Tuesday, May 5, 2009

the tail effects of the swine flu.

I want to express my thoughts on this swine flu. I really am confused at how and why the media can take whatever news it wants and blow it to this proportion. Over a week ago CNN was reporting that there were over 2000 cases of swine flu in Mexico when the world wide number is still below 1200 today.

I was in Mexico City when the hype was hitting and it was almost impossible not to get caught up in the fear. They were making announcements about the swine flu, passing out free masks, and giving surveys about the illness. The scary thing was that I had all the symptoms of the swine flu. I sat in the airport with a headache, fever, achy, stuffy nose, and a cough. Mentally I knew it was impossible that I had the swine flu but in the back of my head the pandemonium made me doubt it. For the next week I watched the news unfold as I continued to have all these symptoms but my doctor told me this was all a media hype.

I think we have to be very careful what we trust in, even the news. Now a week later the headlines have changed to a new fad. It went from Saudi Arabian pirates, to swine flu, to who knows what this week. We need to remember that the love of Christ casts out all fear but the media thrives on this fear so you will return to it time and time again. I'm not cursing the news but just saying that we need to be careful how we let it shape us.

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