Negative Visualization – the Media
I heard on the news tonight about people who are going into emergency
rooms demanding to be tested for swine flu. They have no symptoms – none.
The media has done its job – often referencing the 1918 Spanish flu that killed 20
million people, reporting each case of swine flu, as well as each suspected case, using the word 'pandemic' often. Their demeanor is solemn.
Twice I have seen an interview with the man who is in charge of public health, head of a major hospital here who cautions that this is fundamentally just another flu strain, no need for any panic at this point – he is very low key and calm. However, before and after his interview, the news is all about school closings, deaths in Mexico, hospitalizations, etc.
Of course, this is piggy-backing on the memory of the big scare about avian
flu (which they don't mention much because it was such a non-event). What I have yet to hear about is the swine flu scare in
the mid-70's for which many were urged to get inoculated; 1 person died
of the flu, 25 died of the inoculations.
I remember the log jam of cars stuffed full of people and their possessions leaving Houston, running out of gas, out of water and food during the Hurricane Rita evacuation debacle. I live in Houston, I got some mild wind, and just a spit of rain – I had to water my lawn the next day.
I can understand the media wanting to be conservative. And, fear sells. Negative visualizations, especially when viewed by masses of people, can generate mass hysteria – just like the public reaction to Orson Welles' radio drama broadcast, the War of the Worlds. People thought they smelled poison gas, they saw lightning flashes in the distance, etc.
When a group of people buy into the same negative visualization, the fear reaction happens individually, but is exacerbated by mass consensus, reinforcing the negative visualization.
What is called for is discernment – a major skill-set of the Spiritual Warrior – determining what is real, what is hype; what is 'sense,' what is non-sense.
