PANIC PANIC PANIC!

"I don't eat that" - Paris Hilton, regarding swine flu

"Bracing for the Worst" was the headline of the Examiner today, paired with a picture of people in surgical face masks. I admit I kind of rolled my eyes when I saw it.

This whole swine flu mania is kind of bugging me. And when I say "mania," I'm referring to the fear-mongering media and their love for instilling a sense of panic in the general public. A general public that is already afraid of everything, including anyone with the name Hussein, plastic water bottles and Mexicans. Oh, and don't get us started on our Black president (whose middle name also happens to be Hussein - a rather unfortunate coincidence).

The whole sky-is-falling mentality almost got me for about half a second until I realized what any semi-rational person would, which is that tens of thousands of people die from flu-related causes every year, and the only reason people are freaking out right now is because there is no vaccine for this particular strain of flu. It's not easily controlled in that respect, which can be understandably a little unnerving. But flu vaccines are overrated anyway, in my opinion. At least for me - vaccines generally don't work at all for me. I end up getting sick anyway - and probably more sick than I would have had I simply contracted the flu without getting a vaccine in the first place.

Swine flu doesn't scare me. People who panic scare me. People who freak out and slaughter tens of thousands of pigs when there hasn't even been a single case of swine flu reported in their country scare me.

I don't doubt swine flu can be more dangerous for some than others, just like any form of the flu can be. Toddlers, elderly people and those with sensitive immune systems should likely take extra precaution and avoid public places. We get it. Mass hysteria, however, is probably not the best solution to the problem, people.

Me? I'm trying to appreciate the humor in a rather twisted, disturbing situation, and I thank God for some of the more rational people on the planet who can laugh at this with me:


Oh, and I've already got my eye on this season's hottest masks to hit Mexico City. When the time comes to truly panic, at least I'll still be able to demonstrate my keen sense of fashion: Stylin' Face Masks