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05/05/09
“Th-th-th-that’s all folks!”, Swine Flu Fizzles For Now
Filed under: Cancun Tourism, Cancun Swine Flu/AH1N1
Posted by: Dangers @ 10:30 pm

 First, the good news, the Mexican Government has announced that the all non essential activity request has been rescinded and that government agencies, businesses and the rest of the country can return to normal levels after a 5 day suspension of many basic services and activities.

 While in the U.S., many schools that had closed started reopening after announcements were made that closing schools was unnecessary in the battle against A(H1N1), better know as the swine flu. Of course, we’re not supposed to call it swine flu because, well, us humans like pigs, like them so much we raise and eat them, and we were hurting the “pork” industry by halting our daily purchasing and consumption of pork due to misguided notions that eating pork could give us swine flu.

 Now those Chinese would hear nothing of that, they don’t want us or our pork, putting foreigners in quarantine and banning pork imports since the influenza outbreak.

 The Chinese prefer to export stuff, people, soy sauce, computer viruses and that sort of thing, they don’t need our stinkin’ pork, especially if we’re going to send it over in an unleaded can, marked swine flu free.

 So, abruptly, the powers that be, the man behind the screen, called off the great swine flu scare almost as quickly as it had started.

 In less than 24 hours, the major international networks all stopped flashing the swine flu drill, the talking heads stopped pounding away at us with tales of curl tailed children and evil Mexicans flying into our countries passing around swine flu like Czech hookers passing around STD’s at a political convention.

The Center for the Disease Control in the U.S. meekly admitted that the swine flu was likely no worse than the common flu and the World Health Organization decided against going to a Level 6 Pandemic rating, it’s highest alert warning.

And, Mexico took a pasting, xenophobes and racists started crawling out of the woodwork to blast those rotten Mexicans, businesses involved in travel and tourism already rocked by the economic crisis, remember that, got rolled over like the Wiley Coyote chasing the Roadrunner into a tunnel, and an entire country was shut down like so much excess baggage by a world that claims it cares but in reality just offers lip service while forcing the Mexicans to turn off the lights.

Obviously, we’re exaggerating here and swine flu still isn’t anything to sneeze at, and there is the chance the damn thing will still mutate and come back and kick our ass at a later date. Still, one has to wonder, where the heck the human race is heading when we’ll scare ourselves to death before the virus even gets us, just worrying about it.

To their credit, the folks at the WHO stated from day one, there was no recommendation against international travel, the thing is, nobody listened, at least not the folks that mattered, the people running governments, airlines, cruise lines etc.

So here we are, Cancun tourism in a shambles, open and ready for business with few takers because akin to sleeping children we’re still afraid of the monster under the bed.

Which begs us to ask, what will we do when, eventually, there is a monster to be afraid of.

Signing off and signing out…

Dangers…

8 Responses to ““Th-th-th-that’s all folks!”, Swine Flu Fizzles For Now”

  1. Brian Says:
    May 6th, 2009 at 12:12 am Dangers, I’ve enjoyed reading your site over the last week. My wife and I and some friends have had a trip planned to the RM for months - arriving May 11th. We never once thought about canceling although for a while we were afraid the airline or the US government or somebody would pull the rug out from under us. Everyone who went into panic mode over this should pick up a copy of “The Culture of Fear” by Barry Glassner. Fantastic book on media hype and social over-reaction. Wish you all the best and our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in MX that has been hurt economically by this ordeal.
  2. Dangers Says:
    May 6th, 2009 at 4:50 pm Thanks for the kind words Brian, most appreciated. The major problem as I see it is, the folks in power, including the people that help put them there, in the majority, don’t listen to the same experts they hire to keep them informed of these things. I still believe the WHO had it right and we had ought to be concerned but the masses and the media can’t help but overreact, manning the lifeboats before they know whether the ship is going down. Good luck and happy travels on your upcoming trip and you can be assured the locals will welcome you with open arms!
  3. Lisa Says:
    May 6th, 2009 at 6:57 pm Thank you for your updates. We have a trip planned in June and were not interested in cancelling, but the media really uses some scare tactics in making you feel guilty for not listening to them. We are going along with our plans and looking forward to a great week in a beautiful place. I hope more people do the same.
  4. 40 something.... Says:
    May 7th, 2009 at 10:19 am We have a large group coming down in June as well and have never had plans to cancel. We love Cancun (wish we could live there!). We are going ahead with our plans as usual and know that we will have a great time!
  5. Dangers Says:
    May 7th, 2009 at 6:58 pm Lisa~ thanks for dropping in and we hope you have a wonderful vacation in Mexico. The long standing problem with the media is that the ratings game gets in the way of hard, investigative news reporting that goes beyond sound bytes. They’ve become pedantic creatures hungry for cash first. In any case, enjoy! ;-)
  6. Dangers Says:
    May 7th, 2009 at 7:01 pm 40 something~ great to hear, we need more folks like you and Lisa (above)along with all the others going. It’s just a darned shame many folks had their vacations for them by tour providers, government etc. Have a great trip! ;-)
  7. Curt Says:
    May 9th, 2009 at 3:23 pm Thanks for all the info. There are 10 of us coming to Cancun on May 13 for 10 days. I know that we will have a great time, been there every year since 1988. Never thought we would not go.
  8. Dangers Says:
    May 9th, 2009 at 4:29 pm Curt~ It’s a shame there isn’t more honorary Cancunense Travelers like yourself to spread the word that Cancun is good to go. Have a great trip and another wonderful time in Cancun! ;-)

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