Flu and sex (probably not related)

My computer says it is processing a threat. I feel under siege from the unknown.

Under siege. Not so long ago the whole planet seemed under siege from the swine flu. In fact civilisation and the human race as such seemed doomed. And on top of that it was all Mexico’s fault. It had all the characteristics of bad journalism, sensationalism, spin and more spin, hallucinations of doom and impending disasters. The untraceable virus spreading throughout the world. Flights were cancelled. The already battered world economy took another blow. Holidays interrupted. Hotel residents in Hong Kong locked inside their building for days. The sales of protective masks skyrocketing. Hey maybe it was a plot by salesmen? I am sure somebody in Hollywood is half way through a blockbuster script already. It’s perfect for an edgy human race. Fear of the unknown. With a touch of death around it and an apocalyptic vision on top. Just perfect. The cheaper, low budget movie might be called “The attack of the swines”. The blockbuster maybe something like “Just Another Breath”. It will have a hero and a love scene. Some guarantees need to be left intact!

I think there is an urgent need for a university study on how the media spun this one way out of control. They were speeding on a highway of madness, death, doom and were looking for blood. And they were competing with each other with total loss of sight on reality. It wasn’t even tabloid-style exaggeration anymore. It was way beyond that. Paralysing hallucinations. And fear sells! And a certain moments it nearly looked like somebody was about to nuke Mexico to annihilate the source of this flu. Kill the mother of all swine.

But nobody amidst the media frenzy put it all in context. The fever was blinding and deafening. The numbers of people who died because of this flu, and even the people infected by the flu, were and are just minimal compared to - for instance - any normal flu that comes along every winter. Or certainly in comparison with the spread and deadliness of HIV/AIDS, or malaria or tuberculosis. I mean,...get real!

The media have a lot to answer for. Total paranoia. It just shows how easy it is to spread some news so out of control worldwide that panic erupts. It’s madness. Human behaviour is a mystery.

From swine to sex. It’s a strange transition. But anything goes in a free mind.

A professor in family planning has announced at a conference in the U.K. that sex is responsible for the growth of the world’s population. Ha! How long did this guy went to school for to know that? Human knowledge is a labyrinth. In fact what he was trying to explain to his fellow conference-attendees was that simple sexual drive lies behind family growth and not reasons like ethnicity or religion or economy or stuff like that. Just straight forward desire. I guess that is good news as it simplifies things. No more complex theories about the impact of your society structures and religious beliefs and all that on why certain people breed like rats and others seem on a road to extermination. It’s all and only about sex.

The same professor also stated that half of the world’s pregnancies are not planned. That is pretty serious but not surprisingly I guess. Contraception is not a topic and tool that is available to all and in all societies. Even the knowledge of contraception is probably less far spread than we think sometimes. And probably blocked by religion and tradition.

The conference discussed also how much more of you and I this world can take. It’s called ‘sustainable levels of population growth’. That’s a tough one. From an ecological point of view there are already too many humans roaming around planet earth. So too much sex in other words! Or let’s say too much sex without contraception. That’s more accurate.

So the current population growth will increase global warming and agricultural production will not be able to follow too. So we either gonna burn to death, or starve to death. It just feels like another Hollywood blockbuster. Maybe the swine flu should be spread faster and more aggressively to help limiting this population explosion. So maybe the swine flu was an invention by the environmental lobby? Sorry just joking despite the seriousness of the topic. Off track despite the challenges ahead. Population growth. Global warming. Access to food and water. It’s all urgent. But the political will to tackle these hurdles to our future is a tough one to get. The majority of voters – and that is what politics comes down to – don’t vote according to a semi-distant future. They vote for now. Something with immediate effect and gratitude. Something visible in their daily lives. And, for now, global warning and over-population is not something the majority of earth’s citizens see or feel in their daily lives and daily struggles. For many, especially in the poorer nations, the effects of both challenges are there to see. But the knowledge of what the causes are of the changes these people see and feel and undergo every day are not so known. And thus what you don’t know and don’t understand is too often just not there. Not real. Perception is reality. If the perception is that you don’t see the effects of global warming or/and population growth in your daily lives,... well if that perception is there than that is reality. Then there is no issue about the earth warming up and what consequences that might have. Or the world’s population growing madly and what consequences that might have.

Somewhat depressing thoughts. But the good news is that some of us know and some of us care and some of us try to do something about it every day. That’s comforting, ...a little bit.

Throw out. Had the new Green Day album in my car last week or so. It played once and wont play again in my car. Taste is an individual choice.

C-Ya
May 2009 is ticking away