Flu hysteria much ado about nothing

People tend to be lemmings. Once again the media has the masses of people worked up into a hysteria over the killer swine flu. Emergency rooms are overrun with people who are hardly ill at all but afraid they are going to catch this killer bug.

First off, there is no evidence that this flu is any more virulent or deadly than any other version of the flu. I am not sure how this feeding frenzy got started, but I do know that the lesson it has taught me is that stupidity is truly pandemic. Someone gave the media the bait to run with the story of the killer swine flu and run with it they did. Then the masses of lemmings took off like the frightened animals they are.

Wake up people. As Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Quit closing down schools and businesses now, or next year when the same flu comes around we will have to consider stopping our lives again. This flu is a distraction. I am not sure what it is distracting us from, but it surely has our attention and I for one don't think it deserves anymore attention.

If you catch the flu, you lie in bed for a few days, sleep a lot, drink hot tea and in a few days you start to feel better. There is no magic bullet as much as the drug companies may try to sell you one, and who knows what damage their next vaccine may cause. Let's just try a dose of common sense - something that seems to have died with our parents or grandparents.

Len Lempa

Elgin