We are learning today that while this new virus is spreading, it really isn't that severe. What is it about our media that seemingly wants to scare us to death? Or are they just doing their job?

Ratings. Ratings.

Well, the Forest Grove school system just announced a shut down for the first two days next week.

There is a fairly high Hispanic / Latino population here.

?!?

You see, that makes no sense. Just because there is a high hispanic population at the school, decisions are being made based on no evidence whatsoever. It borders (excuse the pun) on racism.

I do worry this threat might return in the fall, but I have faith that our health system will develop an effective vaccine by then.

I don't know that was the contributing factor to the decision, but...

whether or not it was, it's just silly. What is two days going to do?

Isn't the contagious stage on these a week or something?

I don't think this threat is going away, but the media seems to have overblown the problem. In today's day and age, these situations can be overcome. That is the story that does not want to be told. And the media needs to understand this.

No one in the media wants to miss The Big Story. They don't give a rat's ass about whether a story is true, overhyped, etc. What if the other guy gets it on first? Careers can be made or lost over this sort of thing. And that, more than any sort of supposed "media bias" is what really drives media agendas: personal and group ambition. You can bet ratings of all the news channels have skyrocketed in the last week. That means higher ad revenue, bigger bonuses...what's the motivation for the media to change even one thing about what they have done in the last week?

This is why I stopped taking the Mainstream Media seriously years ago. I do listen sometimes (never to an evening newscast, maybe just to highlights on the radio), only to hear what other people think the headlines are, not to take them all that seriously. Mostly I listen to NPR, which is quite a bit better than everyone else though not completely immune to the same ambitions.

I suggest people stop worrying about media hype as long as keeping the viewer informed in a balanced way isn't very high on the media's agenda.

NPR and sometimes the BBC is where I get any media news. Like Andrew the I don't watch the networks and cable news at all.

I do get disappointed when NPR occasionally lowers itself to some form of sensationalism. Thankfully it's not often.

But then again, I don't listen to NPR/BCC that much anyway.

I had to make a business trip to Las Vegas on Friday.

It was funny to see all the people in the airports wearing masks.

Not so many here at PDX, but at LAS there were a bunch.

Most of the people wearing masks, I'd esti9mate about 90% to 95% were Oriental. Were they just being smart, cautious or over reacting???

Don't know, don't care. If that's what they want to do, go for it!

Posted this in the humor thread, but it seems to fit here too;

It was once said that a black man would be president "when pigs fly"!

Indeed, 100 days into Obama's presidency , Swine flu!

Too bad they didn't see the news that wearing a mask doesn't protect you from GETTING it, it only protects you from SPREADING it.

"Most of the people wearing masks, I'd esti9mate about 90% to 95% were Oriental."

It's very common in Japan for people to wear a mask in public when they have a cold.

"Oriental"?
I thought that went out with "Colored" and "Negro".

I'm "oriental" because I live in Sandy.

"Oriental"?
I thought that went out with "Colored" and "Negro".


It's Oriental in most of the world. Only in the US where people having nothing else to worry about than what is politicaly correct do questions like this even come up.

People with too much time on there hands fuss about this.

"Oriental"?
I thought that went out with "Colored" and "Negro".

I couldn't tell if they were Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese or what nationality.

I know they weren't Caucasian, Black, or Hispanic.

Oriental covers it.

You guys all look the same to me.

Actually, Asian covers it.

The word " Pandemic " is a scary word by itself. It really overstates the situation just saying it.
Pan" ( Panic )and demic ( indicating rampant infection ).

Conjuring up all kinds of visions much like the ABC 90s mini series "The Stand ". Fear the Reaper' and the devil made me do it and all that jazz. Taken along with the latest 2 hour specials on History Channel and A&E or some such about Armegeddon, The Mayan Calendar , Edgar Cayce and Asteriods from outer space, to say nothing of Global Warming disaster scenarios.

No wonder people get hyped about this kind of thing, it doesnt take too much prodding from the traditional media to instill fear and anxiety.

I once got lectured by co-workers about using the term "Oriental." They said the term is "outdated," but didn't have a really compelling case regarding why. One just said something like, "to me, that term is reminiscent of the racism of the Reagan era." I was a bit taken aback because I had been raised with the concept that the "orient" refers to nations in the east, such as China, Japan, and Korea; thus people whose heritage is in those countries are Oriental.

In summary, I don't find the term offensive, but if used in some social circles, it will generate some negative reactions. Note that "Oriental" seems to be marginally acceptable to use when referring to cultural aspects of those societies (such as oriental foods), just not the people from there.

Some terms go out of style - like "negro" which was the acceptable term for a black person through the 1960s, even by other blacks. Then the Black Panthers introduced "black" as the acceptable term and "nergo" passed from common use. Now supposedly it's "African American" but "black" still seems acceptable and commonly used.

I do think "Oriental" has gone out of style the way "negro" did. I wouldn't use that term any longer, either; I'd use "Asian" instead.

And, it's all silly.

And, it's all silly

Of course, this is the phrase uttered by mostly white guys.

This subject really belongs in another thread--my main objection to terms "going out of style" is that nobody gets a memo saying "oriental" or whatever is no longer an accepted part of the lexicon. Thus, one has no choice but to stick one's foot in one's mouth when one inadvertently violates one of these silly conventions*. Nobody seems to know why one should say "Asian" instead of "Oriental," but that's the way it is.

* I saw reference in Wikipedia to the Guide to Sensitive Language in The Random House Dictionary, which provides advise on these types of usage conventions. Thus, one need not fly completely blind.

Here, Alfredo, this link may help explain why the term "Oriental" is now considered politically incorrect in the US:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/545754.html

From that, I gather that the gist of the change is that "Oriental" refers to a time when the "Oreient" (Asia) was subservient to Europe, basically colonized, which was largely true until less than 100 years ago. It's in a sense like when Brits referred to Americans as "Colonists."

Oriental is in ANY way offensive to anyone? I honestly had no idea.

Besides, it's not like I HAVE to say that word. I don't mind using something else instead if someone is bugged by it. It's not a big deal for me to make a small compromise on something I don't care about - but someone else does.

Well....If it's political correctness they are looking for, don't look here. I pride myself in being as politically INCORRECT as possible.

Political correctness sucks.

I'm not going to use a very derogatory term like the "N" word or any of the other myriad of other racist terms, but I'm also not going to change the way I talk because some egghead somewhere determined what is and isn't politically correct.

Besides, if you can't call someone from the Orient, Oriental, then what would you call someone from Tampa?

Tampanian?

Tampanite?

Tampon?

Hell, I used to live in Tampa and still have no idea!