Terror Media by Dean Thorpe
They say the flu is coming, saw it on TV
The death of fifty thousand, just in this country
They're making lots of money, writing scary words
How to protect the humans, kill off all the birds
Avoiding all the Chicken, never eat the eggs
Farmer goes out of business, on the streets he begs
Somebody starts a rumor, feel the tension rise
There's stories in the papers, TV never lies
Always trust the media, here comes judgement day
Trust in terror media, look at Y2K
Breakdown of the poem
They say the flu is coming, saw it on TV.
Anybody that has watched the news recently (October 2005) can not have missed the constant Avian Flu
(Bird Flu) reports. They claim its moving towards here, but its what will happen then that they do not seem to
be at all sure of. It varies from having to kill a few birds, to millions of people dying. They get their
information from the government and we all know they never lie! Avian Flu could be just as real as the
Weapons of Mass Distruction that they found in Iraq, oops actually they didn't find them in the end did they!
The death of fifty thousand, just in this country.
Fifty thousand deaths in the UK during this outbreak of Avian Flu was what a lot of the press were
reporting. It may happen, it may not, but I do not think they should scare people until they really know what
is going on. An asteriod could hit the Earth tomorrow and wipe out all life as we know it, but on the other
hand maybe one won't. The friendly bacteria in the many health drinks on the market could mutate and kill off
thousands, but it probably won't. Avian Flu / Bird Flu could kill fifty thousand this year in the UK, but
until they know its going to happen they should keep quiet or at least not make as much fuss as they have
been. From the amount of media attention Avian Flu has had you would have thought it had already killed fifty
thousand.
Their making lots of money, writing scary words.
Avian Flu or Bird Flu as many people are calling it arrived in the UK recently, that is true and the
papers reported on it, but they plastered it all over the front pages and sold a lot of newspapers because of
it. I know thats how the press work (I have nothing against most of the press), but they made such a big
thing about it arriving in the UK, despite the fact it was actually one bird that had been spotted in
quarenteen (a place designed to keep us safe from such things) and there was virtually no risk at all from
this one safely quarenteened bird).
How to protect the humans, kill off all the birds.
Typical, humans get into a mess, so to protect ourselves loads of animals have to get wiped out, when will
we ever learn. I can just imagine it, machine guns turrets at places like Dover shooting down any bird trying
to get into the country! Black market people smugglers will start to get paid thousands for sneaking in
Parrots and Budgies. People stamping on Pidgeons in public places, because they thought they heard a sneeze.
Why not just wipe out all the worlds animals and save the humans from any future Avian Flu, Mad Cow Disease
etc. I eat meat, I am not a 'tree hugging hippie' (South park quote), but even I find something very wrong
with killing millions of animals to save us humans.
Avoiding all the Chicken, never eat the eggs.
The actual advice was that if we want to avoid Avian Flu then we should not eat raw eggs or uncooked Chicken,
wow what a shocker that is! They have been saying the same for years anyway, I know some people still risk
raw eggs in certain fitness drinks and mayonaise, but I would have thought the advice not to eat uncooked
Chicken was something people have known for years due to the food poisoning risks. All it will do is make
people scared to eat any Chicken or eggs. Until there is proper documented evidence that there is any link at
all between eating Chicken products and Avian Flu they should not panic people. Lets face it if we did not
eat or drink anything that there had ever been a health risk or warning about we would probably all die of
hunger or thirst!
Farmer goes out of business, on the streets he begs.
These days farmers are having enough trouble keeping in business without more food scares. Do the media not
care that people in the farming industry could lose their jobs if too many many stop eating Chicken. If its
proven that eating proper well cooked Chicken spreads Bird Flu then people should be careful, but so far I
have not heard of any evidence saying that.
Somebody starts a rumour, feel the tension rise.
Anybody can start a rumour and with a little help it spreads like wildfire. People like telling stories, its
in our nature as humans, but we all want to be telling the most interesting stories. Somebody tells you a
story and you might find it interesting, then later the chance comes up to tell somebody else. Maybe it would
be more interesting if you added a few bits, maybe change a few details here and there. By the time the story
has passed hands half a dozen times it could be told to the person who started it and they might not even
realise its the story they started!
There's stories in the papers, TV never lies.
It must be true, TV told me so! TV is a great source of entertainment and stories, but sometimes they make
mistakes and sometimes they just lie. I studied Media studies for a while and they taught us how to twist
numbers etc. to make stories the way we want. i.e.
Just a handful of people were there to complain over the pulling down of the dangerous old school building.
A large group of defiant people stood side by side today valiently fighting to stop the destruction of the much loved old school building.
Both of those have a totally different twist, but could both actually be describing a dozen poeple trying to stop a school being pulled down. The press have such power to twist things to what they want a story to say. The BIRD FLU HITS UK headlines are a good example, as I have already said it turned out to be one bird in quarenteen, but when you read that headline (which took up most of the front page) you think it means there are actual proper cases of Avain Flu in the UK countryside.
Always trust the media, here comes judgement day.
Its a reporters job to come up with stories that sell newspapers and make people watch the UK news on the TV.
If at the start of the news they said that coming up on tonights news is:
Chris Thorncroft gets promoted to manager of a computer shop.
Somebody was spotted feeding the ducks at the local park.
Mrs Drinkwater had to complain that the shop tried to sell her out of date bread.
Most people would turn over and see what else is on, but what if they said coming up on tonights UK news is:
Bird flu claims new victims.
Bomb factory raided, many arrests.
The world is going to end.
I think most people would not be able to turn over, but when you watch the news it turns out to be:
Bird Flu claims new victims. (Two dead birds were found today in Australia and they think it may have been
Bird Flu, but its probably not)
Bomb factory raided, many arrests. (A factory in Japan that makes fireworks was raided today, Police went in
after neighbours spotted boxes of gunpowder being taken in and claimed it was a bomb factory. On
investigation the police found the place to be in breach of child labour laws and arrested the bosses)
The world is going to end. (Scientists today have said that the world will end, they say that they have
discovered that we are moving closer to the sun by an inch a year. At that rate we will collide with the
Planet mars in approximately two hundred and fifty million years)
Catchy headlines, not so exciting stories.
Trust in terror media, look at Y2K.
I remember just before the year 2000 there was loads of fuss in the media about the Millenium bug and how
all the computers were going to crash, order would break down, chaos would take over and the world as we knew
it would basically end! They predicted people fighting in the streets to get food, Planes would fall out of
the sky etc. Thanks to the media a lot of time and money was spent preventing all that happening, but I do
wonder how much of that was really needed. Yes the world did continue, but a lot of people think it would
have done so without all the fuss, maybe some computers would have gone wrong, a few people may not have got
their wages on the day they should etc. but some of the media made a lot of money out of stories making it
sound like it was virtually going to be the end of the world. I could be wrong about Avian Flu / Bird Flu,
but then again, so could the press.