America: Land of the Panic Attack

I present to you reasons why I don’t watch the news anymore; it feels like America has become one big dysfunctional family, and the news is the doomsday, overprotective mother. I will watch the news, if I want to see what it is I’m supposed to panic about. Or if there is a story about a waterskiing squirrel. No wonder why so many people are suffering from panic attacks and disability.

Here’s a small list, from the last few years:
-War in Iraq
-War in General
-Obama and his healthcare plan
-Swine Flu (why are you still calling it that, news?) – Minnesota Hospitals and doctors offices took a new take this year, asking all Minnesotans to stay home if they think they have the flu, and don’t come in for help. Same with schools and daycares, and guess what’s happening? Schools are down 50% in attendance because a kid has the sniffles, and the subsequent absenteeism in workplaces makes the parents panic about working in this economy. Which leads us to:
-The Economy
-Unemployment Rates
-Terrorists
-Nuclear Bombs
-Natural Disasters, such as flooding, quakes, fire, storms….basically everything they used to call “Acts of God.” It’s probably better if they don’t call it that.
-Random violence among the youth and in the schools
-Gangs
-Workplace violence

I feel like the news is that daily call from an overprotective, horror-story-for-everything mother; “Did you hear that some woman just murdered a pregnant woman and took her baby!?!?” Add that one to the list. Fear and panic gets ratings, I know. Maybe I should go into business writing about happy fun stuff…like Chicken Soup for the Soul or the light side of news….oh wait, that’s already being done.

I think about panic and how it is not just an American Institution. Religion, National Leaders from all countries, the medical community, they all thrive on panic, because it keeps things rolling. It’s a great motivator. How unfortunate. I am much more motivated by goals and encouragement, but I never see that on a public scale. I’d work for those people. :D

There was a woman in the news (ha! Here we go) from Minnesota, who ran away with her 13 year old son after he told her he didn’t want to go through chemo again. They hunted the two down, vilified her in the news, and a judge forced them to go to chemo. So many people called her neglectful, tore her apart, but I knew what she was feeling. To see someone go through chemo once is hard enough. You inject your body with poison, hoping to kill another poison. The added sickness and weakness that comes with chemo is terrifying to watch, and I have no idea what it would be like to go through, I just pray I don’t ever know. This child (no one seems to remember he’s a child) wanted to live out the rest of his life happily, with good quality, not spending his last year on earth stuck in bed and throwing up all the time. She loved him enough to try and do that. So she ran away with him to hide him. Maybe she shouldn’t have done that, but when a pompous doctor, who, let’s face it, DOES NOT HAVE A CURE, but tells you to subject your body to this horrifying poison a second time or he will take you away from your family, put you in a foster home and still poison you, what is the best response to that? Doctors don’t have a clue when it comes to many diseases, and their response to illness is generally, “let’s try this. Let’s try this. Let’s try this.” I went to the CNN website to read people’s comments on this story, and I was heartbroken, the way people were throwing stones at this woman. Then, they interview a doctor, and he flat out says that this woman ran took her son away from a cure, that he is saddened because he’s holding all the answers in his hand and she has refused them. A CURE. Apparently this guy has cured cancer and failed to tell anyone about it. He’s the savior of this kid and she’s the devil for trying to let him live his life, however long it may be, as he wants, with happiness and some semblance of normality. Since he was 13, he was a minor, and the guardians were not allowed to refuse treatment on his behalf, nor was he allowed to refuse treatment for himself. Doctor (24 year old kid who has swallowed whatever he’s told) knows best. So this kid gets forced into chemo a second time in 3 months, with no hope, no feeling that it will help, totally depressed and with no faith of healing. Yeah, that will get the job done. Good on ya, doctor.

I didn’t mean to digress on this. This situation made me so furious, obviously. I just have issues with the panic and judgment of this country. Not that it is better anywhere else, but America seems to revolve around public gossip and humiliation and judgment, and it’s a little distasteful for my pallet. How many times have you seen the news, where there is a 30 second blurb about, say, a mosque full of men using their wives outside as a human shield (or sacrifice), only to spend the next 4 minutes on Tom Cruise or Brittany Spears? I tell you, it makes me sick. So if I seem like I don’t know what’s happening in the news, I likely do, but I won’t get my news from TV. News, like healthcare, is a BUSINESS. It’s about the money and the attention.

This all came about because of course, someone I know has the sniffles, and immediately everyone is freaking out. Yes, panic and lock yourself in your house with Airborne and Emergen-C, that will protect you. It makes me think of the plague, but we’re not witty enough to make a nice little nursery rhyme out of H1N1. But, we’re not quarantining the sick and the well together, so we got that going for us.

This reminds me of the song by Panic at the Disco: The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage. But that’s not the song of the day. Don’t worry. It also reminds me of the Weepies: This is Not Your Year. But that’s not the song of the day either.

For my money, I will take my chances. I have never taken a flu shot and I never will. That too is a business, and business from panic is good. I will trust in God and Fate and let science continue to think they’re both. Wow, I am cynical today! I apologize. I don’t know why that happened today, but I feel better, having written it. :P

I didn’t start off cynical today. Hmmmm.

Today’s Song of the Day is
The Weepies, The World Spins Madly On
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/World_Spins_Madly_On/185470