Comments on: Déjà Flu

By: Ron D

Ron D — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:52:45 +0000

JK,

Darn, now I know how Oprah felt.

Ron D

By: JK

JK — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:14:47 +0000

Ron. I’m afraid the two names you’ve submitted aren’t gonna be given the consideration they each deserve. Seems there’s a helluva lot of either “sensitive to” or “likely to piss somebody off” people where this particular flu is concerned.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30461327/

I think as far as changing the name to something other than “swine, pig – porcine” (which would piss off my ex-wife) “hog” (which would piss of fans of the Arkansas Razorbacks) that as you so astutely point out – let’s settle on Malcolm’s title for the piece.

Good thing you didn’t take me up on the “Name This Flu” contest Malcolm, people would’ve thought there was somthing fishy going on.

By: Ron D

Ron D — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:34:09 +0000

Mal,

First, the title of this post is worthy of the NY Post. Excellent job.

Let me be the first of offer up the two obvious choices for renaming the flu: Mad Pig or Angry Hog disease.

Ron D

By: the one eyed man

the one eyed man — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:27:47 +0000

Sounds like the old Firesign Theater skit of “Beat the Reaper,” where contestants are injected with a “mystery disease” and given sixty seconds to figure out what it is (or else succumb to the disease).

By: bob koepp

bob koepp — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:29:58 +0000

Earlier today, I eavesdropped on an interesting conversation between several MDs. They were wondering aloud whether the “flu” that has killed about 150 people in Mexico is actually the same strain that is turning up in other locales. The fact that it’s otherwise healthy, youngish adult males succumbing in Mexico was perplexing the good doctors. What kind of flu behaves like that? So, may be a “Name that Flu” contest isn’t such a stretch, after all…

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:28:43 +0000

A “Name this flu” contest? I’m sure our readers — a witty lot — would come up with some gems, but nobody would listen.

Pearls before swine, you might say.

By: JK

JK — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:08:14 +0000

Well maybe we can just forget about this instance of “swine flu” nonsense and there will be no actual cases recognized as such. But then, we may have a bunch of pissed off Mexicans.

Malcolm? Perhaps you ought to create a “Name this flu” contest (with some suitable prize of course).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30453557/

By: Kevin Kim

Kevin Kim — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:12:45 +0000

re: previous comment

Wise words, and all the more reason to appreciate the current, seemingly lackadaisical American response when compared to the rest of the world, which seems to be in freak-out mode — again. As of today, all current swine flu deaths are in Mexico, a country of 110 million people. There are, at present, only a few dozen confirmed cases worldwide, which is statistically minuscule if the global population is pushing 7 billion.

Kevin

By: Was there

Was there — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:38:22 +0000

I was in the military at the time. We were ordered to take the swine flu vaccination. We were given no choice: report for vaccination or be arrested. It wasn’t known until later that the vaccine could cause an autoimmune reaction that resulted in a neurological condition called Guillian Barre syndrome – a disease that results in progressive paralysis, sometimes to the point to where the victim must be placed on life support for months. It is often fatal. The swine flu vaccination program is one of the first instances of the kind of knee-jerk reaction that would become commonplace in the U.S.