PERSPECTIVE: Look out: Return of the killer swine flu!

» Here we go again with more reports of humanity’s impending doom — all at the hands of a virus that’s being overhyped.

Swine flu — the current doomsday device of the imagination — has returned to the news pages.

Of course, most of you are probably asking, “Did it ever leave?” And that is a good point.

But while this flu did remain as a trickle in the flow of news throughout the summer, it is once again becoming a greater focus of fear and confusion.

Experts said, back when this flu erupted, that it could come back with a vengeance after summer. And we are just about there.

Precautions are being spouted in newspapers and on TV, legislators are making plans to deal with the virus, a vaccine is on its way and conspiracy theorists are twisting and turning the issue with paranoid depth.

Even Gov. Tim Kaine is getting in on the act: He went to an Alexandria elementary school to get a lesson on hand washing — the children said he did it wrong.

All this fear serves a purpose: It encourages vigilance, which is necessary to avoid the spread of this virus. But we would urge common sense as a mental tool, rather than fright.

For years now speculators, scientists and fans of the apocalypse have been discussing an “impending flu pandemic” that will kill vast swaths of the population.

While swine flu doesn’t seem to be it, the excited among us are settling for this lesser killer.

The important thing with this flu is not to panic but to prepare. The precautions being suggested by health professionals are simple: wash hands, stay home if you’re sick, get vaccinated . . . not exactly end-of-the-world advice.

There are those who wish to see terror in everything, and those who wish to overlook danger in the day.

The truly wise will do neither, but instead address situations calmly and correctly, and avoid all the scary hubbub brewing in the American psyche about swine flu.

News & Messenger
(Prince William County)