As the swine flu outbreak continues spreading, an Israeli health official is making waves by saying the name should be changed to “Mexican” flu, because the reference to pigs is offensive to Jews and Muslims, who consider pigs unclean and forbid the eating of pork products.
He wants to call it “Mexican Flu.” Because how could anyone POSSIBLY be offended by that?
This is just stupid. How in God’s name is a reference to pigs offensive? What, do you think we go catatonic every time Miss Piggy shows up in a commercial? If anything, Jews and Muslims are going to sit there and say, “See? We told you pork was no good for you.”
There’s something about this story that just isn’t kosher.
PAD
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wow it’s not as if it was a slow news day out there. It’s this kind of useless crap that really displays stupidity.
Hate to tell him he’s slow on the uptake anyways. They have already renamed it H1N1 virus, or some such. I have a feeling because pig futures in the US, Canada and Mexico took a massive hit and countries are banning imports.
Test, why aren’t my posts appearing?
If only certain officials in certain countries would wake up to the fact that the swine flu isn’t transmitted by pork products.
But then, the agriculture industry here in the States is also getting pissy about the name because it might cause people to not want to eat pork.
“If anything, Jews and Muslims are going to sit there and say, ‘See? We told you pork was no good for you.'”
This right here is the more benign reason why the Israeli health minister may be looking to change the name. So that Jews don’t think that they won’t catch it by eating kosher. *shrug*
How about: we all learn that we need to do more hand washing and less nose picking and that we should stay home and rest when we’re sick, and we’ll probably be ok?
So eating Mexican people is kosher? Noted.
Why else do you think He made it look like a taco?
Eww.
I have no idea where this quote came from but I can clearly say, as someone living in Israel, that no mention of this was made in the local press or any official mention. I don’t think anyone really cares what the flu is called as long as it create a healthy panic that may help sell newspapers.
I thought I’d check this out (just to see if it was some sort of new “urban legend”–not like that never happens), and found a name connected with the quote: Yakov Litzman.
He’s described as “Israel’s Deputy Health Minister” in this article:
http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/swine.flu.name.2.995380.html
It’s also referenced at the bottom of this article from The Jerusalem Post (where the minister’s name is given as Ya’acov Litzman):
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1239710811758
I say we just call it the Spanish Flu, just like in 1918. That one wasn’t from Spain either and look how well it worked out for everyone.
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I will say that a fairly incredible number of kids have asked me if it’s ok to eat bacon, so I can just imagine how much the pork industry is taking a hit.
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And, predictably, already my Latino kids are having to hear crap about how this is all the fault of immigrants.
Give it a few weeks. Then we’ll see a “truther” movement that will tell us it was all the fault of the Government.
Why wait? I already have a friend who thinks it’s being hyped up to try to push through Obama’s HHS nomination… the proof? She was indeed confirmed.
According to The Book of Lists, Turkey actually did ban The Muppet Show during Ramadan on the grounds that Miss Piggy would offend Muslims. (Bear in mind that citing The Book of Lists is a bit like citing Wikipedia and the only confirmation I’ve found is random trivia websites, so take this with an appropriate grain of salt.)
As usual, context is everything. The person who made the statement is Yaakov Litzman, who is the deputy health minister. He’s a politician, a member of parliament. That’s a political nomination that his party got as part of the coalition government. His party is The Flag of the Tora, a ultra-orthodox religious party with 4 parliament members. He is an ultra-orthodox Jew.
If you are going to feel embarrassed by what these guys say and do, you will have no time to get into fights about race relations or copyright. You don’t know the half of it as far as their stupidity and narrow mindedness is concerned.
An Israeli journalist joked about this idea — to call it Mexican instead of Swine — suggesting that maybe we should call it “The Short Cow Disease.”
In any case, there are one or two cases in Israel. Young Israelis tend to travel around the world, especially in South America, India and the far east. That’s where they got it.
If you are going to feel embarrassed by what these guys say and do, you will have no time to get into fights about race relations or copyright.
Sure I will. You’d be amazed what effective time management can accomplish.
PAD
Along with collecting molds spores and fungi, one of my hobbies is waiting for the Next Big Pandemic and looking for signs of same, so I’ve been on this story like a fly on mandrill dung.
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Were i a betting man I’d bet that this will not amount to much, which is of course good in the not a lot of dead people sense and bad in the crying wolf sense. There WILL be another pandemic. It WILL be bad. Barring any new developments in vaccine production technology, millions WILL die. I just don’t know if this is the One.
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But a few tips:
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Have a 2 week supply of food and water. Water takes up a lot of space so alternatively make sure you have a good filter or disinfectant to purify water. You just need to be able to stay indoors for a few weeks. 25 lb bags of rice and beans are cheap and easy to store and don’t go bad.
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masks are useless against catching the flu. Well, not useless, but not great help. They are good for those who already have it and don’t want to spread it. For the uninfected their best use is to keep you from putting your fingers in your mouth.
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re putting fingers in your mouth: don’t.
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If things get bad it would not be such a bad idea to go full Michael Jackson/Howard Hughes mode; mask, gloves, alcohol wipes, fanatical followers who will deliver food to you on demand,…
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Avoid hospitals. AVOID HOSPITALS! Ditto waiting rooms of all types. If unavoidable be sure to scrub your hands afterward like they’d been licked by Paris Hilton and/or a rabid monkey.
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Know any doctors friends? Might be a good time to remind them about the time you helped them bury a dead body and get some tamiflu.
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Be careful about any drugs that boost the immune system though. Some theorize that it’s an overreaction of the immune system that makes these rare pandemic virus’ so deadly to those who would normally be expected to survive (Which makes me wonder if anti-allergy medication might have some benefit.)
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Don’t send low flying airliners being chased by fighter jets into lower Manhattan. Nothing to do with the flu, just good advice.
That’s your hobby? Hmm. Well it beats collecting comic books.
Shouldn’t you be used to it. I mean we spent eight years being embarrassed to be Americans?
I love watching the news. Everything they do is centered around making everything a Crisis (you think DC overuses the term, check the morning shows). The Flu “Crisis” from a couple years ago all centered around the fact that there was no massive surplus of the flu vaccine that pretty much nobody bothered to get in the first place. They would regularly throw away millions of vaccine doses, because they were unused. But once it was announced that there was a shortage, EVERYBODY had to have one. The result – vaccines that used to be free at the grocery store are now charged for, even though there is no shortage anymore.
Bird flu was another winner, hot on the heels of SARS and Mad Cow. Yes, some people died, but compared to the population that didn’t, I think more people died by being hit by falling tortoises.
They can pat themselves on the back and say they helped by making sure people knew about the problem and what to do, ultimately all they do is make people who have NO connection, however oblique, to the issue become convinced that they’ll be next. We didn’t dodge a bullet; the gun wasn’t even loaded, and anyway it was a water pistol, and it was broken.
Davod Ossman, speaking as Ben Bland, had it right decades ago – “Take your television’s advice”.
I’m just barely old enough to remember the LAST swine flu “outbreak”. People were taking experimental vaccines designed to fight it, and more people were dying from the vaccine than the disease, and BOTH numbers were vanishingly small. There was a pretty good sketch on Carol Burnett where Tim Conway got the swine flu vaccine, and as the sketch progressed, he grew a snout and started oinking. I’ll bet today people would complain about that sketch because it was offensive to the unfortunate victims of the deadly disease.
I’m havin’ pork and beans for dinner. If it will make y’all feel better, I’ll eat it through a mask.
Well, the thing is, pandemics have happened and they will happen again. We will see another Spanish Flu eventually.
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So, I see no problem with people being informed about the potential dangers of bird flu or the current swine flu. And in the end, when a new strain like the bird flu of a couple of years ago or this new swine flu pops up, the experts have no idea of this is the next pandemic, or a false alarm.
“Well, the thing is, pandemics have happened and they will happen again. We will see another Spanish Flu eventually.”
I disagree. Medicine has advanced to the point (at least in more advanced countries) that a major outbreak can be brought under control far more quickly (if not easily) than at any other time in history. Add to that the levels of communication we have now and other technologies, we can act to stop them faster than ever before. Yes, that means the media is doing some small good by getting everyone hyped up, but they’re scarcely doing it for altruistic purposes.
The very fact that the last few diseases have fizzled is testament to that. It doesn’t mean we can relax, but it means that we’re able to put up much more of a fight than ever before.
“New and deadly diseases WILL evolve. An asteroid WILL hit the Earth. The climate WILL change in ways we don’t want. ”
I again disagree. Those things MIGHT happen. Some are reasonable enough possibilities that preparing for them is a fair idea. And if we prepare for them, they may not occur, in direct ratio to the amount of resources spent on them. Some will then claim that the money was wasted since nothing happened, and some will say it was the preparation KEPT it from happeneing. Like a second terrist attack on the US, to pull a current example from the air.
Others, like world-killer asteroid impact, are minute enough possibilities that few would complain if we didn’t build that orbiting platform full of nukes to blow it away.
But if we keep getting told that each and every potential problem is a Crisis, more and more people will change the channel, and when a real one does come along, perishingly (and I use that term advisedly) few people will still care enough to act.
You can make the case that to get people off their áššëš, you have to scare them off. It’s the whole purpose behind, say, the Global Warming con. It’s the latest in a series of nightmare scenarios designed to inspire people to do a very good and reasonable thing, namely, keep pollution down. Acid Rain, the hole in the Ozone layer, Global COOLING (which is what they were trying to stop when Earth Day was founded) were all failed previous attempts. But eventually people are going to notice that exactly none of the things the Global Warmers have predicted have happened, they’ll realize they were conned, and they’ll stop doing the positive things the negative story got them to do. And we’ll be back where we started. Coughing.
Medicine has advanced to the point (at least in more advanced countries) that a major outbreak can be brought under control far more quickly (if not easily) than at any other time in history.
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Ok. So how’s the containment working on this swine flu? How are we going to bring a flu under control when we don’t even have a vaccination for it?
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See, that’s the big difference between you and the scientists. You say it won’t happen; the scientists acknowledge the possibility that it could, and we should be prepared *just in case*. Even I learned that in Boy Scouts 15 years ago.
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the Global Warming con
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Well, I think this pretty much shows that we’re on opposite ends of the spectrum and will never see eye to eye on this. But hey, before long, you’ll be able to go swimming at the North Pole because there won’t be any ice there!
Btw, Vinnie, if I’m reading too much/little into your post, or misinterpreting what you’re saying, then I apologize. After rereading my response, I think my post might be a bit more inflammatory that it should’ve been, but I was trying to respond to the entirety of your post on how I view your comments.
I disagree. Medicine has advanced to the point (at least in more advanced countries) that a major outbreak can be brought under control far more quickly (if not easily) than at any other time in history.
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Not necessarily in the case of a sudden viral pandemic. It would take months to get a working vaccine at best–note that there is currently no vaccine for this version of Swine Flu. We still aren’t sure if Tamiflu will be very effective (and supplies are not limitless. At any rate, even if your optimism is justified, “at least in more advanced countries” leaves us with what, a few billion at risk. Not good.
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Add to that the levels of communication we have now and other technologies, we can act to stop them faster than ever before.
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I thought you were criticizing those who were using the communication to get the word out…
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Yes, that means the media is doing some small good by getting everyone hyped up, but they’re scarcely doing it for altruistic purposes.
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And this matters why? Oncologists don’t work for free either, I still appreciate their work.
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The very fact that the last few diseases have fizzled is testament to that.
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Depends how far back you want to go. AIDS is only a few decades old as a major pandemic and the butcher’s bill is high and rising. If only 1 or 2 major diseases arise every 100 years, that gives a good chance of seeing it in our lifetime–not to mention how it is now impossible to have a disease arise in one part of the world and likely remain there.
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Me- “New and deadly diseases WILL evolve. An asteroid WILL hit the Earth. The climate WILL change in ways we don’t want. ”
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You-I again disagree. Those things MIGHT happen.
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I can think of no logical reason why these things, which have been happening since at least the last few billion years, and,in every case, have occurred no at least as recently as the last 100 years, have ceased to happen now. Why? What is it that you think has changed? Evolution? Gravity? Solar cycles?
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Some are reasonable enough possibilities that preparing for them is a fair idea. And if we prepare for them, they may not occur, in direct ratio to the amount of resources spent on them. Some will then claim that the money was wasted since nothing happened, and some will say it was the preparation KEPT it from happeneing.
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Since none of the things I listed are really preventable, i don’t know how great an argument that would be. It’s like planning for an earthquake in San Francisco. I really don’t see how anyone can argue that any plans to mitigate the death and destruction from what is inevitable–the tectonic plates will NOT stop shifting, no matter how nice it would be to imagine that they will–could possibly be given credit if The Big One fails to arrive in the next decade or so.
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Others, like world-killer asteroid impact, are minute enough possibilities that few would complain if we didn’t build that orbiting platform full of nukes to blow it away.
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Who said anything about a world-killer? The Tunguska Event of 1908 was about 1000 times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb, which, I submit, would make it probably the Worst Thing Ever in Recorded History had it happened over a populated area. And there are far less unpopulated areas to choose from now.
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Others, like world-killer asteroid impact, are minute enough possibilities that few would complain if we didn’t build that orbiting platform full of nukes to blow it away.
Bird flu was another winner, hot on the heels of SARS and Mad Cow. Yes, some people died, but compared to the population that didn’t, I think more people died by being hit by falling tortoises.
Ok, mad props for the Aeschylus reference but it would be scientifically naive to think that there is any reason to believe that modern society is somehow immune to the pandemics that have ravaged man in recorded history. If anything, we are far more vulnerable, since a sneeze in Mexico today becomes a sneeze in Australia by Friday.
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If the 1918 flu happened today is there any scenario that does not end in millions dying from it? If not, why shouldn’t we be afraid of that possibility–the evolutionary processes that created that flu are operating today and will do so forevermore.
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New and deadly diseases WILL evolve. An asteroid WILL hit the Earth. The climate WILL change in ways we don’t want. Massive volcanoes WILL erupt. An earthquake bigger than even recorded WILL hit us. This is not media spin. None of those things may happen in our lifetime or one may be happening right now. Why not be prepared for the inevitable, even if you don’t know it’s date?
Great, now we’re going to have to start referring to pigs as the “P-word.”
And the MPAA will have to add “Rated R for explicit swine references” to their catalog of offenses.
Well, I don’t eat dog, so the terms “hot dog” and “canine teeth” are very offensive to me.
Jew, Muslim, Christina or whatever, I’ll bet you the person who decided on this statement was a Leftist!
The frak?? You on one of those experimental vaccines or something?
Yeah, I had spaghetti with pork sausage last night, and today I’ve got upper respiratory congestion – it must be that there swine flu!! Or maybe it’s a cold from visiting my daughter’s second-grade class the other day…
“Jew, Muslim, Christina or whatever, I’ll bet you the person who decided on this statement was a Leftist!”
Wrong. Very wrong. The person who made the statement is ultra-orthodox. It is hard to fit him into any regular definition of left or right, but he is definitely closer to the right.
The pork industry would like to change the name, also.
This lady has an interesting take on the subject:
Swine Flu
More on Swine Flu
http://www.fa-rm.org/blog/index.html
For Terminator fans, there is a poll, ending this evening.
There is NO FATE but what we make for ourselves:
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b120751_save_one_show_play_game-changer_round.html
Will you join us?
This was a Babylon 5 episode, wasn’t it?
Rep. Michele Bachmann says she finds it an “interesting coincidence” that the last swine flu outbreak in the U.S. occurred under a Democratic president – though her claim is historically inaccurate.
The last major outbreak of swine flu occurred in 1976, when Republican Gerald Ford was president. The outbreak started when an army private died and four others were hospitalized at Fort Dix in New Jersey.
Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican, made her comments to conservative media outlet Pajamas TV on Monday. She says she’s not “blaming this on President Obama” but found it an interesting coincidence that a Democrat was running the country at the time of the outbreak.
http://kstp.com/news/stories/s903424.shtml
It’s a good thing Bachman has looks, because she is dumb as a post…
Yeah, there’s something rather wrong with Bachmann. After her stupidity last fall, one would think she would wisen up a bit; I guess that’s just asking too much.
I find it interesting that both Godfather III and the Star Wars prequels were both released under Republican administrations.
I’m not saying, you know, that Michelle Bachman personally CAUSED the crappifying of Hollywood, but I find it interesting that Republicans were running the country at the time these cinematic tragedies.
“This is just stupid. How in God’s name is a reference to pigs offensive? What, do you think we go catatonic every time Miss Piggy shows up in a commercial?”
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I seem to recall 2-3 years ago, a British office worker got in trouble because he had a stuffed Piglet displayed on his desk… specifically because “Muslims may find it offensive.” So apparently *somebody* thinks that…
If we could clock the number of things that are banned or pulled because a group actually protested against it, and the umber that were banned because people thought a group MIGHT be offended, I think it would raise a lot of eyebrows.
We’ve gotten so litigious and over-thinkish that, as PAD has provided ample evidence to in two other threads, the smartest move is not to play.
“I’m against picketing, but I don’t know how to show it.”
I love Mitch Hedberg.
This reminds me of a thing I saw on the daily show a couple of weeks ago. They had a clip of a guy on fox news complaining about the new politically correct climate in the USA.
He complained that his kids school didn’t celebrate St. Patrick’s day because it would be offensive. Instead they celebrated ‘Potato Day’… which isn’t at all offensive to anyone except, well you know, the Irish (but it’s ok we don’t watch much fox news over here for some reason…)
And worst of all, when people said that they’d seen it all when they see pigs fly, just what will happen when they saw swine flu?
I remain,
Sincerely,
Eric L. Sofer
x<]:o){
The Bad Clown…
So you wouldn’t want to pork Miss Piggy?
Swine flu name wont be changed in Israel
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By Marc Brodsky April 29, 2009
NEW YORK (JTA) — The swine flu will not take any new names in Israel despite the unease of a health official from a fervently religious party.
Deputy health minister Yakov Litzman, a member of United Torah Judaism, said earlier this week that the name “swine flu” should not be used as it contains the name of the unkosher animal. Litzman suggested that authorities call the virus sweeping the globe “Mexican flu.”
But Mexico’s ambassador to Israel, Frederico Salas, and the Jewish state’s envoy to Mexico, Yosef Livne, both lodged official complaints Tuesday to the Israeli Foreign Ministry protesting the term.
A Foreign Ministry official told the French news agency AFP that Salas “was offended” by the term “Mexican flu.”
“Israel has no intention of giving the flu any new names,” the official said. “It was nothing more than a slip of the tongue.”
Two Israelis who recently returned from Mexico have contracted swine flu in the first such cases in the Middle East. Several other cases are suspected, including the 5-year-old niece of one of the confirmed cases.
In these trying times of uncertainty, we can at least look to our leaders for calm, sober advice:
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Vice president Joe Biden said today he would tell his family members not to use subways in the U.S. as the swine flu outbreak spread to 11 states and forced school closures amid confirmation of the first U.S. death.
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…After the interview, co-host Meredith Vieira and NBC’s Chuck Todd discussed Biden’s statement, wondering if the vice president really had intended to caution the American public to stay off public transportation and airplanes. They noted his comments seemed to contradict public statements by other high-ranked White House officials.
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Mind you, I’m not saying that’s bad advice, though it’s looking increasingly like nobody in charge is able to coordinate the official government response. Napolitano is a mess (what is it about that job that seems to attract feckless mediocrities? Has ANYONE been impressive on Homeland Security? Is it that the job is too big for one person?) Tuesday she used the term “passive surveillance” to describe USA monitoring of the disease. Wednesday she said that passive surveillance was “not an accurate picture of what is going on”.
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Isn’t this what a Surgeon General is for? Where are C Everett Koop and Jocelyn Elders when you need them?
Some welcome good news: http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-swine-reality30-2009apr30,0,3606923.story
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prelim evidence indicates that this version of swine flu lacks certain proteins that made the 1918 version so deadly and that the reported increased death rates among the young and healthy may be an artifact–the 1957 flu pandemic may have given partial immunity to those older people who lived through it.
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Also, Joe Biden now says that when he said that he is telling family members not to go on planes or subways he actually meant not to go to Mexico or travel while sick. The man is an inarticulate bøøb and I predict he will be planning to “spend more time with his family” when the campaign for Obama’s second term begins.
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Still, even if this turns out to be just another flu, I hope we’re all taking notes. It’s just a matter of time (unless there is progress on that universal flu vaccine I recall reading about a while ago).
If they called it “Stupid Flu” do you think people would try to become better educated in order to avoid it?
Yeah, the stupid are really coming out of the woodwork on this one. Whether it’s Biden and his talk of not using mass transportation, or some talk show hosts basically inciting anger and blame against illegals, there’s plenty of it going around.
The slaps at illegal immigrants is stupid on multiple levels, not the least of which is that I doubt many people with the flu are going to have the strength to cross rivers and deserts to get here.
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Secondly, the number of legal crossings outnumbers the number of illegal ones by a huge number. It isn’t even close. So if the goal is to reduce infected people from entering the country it would simply mean closing the borders.
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I have to disagree with Obama’s statement about not closing the border because it would be like closing the door after the horse escapes. This isn’t the Captain Tripps virus, where all it takes is one patient zero to unleash global infection. Every new infected person who enters the country will potentially start another round of infection. We may already have 100 vectors in the country but they can be more easily contained than 200 or 2000. This all seems pretty obvious.
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Now, arguing that closing the borders is a bad idea because the cost outweighs the benefits is a perfectly good argument and one I would probably share. I wish he’s said that.
Today Urban Dictionary entry-
May 2: problem saturation
A process by which Mainstream Media addresses an issue incessantly, building up to a sense of pending doom. Of course, the problem, while worrisome, does not pose the grave threat they would like you to believe. Finally, MSM abandons coverage of the problem completely, moving on to another problem.
“Honey, why don’t we hear any news about the drug cartels anymore?”
“That was last month’s problem saturation, dear.”