If there should be readers of this lovely Gazette (it’s a pleasure, Martin) who read our articles and if on top they can remember what has been said in this humble column about the supposedly ferocious piggy flu, I would happily like to report to them about a cartoon which was published in El Pais, Spain’s biggest and most respected daily newspaper, by El Roto on Saturday the 12th of December 2009:
A man in laboratory outfit (mask, gloves, sterile coat) faces and talks to the reader, saying: “it turns out this years flu is just a flu. We apologise for the anxiety we may have caused… and for the money we have earned by doing so”
During most of last year, the Seaside Gazette has given us the chance to criticise unfounded alarmism and a marketing-directed hype about this new flu and the ever-so-useless vaccine, which has been sold by the trillion to governments worldwide. Nowadays, these governments try to resell what’s been forced on them by public hysteria.
May be we’re all going to eat vaccinated chuletas de cerdo this year – may be that’s the best use for it.
If the highly respected New England Journal of Medicine states in an editorial that, “There is no industry-independent research any more,” what should we say then about public television, nationally leading newspapers or even all newspapers?
Is there still independent journalism (apart from this little gem you hold in your hands!) or do they just repeat blindly what they get fed by the marketing department of the big pharmaceutical companies? Is there still a trace of ethics in journalism… or in medical research?
There is no other answer possible except: no.
What’s supposedly independent information is really nothing but marketing to the knowing eye. The general public listens to share holder Professor XYZ explaining how dangerous the new flu will be and everybody ‘go into hysteria overdrive.’ How come there was hardly any media coverage of opposing voices?
A solution?
Modern times have their own pace and maybe most people do not really mind being abused for the benefit of a few. But if one does mind being taken for a ride, one cannot believe anymore what’s seen on TV and what’s read in the papers. One’s capacity to doubt needs strengthening – a good reason to re-read Greek and renaissance philosophers.
So the news for 2010 is: News is not News Anymore! And a flu is just a flu.
Wolfgang and I will do our best to hold the light of Knowledge, Science and Ethics as high as we can and accept only un-marketed evidence as a guideline for our medical advice.