And, So, Another World Crisis Passes

I find it interesting that, once again, we have another world crisis that has completely fallen on its face with "Chicken Little" accuracy.

That crisis? H1N1 -- aka the swine flu.

Like a Nuclear World War, the Destruction of the Ozone Layer, Y2k, the Avian Virus, and so many other impending disasters, we wind up finding out that H1N1 is another non starter of a catastrophe. In fact, H1N1 is about 8 times less likely to spread than the normal flu and is 9 times less likely to kill; although children were 20 times more likely to die from this strain than the normal seasonal flu.

Certainly, the world's leadership is caught between "crying wolf", having nothing happen, and having people get complacent about any future grim predictions; or, saying nothing and winding up with a massive and horrific disaster on their hands. That's a big problem. The worst thing that can happen is to have people ignore warnings because they have been conditioned by so many false alarms in the past.

I really think that it is important for the same world leadership that declared H1N1 a pandemic and potential disaster, to get out the word that they had to take a "better safe than sorry" posture to make sure that the worst possible outcome could be avoided. They need to make everyone aware that they were unsure of what H1N1 could morph into. To simply let this non-disaster pass and, then, say nothing will only coarsen peoples attitudes towards ignoring future warnings.