Wednesday, May 4, 2011

And so this is the end of our story...and everyone is dead from AIDS...

I read an article in a magazine the other day titled "Health Scare of the Week: The Insidious Spread of Herpes." It said that one in six people have type-2 herpes simplex virus, but that 90% of those who have it don't even know it, because they don't have any symptoms, and doctors don't usually test for HSV-2.

Wow, I thought. That's pretty scary. I could be carrying around a strain of herpes and not even know it? I got pretty unsettled.

Then I thought back to a meeting I had with a television executive a couple weeks ago. He was telling me about a show his company is doing about shadowy "wag the dog" type forces who manipulate what's in the media in order to influence what the public believes, usually for financial gain. He gave me the example of the Swine Flu virus - the fact that it was basically just the flu, but since it was always in the news, people went into a panic, bought vaccines, etc.

Maybe this is one of those situations. I mean, a virus that has no symptoms, isn't tested for, and you can't even tell if you have it or not? That actually sounds much less scary than regular viruses. You know, the ones that make you sneeze and puke and die and stuff. If somebody said to you "I'm going to punch you in the face, but you won't feel it, won't remember it, and won't show any effects of it having happened," would you really feel all that threatened? That's just called not getting punched in the face.

Nice try, condom mongers.

2 comments:

  1. Then again, maybe the health magazine article has some validity. Not wise to dismiss it-best to err on the side of caution!

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  2. i'm with anonymous, keep a paper towel on your cack at all times and if you have to 'spit', aim high.

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