The News Cycle in Comic Form
(click to enlarge)
I found this comic (on PHDComics.com) the other day and just had to post it because it really hits the nail on the head. While this process is easiest to identify in science news, where original sources are relatively easily available, I think this fear amplification and exaggeration process applies to most things you see reported in the news. Drill down to original sources and actual data, and everything is always far more nuanced, moderate, and sensible than the story that’s delivered to media consumers. Of course these days many people don’t even read the news, they get their information through the filter of opinion commentators, radio pundits, or cult-like internet personalities. So perhaps the cartoonist could have made the cycle more complete by adding an additional step before the paranoid granny where radio/tv/internet pundits tell you that the government/big business/unions are secretly trying to slip “A” into legislation/biased media/your water supply.
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October 20th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
That is funny. Kinda sad how true it is! Just out of curiosity . . . I was wondering your opinion on getting a flu shot. I’ve heard many different opinions . . . some think it is absolutely essential, especially when you have a young one at home . . . some think it is completely unneccesary and could even be harmful . . . others don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other . . . I was wondering if you do have an opinion and if it’s different at all between the regular flu shot and the H1N1 flu shot?
October 20th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
This is an interesting one because I think there’s a lot of blown out paranoia on both sides really. From what I know, the evidence seems to show that H1N1 is about as dangerous as the normal flu. Though it may be slightly more contagious, and it has a slightly higher propensity for killing healthy individuals. I think the original worry about it was that we were discovering a few different permutations of it there at first and there was some question about whether or not it was mutating and could turn deadly. That hasn’t turned out to be the case and most doctors I’ve talked to seem to be most worried right now about calming people down. But that doesn’t mean its harmless either. It’s not much worse than the normal flu, but most people underestimate how dangerous the normal flu is. It kills close to 40,000 Americans every year! So, there’s no real reason to panic, but I think a sensible approach is, if you’re someone who should get the normal flu vaccine, you should probably get the H1N1 vaccine. So the elderly, children, etc.
Now on the other side of things there have been a lot of wild rumors out there about the H1N1 vaccine itself. You hear a lot of people saying things like, “its never been tested!” but that’s really a non-issue here. The normal flu vaccine is the same every year, except that the actual killed virus (the part that conveys immunity) is a different strain. The H1N1 virus is exactly the same. The base is the same as the standard flu vaccine, but the killed virus is a different strain. So while its technically true that testing has been limited, its no less “untested” than the normal seasonal flu vaccine, and the base, which is the only part that has serious potential for reaction, has been tested by millions of people for years and years. There’s a multi-dose version that has thimerosal in it, which has some people up in arms because people have talked about a thimerosal-autism link. But that link is very, very questionable to say the least. There’s also a nasal version which contains live-attenuated virus, and thus could technically cause illness in people with a compromised immune system, so there are some legitimate worries with that one if you’re ill or pregnant. But the normal, everyday, one shot H1N1 vaccine is no different and no more dangerous than a normal flu shot. In fact, they’ve said that had they finished the vaccine earlier, it just would have been included in the usual seasonal flu vaccine.
I just did a quick check and sure enough the trusty FactCheck.org has an article about swine flu vaccine myths that can be found here: http://factcheck.org/2009/10/inoculation-misinformation/ which talks about pretty much exactly what i listed above, plus some.
April 29th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Hi there, I found your blog via Google while searching for first aid for a heart attack and your post looks very interesting for me.
May 3rd, 2010 at 7:00 pm
I hope you didn’t stay long…