PET PEEVE THURSDAY--The Hysterical Media

I don't know about you, but I no longer trust the media to give me news I can believe. Every time it rains, the local media runs an alert at the bottom of the TV screen threatening mayhem. Same for snowstorms during winter. They'll warn us we could be up to our armpits in snow--possibly blizzard conditions, and we'll get a light dusting. Then, when we get a big storm, more often than not, they won't predict it.

I'm so tired of the media crying wolf that I haven't been able to rise above the MILDLY INTERESTED stage when it comes to the swine flu outbreak. It seems they want us to all panic! (Maybe, like during a predicted snowstorm that never arrives, we should run out to the grocery store and buy up all the milk and bread.)

I can't get riled up about the statistics they're offering. So many sick here, so many sick there -- my God, the REGULAR flu kills more than this one has so far. And from what I have heard, and except for Mexico, the people who've gotten the flu have had "mild cases." So why blow it all out of proportion?

Scare tactics--that's what it is.

Okay, I'm one of those people who carries a bottle of Purel in my purse (and my car--in fact, I have two in the car). I use it all the time (especially after I leave the grocery store). But our President gave the best advice to avoid the flu: WASH YOUR HANDS. COVER YOUR MOUTH WHEN YOU COUGH -- and the one that can't be repeated enough (and was never taken seriously at my former place of employment, because if you missed a day you had a FREQUENCY): IF YOU'RE SICK--STAY HOME AND RECOVER, DON'T SPREAD IT AROUND.

And what's bugging YOU today?