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Curious Muse speculates about the potential reasons for the ongoing bird flu brouhaha:

1). To take control of the political debate in the country that he has lost
2). To benefit drug companies
3). There is really a health concern.

It’s not impossible that all three might be true to varying degrees. Which, more so than others, is the hard part to determine.

The political debate certainly has been going badly for the Bush administration and it would, in my opinion, be naive to say they wouldn’t exploit what they can.

Drug companies certainly would benefit from an over-reaction. Specifically, Gilead Sciences Incorporated — the third largest biotechnology firm in the country and exclusive “intellectual property holders” (monopoly grantees) of the only known treatment for bird flu, the drug tamiflu. Notable is that the former Chairman of the Board of Gilead, and continuing major stockholder, is a certain “Mr. Donald Rumsfeld”. I hear he has a day job somewhere in DC. In fairness, though, I should point out that Rumsfeld has recused himself from policy matters having to do with bird flu / tamiflu.

Certainly the disease DOES exist. However, it has not, to the best of my knowledge, been shown to spread from human to human. If one doesn’t ingest infected poultry to contract the disease, then one would need to have frequent, lingering contact with such birds, in ways that most Americans never would. Chickens are certainly cute, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call them attractive. Fears of the disease are all predicated on concerns about what might happen if the virus mutates to be able to spread from human to human.

So what conclusions does that point us to? The lessons I’m taking from it are:

1. Don’t panic.
2. Don’t believe the hype.
3. Eat more fish. It’s better for you anyway.

I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes:

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” — H.L. Mencken

Tags: Politics //