UI 063: Why are We Cucoo for Cocoa Puffs? (Hysteria pt. 1)

Every week or month there is a new hysteria, and people love it.  Why? Why do people seem to actually enjoy and thrive on hysterical claims, conspiracy theories, and the like? And why does it seem like most if not almost all hysteria are based on false prophecy? Since I was a child, I have not only not been caught up hysterics... I actually have an aversion to hype and hysteria.  When people or the press go gaga for whatever the hysteria du jour is, I just assume they are making much to do about very little or much to do about nothing. The latest hysteria is Ebola. I hear about it everyday now, where as just a week or two ago it was a blip on the news radar.  Now that there have been over 800 deaths out of over 1500 cases in Africa... the media is treating this like a global pandemic waiting to wipe out humanity.  Why? While the 800 deaths are each individually tragic and should not be dismissed... To be clear, as I stated in the podcast, I am NOT dismissing in any way the tragedy of each individual death and any family's loss.  I am however dismissive of the hype and hysteria from the press and so many people.  Why hasn't the media been concerned about the other diseases that are more devastating in Africa which are on going? Here are some of the articles I mentioned: Michael Fumento's article from 2001 can be read here: "There is a crisis brewing in the world that we ignore at our peril. The Ebola virus is back, and it’s spreading." So declared the opening line of a December Business Week article: "Ebola Could Soon Be the West’s Problem, Too." Soon? Ebola fever is already sweeping the West. But this pathogen is hysteria. And clearly initial infection confers no immunity, because we’ve been through all this before. Five years ago, after an African epidemic in the Congo, the disease spawned the hit movie Outbreak, with an Ebola-like virus threatening to wipe out the United States, and a TV movie, Virus, starring Ebola itself. CNN gave us a special report, "The Apocalypse Bug," while Newsweek’s cover blared: "Killer Virus."   And this is from Michael Fumento's latest article in the NY Post: Here’s a rule of thumb about diseases: The rarer and less likely they are to kill you, the more hype they get. The New York Times ran more than 2,000 articles on SARS, which ultimately killed zero Americans. This is only the deadliest outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease because past ones were so tiny. At this writing, there have been 1,603 reported cases in Africa and 887 deaths. That’s too many. But every day about 600 sub-Saharan Africans die of tuberculosis, and contagious diarrhea claims the lives of 2,195 children, the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria, syphilis, AIDS and probably dozens of other diseases each year kill Africans at higher rates than Ebola is killing right now. And, should Ebola come to America, it’s vanishingly unlikely to “break out.” Read the full article here. Here's a review of some of the hysterias many Americans have engaged in... Ebola Swine Flu Avian Flu Silicone Breast Implants DDT Second Hand Smoke Bullying Anorexia Fat Free Diet Carb Free Diet Gluten Free Diet Hunger in America Homelessness in America Marijuana Kills Global Cooling Global Warming Next Ice Age Climate Change Illuminati Elders Of Zion New World Order American Colonialism American Government Conspiracies in general etcetera... Generally speaking all of these hysterias have been much ado about very little or much ado about nothing! We need to get our heads screwed on right and start using some common sense.  Think rationally rather than emotionally. Yes!  There are real threats and real risks and real evils which could do great harm and even kill you and your loved ones.  That stuff I just listed above is not likely one of them if you live in America! In our own country we could focus on: Drunk Driving Fatherless Homes Out of Wedlock Birth High School Graduation Rates Heart Disease Addiction Asocial Violence If you want to help Africa, then start killing mosquitos.  Bring back DDT!  Send mosquito nets.  Use your money and brain power for actually doing good. You can go to 3rd world nations and provide wells for potable water. You can fight totalitarian governments who starve their people. There is so much good we can do, but instead the masses of people end up burning calories worrying about nonsense like a global pandemic of Ebola. Get it together.  Tuberculosis is far more virulent and rampant and NEAR!  But TB is boring so no one focuses on it. Focus on what DOES good rather than what FEELS good, and maybe we can start to significantly help people and save lives.