Once upon a time, there a lived a young boy, who had a job as a journalist. Everyday, he had to create sensationalist media that would inspire the nation to grab a copy of his petty tabloid. He could lie, and he could fabricate, as long as the articles were written.
One day, he heard a little rumour about something called SARS. He wrote a lengthy article telling the nation them that SARS was a deadly disease that was spreading across the world! The nation fell into panic, isolating themselves for weeks on end, wearing masks to work, and keeping themselves regularly informed via the petty tabloid! But then that piece of news died out, and the nation thought, 'bloody media!'. They were not happy to be made fools of.
The success of his article had worked wonders for the journalist. But once again he was running low on bullsh*t. He heard some rumours about something called Bird Flu, and he thought 'well it worked last time!'. He wrote, yet again, a lengthy article, telling the nation that Bird Flu was a deadly disease that was spreading across the world, and would bring thousands of us to our deaths! The nation fell into panic, isolating themselves, once again, for weeks on end, avoiding all poultry products at any costs, and keeping themselves regularly informed via the petty tabloid. But then that piece of news died out, and the nation thought 'bloody media!'. They were not happy to be made fools of.
The journalist was on to a winning formula.
Then, one day, an outbreak of swine flu ravished across foreign lands, killing many, and leaving most in a terrible state of illness. The journalist rushed to his computer, and began typing his warning to be published in the petty tabloid the next morning - the people must know that 40% of us could fall victim to this terrible virus! The nation bought the petty tabloid, and read the article.
'They needn't think they're going to trick us again!', said the nation. 'They can write articles until they're blue in the face, but we know that they are lying when they write about these pandemics.'
Weeks later thousands were dead, many were on their road out, and the virus had left few people unravished by illness. Mankind became extinct, and the swine virus evolved into a treacherous humanoid, which took over the planet and brought evil wherever it went.
The End.
The Moral: All these scaremongering news articles about pandemics over the past few years have desensitised us to the fact that it CAN happen. And when a truly lethal and dangerous virus actually begins to spread across the earth, we will shrug our shoulders, because experience will have taught us that whatever the media say about pandemics is usually lies and fabricated facts, designed to make profits from their petty tabloids. They need to be taught to be more careful with the stories they throw around, because although it's harmless profit-making when there is no real danger, it can and will send us into ignorance mode when there is a real danger. Nobody believes the media, even when they're telling the truth.
Bird flu, Sars and now Swine flu. Each one supposedly more dangerous than the last. Reading the Sun led you to believe we were all going to die from bird flu. Now, they're creating the same hysteria with Swine Flu.
It makes you wonder why modern media has to be reactionary, over zealous, panick inducing tripe.
Bird flu, Sars and now Swine flu. Each one supposedly more dangerous than the last. Reading the Sun led you to believe we were all going to die from bird flu. Now, they're creating the same hysteria with Swine Flu.
It makes you wonder why modern media has to be reactionary, over zealous, panic inducing tripe.
Bird flu, Sars and now Swine flu. Each one supposedly more dangerous than the last. Reading the Sun led you to believe we were all going to die from bird flu. Now, they're creating the same hysteria with Swine Flu.
It makes you wonder why modern media has to be reactionary, over zealous, panick inducing tripe.
Yes. But my point is that we rely on our media for information regarding national safety. And they abuse that trust with their hysterical articles which are fabricated beyond belief. But what's going to happen when there IS something to worry about? We will ignore it. Laugh it off. 'Haha, that's them at it again!'.
They are making themselves redundant in their duties, and that in itself is extremely dangerous.
Open-ended, sensible discussion on topics not covered by the other forums. Spam is not allowed here and should be confined to the Chat forum.
The Boy Who Cried Swine Flu
