Ask McFartnuggets: “Is The Media Making Too Big of a Deal About Ebola?”

Are people making a big
deal out of nothing?

Dear McFartnuggets: 

All I hear on the news these days is how Ebola is going to spread around the world and kill everyone. It’s only in Africa though so why is the media blowing this so out of proportion? Isn’t this just another form of fearmongering meant to distract the public from real issues that affect us and push their respective agendas on health insurance and immigration? -- LaRon from Oakland, California

Dear LaRon:

I don’t think it’s being exaggerated or reported on too much. Ebola is a real problem in the world and it’s critical not to underestimate it. People always try to downplay Ebola by saying “It can ONLY be spread through close contact with bodily fluids.” That sounds comforting until you realize people who have it are vomiting everywhere, spraying diarrhea, and bleeding out of every hole in their body. I’d say that kind of makes it a little easier to get. (There’s also a lot of ignorance out there when it comes to this warning about bodily fluids. A surprising number of people think that bodily fluids don’t include diarrhea and vomit. In the case of Ebola they do. Ebola spreads through those means and if you don’t believe me, drink a cup of diarrhea from an Ebola patient and see what happens.)

The point is, you wouldn’t sit next to someone dying of Ebola on the bus and feel confident that you needed direct contact with bodily fluids. That’s the confidence doctors feel before they come down with it. The CDC and other officials always say “We have this under control. The likelihood of it spreading is LOW.” Meanwhile they didn’t see it coming to begin with and they never anticipated it spreading as far as it has in Africa. That’s the idea of a virus, it’s meant to exceed people’s expectations. If viruses always stayed as contained as we wanted then there would never be any danger, but things get out of control and when they do no one ever sees it coming.

When they tell you not to worry that’s when you should. What’s the harm in being cautious? They tell everyone else not to worry, but they tell the Africans they need to start taking it seriously. Maybe the Africans would take it seriously if there were so few mixed messages being sent. And don’t tell me it’s not a big deal, 1,000+ African people have died. Sorry if I consider those to be human beings and I consider this outbreak to be a horrific tragedy. I can’t just hear of 1,000 Africans dying and brush it off, I actually consider that to be a big deal. Maybe if I was a little more racist I could just say “Oh well Ebola is no big deal,” but I actually care, sir! So sorry if I actually CARE!

Send your questions to PizzaTesticles@yahoo.com