SARs virus mutating rapidly

[Guest guest]

SARS without " severe " is just arse... I wonder if we're misplacing our

priorities in this thread.

13,000 Americans are shot to death every year. Before you put on a mask to

go the grocery, you should put on a bullet proof vest during household

cleaning... Etcetera. We're doing CR because we want to play the odds and

stick around longer, and I think SARS is pretty low on my " worry-chart " in

comparison to other things that are not getting as much column space in the

Washington Post...

I know SARS is getting a lot of press, but come on, it has a lower mortality

rate than the flu. It's just new and somewhat unknown. I don't want to get

it, but I think the daily, multiple SARS coverage here is becoming

over-represented.

Out of curiosity, has anyone seen the documentary " Flight from Death " ? It's

screening here in Edmonton on May 2nd and I'm looking forward to it. Dr.

Walford is interviewed in it, and the general context of the film is the

symbolic overcoming of death and how fear operates to mis-align one's

actions. If anyone is in Cultural Psych, it derives from work in Terror

Management Theory, which I think has interesting connections with what we do

here (see Ernest Becker's _The Denial of Death_). You can see the trailer

here: www.flightfromdeath.com

One interesting TMT study showed that among young males in Israel, a

reminder of mortality led to increased risky behaviour (reckless driving) if

that behaviour was associated with an increased sense of self-esteem and

social belonging -- ie: do we do risky or just silly things because we're

afraid of dying, rather than pursuing practical and positive ends? CR

strikes me as a positive response, but masks in supermarkets doesn't...

Cheers,

________________________

Gifford

3-5 Humanities Centre

Department of English

University of Alberta

www.ualberta.ca/~gifford

[Guest guest]

You're right about those statistics. It's not rational. But we aren't

always rational beings. For example, flying's pretty safe compared to autos

yet people fear flying and don't hesitate to ride in cars.

I have a fascination with new diseases. Perhaps it stems back to my college

days (oh so long ago) when a bio prof lectured: " There will always be a new

plague or disease that comes along to keep the population in check......... "

I guess I'm nervous about SARS because the facts are getting a bit worse

than we first heard. Now they're not sure how it's spread (aside from

coughing, sneezing they suspect other ways). And the numbers keep

increasing. Will it get worse? If you remember AIDS started out as an

almost exclusively, mostly male, homosexual illness, and then soon spread

into the general population and the blood supply. Now of course it's a

world wide problem and in every segment of the population. My fears are

that SARS has that potential.

on 4/23/2003 1:28 PM, Gifford at gifford@... wrote:

> 13,000 Americans are shot to death every year. Before you put on a mask to

> go the grocery, you should put on a bullet proof vest during household

> cleaning... Etcetera. We're doing CR because we want to play the odds and

> stick around longer, and I think SARS is pretty low on my " worry-chart " in

> comparison to other things that are not getting as much column space in the

> Washington Post...

[Guest guest]

I'm not afraid of SARS, but like you Francesca, just a bit fascinated by it. Sounds like the start of a great sci-fi thriller. CNN and Fox News even admit that they're diggin' it, too!

I spoke to our partner again this morning about his experience in Beijing. He said it was "just a weel bad bug" (he's Korean), and that people who come down with it must seek medical attention--so the hospital system there is swamped which is the biggest problem they have right now. He said that life was really disrupted in Beijing because everyone is either sick or taking cover from it. He wasn't nearly so worried about getting sick as he was concerned about bringing it home to his family and community. The folks in Beijing were all telling horrific stories about how contagious it is, no doubt exaggerating the risk way out of proportion.

I feel pretty lucky, after talking to him, that I don't live in Beijing, but like was saying, the freeway is far more dangerous.

Suz