everyone has swine flu

or so it seems. swine flu is the new, hot disease. no one cares about the old reliables that constantly kill. rarely recognized are the old diseases that never went away, but now mainly kill people "somewhere else." i have seen or heard no reports or discussions lately on starvation, water borne disease, malaria, and tuberculosis. thousands will die today, tomorrow, and the day after, of these ailments, but their existence won't be front page news.

others die as well. the 20,000 americans who will die this year from a lack of health insurance, the 15,000 killed on the job, and the tens of thousands who will die in car accidents will likewise receive no hoopla, no fanfare comparable to the victims of swine flu. for they are systemic victims. their victim hood is caused by the system, and therefore, said victim hood is to be glossed over.

and what of our increases in cancer, asthma, autism, heart disease, obesity, doubtlessly leading to thousands of additional deaths and related difficulties? might a degraded environment, decimated by ruthless corporate and military endeavors, be responsible to a large degree for these deaths? one will never know, for to try to find out would be to begin a process of questioning, of thinking, of challenging the dominant economic and political structures ascendant in our society, and that is not something most are interested in. no, they, and the culture that creates and caters to them, would rather babble about swine flu and sars.

it is not that these outbreaks are a laughing matter. of course, they are serious. perhaps they tell us that we should not be eating swine. whatever the matter, it is always a concern when people get sick and die. my opposition to death and illness leads me, for example, to be anti-war, but sadly, most swine flu fanatics haven't engaged in such opposition as of yet. what can you do?

our concern over suffering shouldn't be determined by what disease is hot. if a disease kills, whether in africa or america, it should concern us, and make us think about why certain diseases kill certain people. hence, we need to be concerned with economics and politics and wars and corporate fraud and environmental destruction, not just the disease top 10.

this ain't the hit parade folks. our collective existence is at stake.

for once, it would be nice if we would face that fact, and act accordingly.