Since our class is about illness and the rhetoric of illness, Anya and I were wondering if we could apply the thinking from our previous discussions to the current situation of the swine flu “epidemic.” As one of those modern day illnesses that cause chaos, it seems to represent how society deals with illness. Hopefully, all of you have heard about how the swine flu has spread throughout the world. It has hit Mexico the hardest, but cases have been seen in Europe and across the United States (and just yesterday hit Colorado). How does this type of disease reflect how people and society (government, media, etc.) deal with illness and disease? What are some possible metaphors that might stem from this “outbreak”? We have discussed metaphors for AIDS, cancer, and tuberculosis, but where does this swine flu fit into our discussion of illness?
Anya: I don't think the swine flu can really be categorized in the same way as AIDS and cancer because swine flu is much more recent and very very different than those other two illnesses. I have heard swine flu be compared to bird flu and SARS and so people aren't really taking it seriously since those other two diseases weren't as big of a deal as they were made out to be. However, this outbreak is much closer to home than the other two were. It seems that swine flu is almost contained to the US and Mexico, although it is slowly spreading. People are talking more about not if but when it hits. This is an illness that needs to be handled very differently than AIDS or cancer. Neither of those diseases spread as quickly as this one does or are as contagious in the case of AIDS. The US has tried to treat the flu with a cautious hand with some states taking precautions or I guess reactions is a better word, to keep the flu from spreading even farther or quicker. I think since this disease is so new and is spreading so quickly there might not be time for it to have much of a metaphor. The only one that I could think of would it to be compared to cancer since it is metastizing so quickly. If the illness sticks around for awhile and mutates, maybe then people will come up with a metaphor for it but at this point, I don't think that's likely.
Kathryn: The swine flu seems to be characterized by mass precautions and hysteria. It was interesting that the disease seemed to come out of nowhere. Suddenly, there was an outbreak in Mexico. The fact that this disease is so new will likely lead to misinterpretations in how it is spread and what the symptoms are. Scientists are just now trying to refer to the disease with its scientific name, rather than “swine flu” because of the negative connotations that the media-linked name gives. Just from the name, people probably form their own ideas of what the disease is caused by and what its symptoms are. It could also have negative effects on whether people believe that they can catch the swine flu. If the disease is attributed to pigs and we think of pigs as being dirty, it is possible that certain people may believe that they cannot catch the disease because they are clean. The biggest problem with the disease seems to be how it is spread through the air. Because of this, I think that people will respond differently than they would to diseases like cancer and AIDS. They have limited resources to prevent it from spreading to them. This shows how people often deal with illness in a more hysterical manner in anticipation that they might get sick, not because they actually are sick.
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Since the first cases of the swine flu showed up in Mexico, a possible stigma associated with it may be directed towards the Mexicans. They already carry a negative reputation due to illegal immigration, and if this virus does develop into a pandemic, they could be blamed as bringing the virus to the United States. It is hard to tell what exactly this stigma would entail, although dirty and unsanitary might be associated with it. It seems to be too early to tell whether or not the media is blowing this out of proportion, but on the other hand, officials have been predicting this sort of outbreak for several years now. In comparison to TB, I don’t see how the swine flu could carry a glamorous association as TB did. Also, since it is not confined to one specific group of people, it is hard to compare it to AIDS. Children and adults of all ages, genders, and race have been diagnosed with the swine flu, whereas AIDS was initially confined to gay men and drug users.
ReplyDeleteI think that society’s response to the swine flu “epidemic” could be comparable to those we have discussed in class in that the disease is not fully understood and that the general public is responding with panic. The disease came from animals but has mutated so that it can be spread from person to person – the fact that this has happened so quickly means that science has yet to develop some way to contain the disease. The fact that it cannot be completely controlled by science terrifies the general public, especially here in the US where we are so confident in the abilities of science and technology. The media also has a tendency to sensationalize stories like this because they will grab attention, adding to the wide-spread sense of panic. The US has only seen 160 cases and one death so far – this is fairly insignificant in a country of 300 million. I am not trying to say we should not give swine flu any attention, but only that it has been blown out of proportion and society has responded with great fear and paranoia because we do not understand it. In this way, swine flu is very similar to AIDS or cancer in the public eye.
ReplyDeleteHowever, at this point, a diagnosis of swine flu is not considered a death sentence, as diagnosis with one of these other diseases is. The flu is too new to produce stories of patients who suffer for months or years after diagnosis, knowing that they will never be cured and are always approaching death. It is unlikely that it will adopt the same rhetoric as the other diseases we have discussed – I do not expect to hear about people “living with swine flu” or “passing away after a long battle with swine flu” any time soon. I do not believe that this is a disease that will remain present and incurable for any duration of time, and thus will not develop the same metaphors or cultural understandings as AIDS or cancer.
I agree that it is unlikely that any social stigma will arise from the swine flu. People in America are already so used to dealing with the flu on a year to year basis that I doubt a different type of flu will make them think any differently about the people that contract it. The avian flu that was an ever-present thought only a few years ago did not create any social stigma, and I believe swine flu will be very similar to that disease. However, it does show the speed and readiness of government to take action against a threatening disease. It is abundantly clear that the last thing they want is another disease to worry about. It also shows the readiness of our media to blow yet another thing out of proportion. No matter what the subject – although fast-spreading, fatal diseases seem to be a favorite – the media is ready to do its best to make the public panic. We have seen it happen time and again, with SARS, the avian flu, and now this. None of the gruesome predictions have yet come to pass for any of them, and yet people are more than willing to go along with whatever the media says. It has gone so far that earlier today, a Jefferson County school in Arvada was shut down because one of the students tested positive for the swine flu. One. It goes to show how sensitive our culture is to disease.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that swine flu is really that comparable to AIDS, cancer, or tuberculosis. Swine flu spreads easily from person to person, and you can catch it just from talking to someone else who has it, because the germs in their saliva can infect you. This is not true of any of the other diseases we’ve discussed in depth, so it makes swine flu different. I think that this makes fewer stigmas associated with swine flu, because you can catch it easily and there isn’t really any way to put blame on the person for getting it. Also, because the illness is so new, there hasn’t really been time for metaphors to become associated with it. I think that because the way the disease spreads and the symptoms (the flu-like ones, not the dying part) are fairly commonplace, there isn’t really anything unusual about the disease that can be attributed to the patients. The noteworthy part is just how it has spread and that it’s a new disease and is more deadly than most flues are.
ReplyDeleteThe H1N1 virus cannot be categorized like AIDS or cancer. This is not a disease that develops with no known cause and causes the deaths of millions of people. Swine flu has a known cause and a known origin. It is caused by random mutations that allow a virus that normally affects only birds to also affect pigs, then another mutation that allows it to affect humans. The hysteria that the media has created has lead to more fear than the disease warrants.
ReplyDeleteOn stigma that is possible is, like Cayla said, a stigma against Mexico and Mexicans. The first case was a five year old little boy in rural Mexico and there have been more cases and more deaths there than anywhere else. Now that we are understanding more how to treat the disease, there is also going to be a negative stigma on the Mexican health care system that allowed a new strain of the influenza virus to take hold and grow into what could become a pandemic when it can be treated like the normal annual flu.
While this flu can be spread in routes similar to that of tuberculosis the stigma that TB carried will not pass itself off onto the swine flu. TB still kills thousands of people every year and this strain of the flu will in all probability be gone by this time next year. Any stigmas that do become associated with the swine flu will not stem from the disease itself but from the media’s and government’s handling of the disease.
I feel that the media often goes overboard with regard to the potential that a disease has. The media will look for anything that they can get a story out of. It's important to take swine flu seriously but the virus itself is not the end of the world. I really feel that this will not be made a metaphor like AIDS or cancer. It's a virus that has potential to become a pandemic and I feel the government acted correctly in responding the the level 5 pandemic alert that the CDC and WHO organization put out.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Swine Flu is comparable to Cancer or AIDS. Swine flu is transferred like a common cold and is not acquired through certain lifestyles or choices. This makes the metaphors associated with it very different. I do think its is important though to notice the panic and awareness the outbreak has attracted. This coverage by the media has attracted much more fear than is probably necessary. From what I understand, if it is treated properly then the chance of survival is pretty high. The people who die tend to be extremely young or old. Unlike cancer and AIDS, the main causalities of the Swine Flu are those who are to weak to fight it off. I think the most negative metaphors that might arise are those that due with race. because the disease has came out of Mexico, this may lead to metaphors dealing with Mexicans and the arise of the Swine Flu in Mexico.
ReplyDeleteThough the swine flu is clearly not the same as AIDS or cancer, there is definitely a stigma that follows. Not only against Mexicans as Cayla said, but also toward those who have the disease. If the disease is killing many in Mexico but few in America, we look at the economic differences as negatives and apply them thusly to diseased Americans. We automatically assume that unnamed baggage works and middle-aged women in Arapahoe County are underprivileged and may even be “dirty” or contaminated.” Stigma around outbreaks also surrounds the issue of ignorance. People don’t know much about the swine flu and are quick to want to classify it, quarantine it, and destroy it. What I will say is true about the media’s depiction of swine flu is similar to SARS, the bird flu, or the wave of shark attacks America experienced several years ago in that they are over-publicized and are of no real danger to the greater public as a whole. A lot of this media response is a direct response to the public’s response to news as reactionary and their predilection to conjure up images of the plague or other disasters that, in a time and place with far less medical and technological prowess.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't know much about the swine flu, from what I do know, I think its is completely plausible that will result in stigmas attaching to the Mexicans and Mexico. I work in a Denver Public School where 96% of the students are Mexican immigrants or Mexican-Americans, and from what I've observed there since the outbreak of the swine flu, I feel fairly confident that the Mexican community does feel a stigma. The days that I've worked since the outbreak of the flu I've heard comments from students that they think their community will be closed off (obviously because as a Mexican community they must be more susceptible) and observed students joking about the Mexican influence in the swine flu. So, from what I've seen, I definitely think there is some sort of stigma attached to the Mexicans already, and they know it. However, I do not think it is quite the same thing as what we studied only because I think everyone, even the most hysterical, realizes that the swine flu is ultimately a flu, and that whoever gets it is not to blame, and that where and with whom it originated is completely random. So though the Mexicans have gotten the brunt of the swine flu consequences, it is not necessarily their fault. I think that the Mexican community realizes this as well; I mean, the students I work with did joke around with me about if I had the swine flu, since I had been home sick.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't know much about the swine flu, from what I do know, I think its is completely plausible that will result in stigmas attaching to the Mexicans and Mexico. I work in a Denver Public School where 96% of the students are Mexican immigrants or Mexican-Americans, and from what I've observed there since the outbreak of the swine flu, I feel fairly confident that the Mexican community does feel a stigma. The days that I've worked since the outbreak of the flu I've heard comments from students that they think their community will be closed off (obviously because as a Mexican community they must be more susceptible) and observed students joking about the Mexican influence in the swine flu. So, from what I've seen, I definitely think there is some sort of stigma attached to the Mexicans already, and they know it. However, I do not think it is quite the same thing as what we studied only because I think everyone, even the most hysterical, realizes that the swine flu is ultimately a flu, and that whoever gets it is not to blame, and that where and with whom it originated is completely random. So though the Mexicans have gotten the brunt of the swine flu consequences, it is not necessarily their fault. I think that the Mexican community realizes this as well; I mean, the students I work with did joke around with me about if I had the swine flu, since I had been home sick.
ReplyDeleteI think that the media has come up with an image for swine flu that has very little basis in fact. The media makes the virus look like everybody who has it dies, which is very false (it is only 6.7% fatal). And it also makes it appear to be a poor person's disease. I have heard countless times that it has struck hardest in Mexico because people "live with pigs there." I find this to be a gross exaggeration and even offensive. The virus is not even aptly named. It is a combination of swine, bird, and human flu. So why does it get stuck with the name "swine flu?" This is purely a distortion of the media, and the name creates a metaphor that likely would not otherwise exist.
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