There’s a lady on my bus every day, who I call “Texas” because…well…she’s from Texas. She will take any opportunity, on any topic of conversation, to take a cheap shot at people from south of our border. I’m certain that, to her, quite literally anything can be blamed on illegal immigrants. And…she’s not alone. Over the last few years, Nashville, Tennessee has see a dramatic increase in its Hispanic population. And many of the city’s fine citizens, who learned years ago that it is inappropriate to voice racist sentiments about black people…now do not hesitate to whisper a vile sentiment about “those Mexicans.”
Today, in the wake of the Swine Flu outbreaks…they didn’t whisper. I frequently heard awful, even nonsensical, attacks against Hispanics…and some of the more extreme people I ran across today mixed their overt racism with allegations that the flu “might be a part of a biological, airborne, terrorist attack.”
So, I thought I’d post some links and information:
SWINE FLU NEWS:
- The World Health Organization has raised the pandemic level to PHASE 5! Oh my God…what does that mean? Oh. It just means that “there is sustained human to human spread in at least two countries?” Well…I thought it would be something a lot more dramatic than that. It also means that they will be ramping up vaccine production…but don’t get your hopes up. The U.S. gets most of its vaccines from other countries, and I seriously doubt they want to share their supplies with us right when they need them, too. In all likelihood, by the time they had a vaccine available for all Americans…the pandemic will have run its course. On a related note, someone asked me today, “Why is this any different that the influenza outbreaks that happen every year…thousands of people die from those, don’t they?” She’s right. Every year, different flu strains sweep across the globe, killing thousands of people in the U.S., alone. In short – every year there is a flu pandemic. Every year it spreads like wildfire. Every year it hops from country to country. Every year it kills LOTS of people. What makes this one different: it seems to be killing not the just the very young and the very old…but some of those healthy people “in between.” If it wasn’t…I doubt we’d be hearing so much about it.
- Here is the Center for Disease Control’s page, were they are keep track, state by state, of the confirmed cases and deaths. As of this writing, there are 91 confirmed cases, and one death in Texas. 51 of those cases are in New York – for those complaining about “immigrants bringing the flu over our borders,” lets try to remember WHY there are so many cases in New York: AMERICAN schoolchildren returning from a trip to Mexico brought it into their school.
POLITICIANS BEHAVING LIKE PIGS:
- The Obama Administration would really like everyone to stop calling it “Swine Flu,” and to start calling it “the H1N1 Virus,” because they are afraid that the association with pigs will hurt the hog/pork industry. Really? They ought to know by now that if you want Americans to go with a new name, you’ve got to come up with something better sounding than “the H1N1 Virus.” You need a pronounceable acronym, like “SARS,” or something sinister-sounding like “the Marburg Virus,” or something exotic like “Ebola.”
- Showing they still don’t know the meaning of the word, “priorities,” Republicans CONTINUED to filibuster the nomination of Kathleen Sibelius for Health and Human Services secretary. That’s right: even though we are facing a potential PANDEMIC…they would rather have NOBODY in charge of our primary government health organization, than to have a woman in charge of it who believes in a woman’s right to choose. NOTE: Sibelius was eventually confirmed.
- Remember how Republicans made fun of the “volcano monitoring” funds in the stimulus bill, only to look a bit foolish as volcanoes erupted across Alaska? Well guess who also caused money for “pandemic preparedness” to be cut from the stimulus package? Yup. They did. In their defense, RNC chair Michael Steele said “Did we know this at the time of the vote? Don’t come back and make this link six months after the fact … we don’t know what tomorrow holds.” Ummm…Michael? That’s exactly WHY we devote funds to things like volcanoes and pandemic preparedness…it’s BECAUSE we don’t know what tomorrow holds. The rest of us call it “anticipating problems” and “being prepared.”
- Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, never one to disappoint, would like everyone to know that the flu…is the Democrats’ fault. No really….that’s what she said. Here’s the clip. She tries to point out that this outbreak occurred while a Democrat is in the White House, and the previous outbreak in 1976 occurred while Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, was president. Except…in 1976, Gerald Ford was president…a Republican. Oh well, little things like “the facts” have never stopped Bachmann from saying things before…why should they now?
MEDIA GOES TO THE HOGS:
- Several conservative talking heads have used this flu outbreak as a platform to advance their anti-Mexican (disguised as anti-illegal immigrant) views. Michael Savage said “Illegal aliens are bringing in a deadly new flue strain. Make no mistake about it,” despite the fact that most confirmed cases have resulted from Americans returning from Mexico…and there’s the possibility that the disease actually started here, the the U.S. Michelle Malkin had this to say: “I’ve blogged for years about the spread of contagious diseases from around the world into the US as a result of uncontrolled immigration.” Glenn Beck chimed in with “What happens if there’s a rash of deaths in Mexico… and if you’re a family in Mexico and people are dying and Americans are not, why wouldn’t you flood this border?” Neal Boortz tried to establish the “terrorism link” with his theory: “What better way to sneak a virus into this country than to give it to Mexicans….then spread a rumor there there are construction jobs here, and there they come.” Mr. Boortz…if the terrorists had the ability to create such a virus, they could just as easily introduce it DIRECTLY into the U.S., doing far greater damage because there would be less warning. To use Savage’s words…make no mistake: these are not really arguments about immigration…these people are directly appealing to the xenophobic and racist sentiments of many Americans. They are using this as an excuse to tell people “Mexicans are not to be trusted…they shouldn’t be allowed in OUR country…they will give you the flu and take your jobs.” Jon Stewart takes a shot at the the ridiculous level of fearmongering with this clip:
- The media who aren’t using this as a platform for racism…are over-dramatizing it to a ridiculous extent. I could give examples, but Jon Stewart does it so much better:
THE TERRORIST ANGLE:
- This idea is so without merit…I don’t even have a link to give you. Let me get this straight…current evidence suggests that a kid down in Mexico is “Patient Zero.” He lives near a large, American-co-owned hog farm (Smithfield Foods of Virginia)…and the residents of his community have been complaining for some time that their town is being polluted by the farm’s waste. So what do you think started the outbreak: A) The nasty pig farm next to the Mexican village, B) It came from China, through the U.S. and on to Mexico (some officials suggest this), C) Terrorists, or D) Space Aliens? If you chose A or B…you might be right…as for C and D, they have equal merit (or lack of merit) since there IS NO EVIDENCE OF EITHER.
Please…try not to get whipped into a panic by the news. Try to be aware of racial innuendos in what people are saying. And whatever you do…go see a doctor if you develop a fever, headaches, and/or joint pain; don’t be that person who goes into work and gives it to everyone else.