking out?  Well, I’m not really sure.  Thousands die annually in the U.S. because of the seasonal flu, but so far the swine flu has killed only 1 in the U.S., and about 160 in Mexico.  So the swine flu is no more dangerous than the regular old flu that everyone gets at least once in their life.  I’m no doctor, but from everything I’ve seen and read, there really isn’t much reason to be in a wad about this.  However, the media, the fact that this virus is coming at a time that we aren’t used to having the flu, and the “special name” are all playing a part in this mass hysteria.

The Reason(s) the World is Holding It’s Breathe

Just a rule of thumb:  Take what you hear on the news and divide it by 2.  They very rarely resist from embellishing situations and causing wide spread panic.  It doesn’t help that the World Health Organization has elevated it’s “pandemic” threat level to 5 (there are only 6 steps).  I googled around and could find very little info on this rating, but I did gather that the seasonal flu, the one that kills thousands annually, doesn’t even get a rating.  They just skip over and the scale to “seasonal” status.  So technically, the season flu could kill 90% of the world and still be marked “seasonal”, putting it at a lower level than the swine flu that has killed less than 200.  Like I said, I’m no expert, but this doesn’t seem to add up.  If anyone has an additional info, please let me know!

Another factor playing into the hysteria is the simple fact that we aren’t used to having flu cases in April and into May.  Whether we realize it or not, we get into a routine in everything we do.  It’s ingrained into all of our memory banks that when fall/winter come around, the flu begins as well.  It’s the same with the avian (bird) flu of several years ago.  It never caused any problems, but produced lots of panic throughout the globe just because we weren’t used to it and didn’t know how to react.  This is no different.

Finally, the special name of swine flu seems to just send shivers down our spines.  The other day I was talking to a friend of mine and mentioned the swine flu.  He had little to no prior knowledge of the illness, but the very word worried him.  I can assure, he’s not the only that has ever done that.  I would be willing to bet that if we called the seasonal flu “homo-sapien flu” or “humanoid influenza”, there would be much more of a worlwide stir every year, or at least the first we changed the name.  It’s similar to the point above, we just aren’t used to this.

Bottom Line

Don’t get your britches in a wad over the swine flu!  You can still eat bacon, and it’s not more severe than the regular seasonal flu.  It’s been hyped beyond belief and it’s freaking out America and the world.  Just like bird flu of years past, this will fade and we will still be hear.  Just use common sense when in public (wash your hands, avoid the restroom, etc.  Stuff that you should do anyway).  If you have survived the regular flu, you have the same chance of surviving the swine flu on the off chance you become infected.

Hope this helps and thanks for reading!

What do you think of the swine flu hysteria?  Leave your comments below or e-mail me at theconservativejournal@gmail.com.  Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS Feed here and the daily e-mail newsletter here.

Thanks again for stopping by.

Rick