Commenter Steve Donahue will love the irony of me linking to this article by John Stossel.
...We complain about pollution and car exhaust, but think about what it was like when the pollution came from horses and cities were clogged with the smelly beasts. Manure was everywhere.
Today, the media are so hysterical about environmental "destruction," you'd never know that over the past half century, the air and water have steadily gotten cleaner. As Moore said, "Fifty years ago, many American cities had permanent black fogs over them."
...The media rant about new dangers such as West Nile virus, avian flu and SARS. You'd think life was more dangerous than ever. But how many Americans died during last year's SARS crisis? None. Worldwide, SARS killed fewer than 1,000 people. Yet for weeks, it was the terrifying headline du jour. By contrast, the health crisis of 1918 was the flu.
It killed 20 million.
I found this compelling because of the underlying talk and fear about a possible outbreak of the Avian Flu. The talk includes such points that we are overdue for a global pandemic, based on average historical time between previous outbreaks and then project millions of deaths using the same logic. Here is my issue. The past is like another planet. Things were completely different in the past. Once upon time Doctors didn't even wash their hands before operating. Spreading panic for the future based on results of the past is pretty irresponsible.
