The fandom zika campaign
Far be it from me to attempt to derail any charitable campaign at all. But I want to explain the reason I've been stomping my boot about this zika auction.
This is what the campaign reminds me of. I don't question the need for it; I question the focus. Like take this fictional anti-rabies campaign. Unlike zika, rabies is a truly horrendous disease. It's one of the few diseases that, once they develop, are 100% fatal. There was a very hardcore ICU management protocol developed for rabies (the Milwaukee Protocol) that was far, far, far beyond the capacity of any third world hospital - and it's been failing. Rabies spits on your modern medicine. In the US, it's a very rare disease because of widespread vaccination of pets, and because of successful prophylaxis if you do get bitten by a wild animal. In countries like India, China and the Philippines, it runs rampant. But when you watch this fictional campaign, what do you see? Help India vaccinate their animals? Help spread awareness in the Philippines? Help China get rabies immunoprophylaxis out to remote villages? No. You see how rabies threatens YOU and YOUR MIDDLE CLASS AMERICAN HOME. Rabies is ON YOUR CEILING, WATCHING YOU SLEEP! And this is why it's funny - not because rabies is a funny or fictional disease.
Now, zika. When I was on Velociraptor Island in 2014, we had chikungunya, and in 2013 it was dengue fever. They're both similar and both similar to zika, in a sense that most people get a flu-like illness with fever and body aches, and sometimes those recur after months, and in a minority of cases the illness can be severe. Developing countries like Velociraptor Island have tropical climate and poor sanitation that mosquitoes love, and even a few heavy cases will severely overwhelm their healthcare resources. Viruses like zika and dengue are far from being the only or the most serious problems they have, but okay, can't help with all of them, and they do need the help. That's not why I have a problem with this fandom campaign.
What is this campaign talking about? Zika is coming after YOU, it causes MICROCEPHALY in YOUR HYPOTHETICAL BABY, and also GULLAIN-BARRE, and this is how you can prevent it from ruining your barbecue party. Spread awareness \o/ It does, sort of, in the middle somewhere, give you links to various charities and tell you briefly what those do. You know what else hurts your hypothetical baby in the US? Uncontrolled diabetes. Alcohol and drugs. Domestic violence. Also rubella and measles spread by anti-vaxxers. Also syphilis, hepatitis, Group B Strep, HIV and other things that get missed because women have been having babies by themselves for centuries and I'm gonna have this one in a bathtub all natural, don't need no stinking doctors telling me what to do, the bunch of charlatans. Zika is SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED, like an STD! You think a flu-like illness is the worst thing you can catch without a condom? I'm sure zika will put somebody in the US in the ICU at some point. Compared to how many patients land in the ICU every day through poor management of diabetes?
Zika doesn't even make the 100 worst diseases we already have in the US. The reason we're flipping our shit about it, though, is that an oogy third world disease has come over here and is threatening our beautiful American babies and our way of life. It is a third-world zombie plague! Is it particularly bad? No. Is it even comparable to diseases that are already running rampant in the US? Well, no. But it's from over there and it's coming for you.
So what we do is raise awareness OVER HERE and protect OURSELVES against this third world snot bug by throwing this or that herb on your grill. It's not such a horrible disease over there either - it's just that third world countries lack resources to manage or prevent it. So the focus of this fandom campaign is not "This is what's happening in Peru and Jamaica, let's help them get through it". Instead, it's ZIKA IS COMING FOR YOU!! Be aware! Let's develop a vaccine! (Let's get the already existing rabies vaccine to India - how about that? Unlike zika, that one will 100% kill everyone.)
I especially adore the ev0l red-eyed mosquito. It's coming for you! Look into its blood-thirsty eyes!
Click to viewThis is what the campaign reminds me of. I don't question the need for it; I question the focus. Like take this fictional anti-rabies campaign. Unlike zika, rabies is a truly horrendous disease. It's one of the few diseases that, once they develop, are 100% fatal. There was a very hardcore ICU management protocol developed for rabies (the Milwaukee Protocol) that was far, far, far beyond the capacity of any third world hospital - and it's been failing. Rabies spits on your modern medicine. In the US, it's a very rare disease because of widespread vaccination of pets, and because of successful prophylaxis if you do get bitten by a wild animal. In countries like India, China and the Philippines, it runs rampant. But when you watch this fictional campaign, what do you see? Help India vaccinate their animals? Help spread awareness in the Philippines? Help China get rabies immunoprophylaxis out to remote villages? No. You see how rabies threatens YOU and YOUR MIDDLE CLASS AMERICAN HOME. Rabies is ON YOUR CEILING, WATCHING YOU SLEEP! And this is why it's funny - not because rabies is a funny or fictional disease.
Now, zika. When I was on Velociraptor Island in 2014, we had chikungunya, and in 2013 it was dengue fever. They're both similar and both similar to zika, in a sense that most people get a flu-like illness with fever and body aches, and sometimes those recur after months, and in a minority of cases the illness can be severe. Developing countries like Velociraptor Island have tropical climate and poor sanitation that mosquitoes love, and even a few heavy cases will severely overwhelm their healthcare resources. Viruses like zika and dengue are far from being the only or the most serious problems they have, but okay, can't help with all of them, and they do need the help. That's not why I have a problem with this fandom campaign.
What is this campaign talking about? Zika is coming after YOU, it causes MICROCEPHALY in YOUR HYPOTHETICAL BABY, and also GULLAIN-BARRE, and this is how you can prevent it from ruining your barbecue party. Spread awareness \o/ It does, sort of, in the middle somewhere, give you links to various charities and tell you briefly what those do. You know what else hurts your hypothetical baby in the US? Uncontrolled diabetes. Alcohol and drugs. Domestic violence. Also rubella and measles spread by anti-vaxxers. Also syphilis, hepatitis, Group B Strep, HIV and other things that get missed because women have been having babies by themselves for centuries and I'm gonna have this one in a bathtub all natural, don't need no stinking doctors telling me what to do, the bunch of charlatans. Zika is SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED, like an STD! You think a flu-like illness is the worst thing you can catch without a condom? I'm sure zika will put somebody in the US in the ICU at some point. Compared to how many patients land in the ICU every day through poor management of diabetes?
Zika doesn't even make the 100 worst diseases we already have in the US. The reason we're flipping our shit about it, though, is that an oogy third world disease has come over here and is threatening our beautiful American babies and our way of life. It is a third-world zombie plague! Is it particularly bad? No. Is it even comparable to diseases that are already running rampant in the US? Well, no. But it's from over there and it's coming for you.
So what we do is raise awareness OVER HERE and protect OURSELVES against this third world snot bug by throwing this or that herb on your grill. It's not such a horrible disease over there either - it's just that third world countries lack resources to manage or prevent it. So the focus of this fandom campaign is not "This is what's happening in Peru and Jamaica, let's help them get through it". Instead, it's ZIKA IS COMING FOR YOU!! Be aware! Let's develop a vaccine! (Let's get the already existing rabies vaccine to India - how about that? Unlike zika, that one will 100% kill everyone.)
I especially adore the ev0l red-eyed mosquito. It's coming for you! Look into its blood-thirsty eyes!