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America, Ebola, and Fear
America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, is in a social-media panic because Dr. Kent Brantly, the 33-year-old Indiana physician who contracted Ebola while battling it in Liberia, is coming home as he struggles to hang onto life. This fear-laden response to a true American hero is out of touch with the fundamental principles of this country.
The Internet is afire with protest, and the misleading headlines stating that Ebola is being brought to the U.S. spread more fear but no understanding or empathy.
…Brantly himself makes me proud to be both an American and a physician….
…This kind of fear is un-American. Rescuing our heroes is our tradition.
...There is a reason ...why we have such rigid testing on our food, water, etc to make sure its ok to ingest, etc.
Fear however isn't a negative thing, not always...fear that breeds sensible action is good...
The question is, are we being sensible about our views of this plague...do we feel we can create safety while bringing the sick back home. I don't know...can we? do we know enough about the disease to give it a shot? From what I have read, it seems we do, however, what I read may not be the whole story.
originally posted by: Fargoth
a reply to: soficrow
Why don't one of those brave countries I hear so much about heal him then?
originally posted by: soficrow
Fear that pulls people out of their apathy, and motivates action - yes, that's good. Fear that leads to greater awareness - check. Fear that motivates learning - check. Fear that leads to thinking and reevaluation - check.
But fear that drives the herd into the corral - big bad.
I know more than most members about how bad this is - from the virus itself to the dangers of its spread - but I'm not sweating. True, I got over the fear part years ago, and I'm watcha call "different," so maybe I'm not understanding this process. ....Help me out?
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) issued warnings as far back as March 1 that the Ebola outbreaks in Guinea were reaching epidemic proportions but at the time the World Health Organization (WHO) refuted MSF claims that they were dealing with a serious outbreak. As of March, MSF had recorded 122 Ebola infections in Guinea, 80 of those resulted in death including 11 healthcare workers. WHO had refrained from calling the Ebola cases in Guinea “epidemic” because they seemingly did not want to cause alarm. WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said at a March news conference in Geneva:
“We must be careful with how words are used… for now what we see are sporadic cases, we cannot call it an epidemic.”
Meanwhile, the general director of MSF Switzerland, Bruno Jochum disagreed with the WHO’s statements and reiterated his organization’s concern of the Ebola outbreak in March citing what MSF had observed early on in Guinea was different from past outbreaks.
“The situation deserves our full attention and should be taken very seriously by the number of cases in different parts of the country in such a short period of time.”
WHO has now reversed its opinion and is now reporting the outbreak is out of control. At a recent meeting, Margaret Chan of the World Health Organization announced a $100 million plan to combat the epidemic and was quoted as saying:
“This outbreak is moving faster than our efforts to control it. If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socioeconomic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries.”
Source.
...somewhere in this world some one has the answer,, might be a child prodigy,,,a woman in high school,,or a desert boy ,,who just wants to heal.
where is that one person,?
originally posted by: loam
a reply to: soficrow
originally posted by: soficrow
Fear that pulls people out of their apathy, and motivates action - yes, that's good. Fear that leads to greater awareness - check. Fear that motivates learning - check. Fear that leads to thinking and reevaluation - check.
But fear that drives the herd into the corral - big bad.
I know more than most members about how bad this is - from the virus itself to the dangers of its spread - but I'm not sweating. True, I got over the fear part years ago, and I'm watcha call "different," so maybe I'm not understanding this process. ....Help me out?
Our governments lie. Our politicians lie. Our businesses lie. Our media lies. Hell, even our scientists lie.
Finding 'truth' takes real work....and even then the 'truth' we find may be a lie.