The Good, the Bad, and the Bizarre

The numbers aren't stopping: 1,639 cases of the swine flu have been confirmed in 43 states, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Compare this to 896, which I saw on an NBC News report just yesterday. That's nearly double—in just one day.

A lot of people say this is no worse than the human flu, which kills 36,000 folks a year in the U.S., according to WhiteHouse.gov.

Let's take a closer look, shall we? Spreading first in birds and domestic poultry, this influenza A virus then travels to humans. Let's look even closer. There are ten subtypes of this virus that have killed us in masses. Most notably, the Asian flu (H2N2) killed 1 million people in the 1890 pandemic. The bird flu (H5N1 virus subtype) is predicted to kill from 5 million to 150 million of us, as predicted by a United Nations Press Conference in 2005.

Both these major flu outbreaks started with strains found in wild ducks and birds, respectively. These animals are essentially killing us. And it's happening again with the pigs. Are we being punished for our carnivorous habits?

For all the years we've consumed poultry, pork, beef, fish, and imports like frog legs, we've never considered the consequences. In fact, consequence seems too serious a word. Sure, there's gout. There's higher risk for heart disease. There's exposure to pesticides used in meat. Knowing this, we continue to eat other creatures. We're not hit with a serious, hard-hitting consequence until there's a pandemic.

Thus, this swine flu may very well be the final warning to our meat-eating vice. That is to say, it's a vice in the eyes of animals and vegetarians. Since I fall under neither of these categories, I don't really consider eating meat to be one of my serious sins. But PETA does. And animals everywhere do. One time I could've sworn that the eye of a bass I was eating glared straight at me. To this day I call dibs on the eyes whenever fish is served.

The ongoing bird flu, the swine flu pandemic— they're the animals' revenge. The animals don't mind dying from the virus themselves—they know they'll die from human slaughter anyway. So, they sacrifice their lives now, knowing that we'll die with them. Isn't it funny how we never consider this consequence of eating meat? PETA would say it's good justice served for the animals. Meat-eaters would deem it horrible. Which side would you say is more bizarre?

Twenty-five hundred. That's how many confirmed swine flu cases there are now in 25 countries. They say you can't catch it from eating pork. But I'm going to play it safe and skip the hotdog today.