Media loves the swine flu / Ruby Tuesday

Doesn't the media just love a pandemic? It’s almost as good as a terrorist incident and it’s even better than a juicy murder or a pit bull attack. Pandemics are great for selling papers and holding viewers in thrall. Personally I try to avoid reports of these kinds of things because they make me nervous and I don’t like that feeling. It interrupts the flow of my day.

At our house we don’t get the daily newspaper, and we don’t have cable TV. We get our news from the radio and from the local weekly. That way we hear the headlines and get a bit of analysis but we don’t have to experience the blow-by-blow freaking out about the terrible things.
Oh yeah, the internet helps too. I like reading blogs and alternative press on my computer. It gives me a perspective on the news.

Swine flu is the latest. But remember the avian flu? Remember SARS? Remember Y2K? We all react as if the sky were falling and the media just pumps up the fear factor. To me it’s the fear that’s the problem.

How can we live our lives when we’re afraid of invisible germs or computer viruses or attacks from the sky? A city full of scared people (or even worse a country) is not a nice place to be. The fear sets up an erratic energy that can move in very strange ways. I’m not worrying about swine flu (although I am washing my hands more). I’m not worrying about anything that I can’t do something about. If it comes to my town I’ll do whatever I can to get through it. Live each day to the fullest, I say. All we have is today.


Here's today's photo for Ruby Tuesday. It's the sun on the flowering currant in my back yard.

Now I’m going to feed my dogs.