2009 was the year the swine infection came. Politicians and media ignited a collective hysteria. To be sure, it was not altogether a success. Yet it was sufficient for the politicians to get collectively intoxicated on their own inertia throughout the crisis management. And they bought plenty of vaccine.
Of course, the pharmaceutical industry was glad. They played along and took the money. Now the countries want to annul the orders. My next article will discuss this withdrawal.
Incidentally, the risk situation has hardly changed in the meantime. The infection, no matter if it is the bird or swine infection, will always be a threat. A permutation, also towards dangerous viral strains, is always a possibility.
The only thing that underwent change is our perception of the risk. As soon as warnings get (too) loud and nothing happens, the risk gets back to “normal”. Psychologically spoken, this is a totally common phenomenon. The hysteria turns to other topics.
We can be certain that the next virus will come. Perhaps from the goat or sheep. Or maybe a totally different risk will appear. Not one as laughable as a terrorist who wants to send an airplane to kingdom come. Instead, something really bad. For instance the contamination of our environment with female hormones endangering our procreative capacity. Or something totally different!
For instance, I read in the economy sector of today’s “Süddeutsche” paper edition about “Apocalypse 2036”. The asteroid Apophis (diameter: 350 metres) is a threat to our world. And the Russians want a secret meeting in the near future in order to establish an international enterprise. The declared intent of this enterprise is “to design a device which deflects the asteroid from its course“.
Incidentally, last October, NASA still rated the probability of a collision at “only” 1 : 250,000. You can also find the story in the Internet (SZ of December, 30th, 2009). But that story differs from what you can read in today’s paper edition of 20100102 (yyyymmdd) – and isn’t that really an ill-omened date?
It goes without saying that we find Apophis in wikipedia. According to them, it will visit us in 2029, but chances are quite good that it will not collide with us. In 2036, is will return!
Building the asteroid-deflection-machine as proposed by the boss of the Russian cosmonaut agency, Anatoli Perminow, would probably yield several times as much turnover and profit as the vaccination against swine infection did. So it makes sense to ignite hysteria and start a huge project. It should include a world-wide compulsory contribution. If necessary, UN troops could act as the executive organs (supported by German tax investigators who could teach the local money collectors following their well-tested patterns). This method would be more effective than the best law for the growth of economy.
But the people are fed up with the continuous ignition of panic. This is true for vaccines and probably also for building an asteroid-deflection-machine à la Perminow. Even the climate catastrophe is not taken seriously, and that is something that will most likely actually happen.
Consequently, no politician can make these kinds of projects his own in order to establish his own profile as a capable decision-maker.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
🙂 And what if HYPERLINK “http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophis” o “Der griechische Gott in Wikipedia” t “_blank” Apophis comes? After all, he is a Greek God.
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