Disease double standard?

I'm just curious why, when the bird flu arose in China the world was on high alert and we were warned against travel and to be careful, and the media watched it's progress like a hawk--even though it took months to move from China to the rest of the world. Instead, Swine flu arises, quickly kills 50 people in Mexico, within days it's across the Atlantic...and yet the media tells us that we shouldn't worry this time. Am I the only one confused? I can't help but see a strong double standard or the hand of propaganda at work through the WHO. A disease comes from the west and it's 'let's wait and see, it's probably not that bad' but a disease comes from the east and it's 'we're all probably going to die if we're not super careful and cut all ties to the country of origin'. Come on! These are peoples lives! More common sense and less politics please.

Tenuous Freedoms

The G20 summit in London has been over for a while now but questions into the actions of the police are still arising. It seems this is becoming common after such meetings (as, of course, are the protests). One comment made was that the police must remember they are servants of the public, not masters. Incidentally, the same should be true of politicians. It seems to me that comment precisely encapsulates the problem. More and more, especially since 9/11, the authorities seem to feel they are our masters and we, the helpless, ignorant children. Furthermore, it has surely become obvious over the last 8 years is that, despite all the protections built into our constitutions and political systems, any freedoms we possess are still at the whim of the powerful and we could lose them at any time. This should be a wake-up call to all but the most willfully ignorant.

Early Fandom

It occurred to me recently that religion is the first example of fandom. Many people are religious and/or defend their religion on the basis of the great story it tells. Many children are introduced to religion through the stories: 'baby Jesus' at Christmas comes readily to mind. To me, this is nothing other than an example of fandom. It's literally no different than believing Atlantis is real because Plato wrote about it thousands of years ago. Or that Middle Earth is real because of the richly detailed background of the story. I'm convinced that if Lord of the Rings had been written two thousand years ago it would now be the basis of a religion.