Australia braces for possible ‘global flu epidemic’

Piglets in Sepia by Keith Marshall

First it was chickens and now it’s pigs. Brace yourselves everyone, the pigs are taking their revenge by infecting us with the pig flu. Yes folks you heard it right! The pig flu. Muslims the world over are rejoicing that the infidel will surely be wiped out  by this strain of influenza which will infect evil westerners because we dared eat the filthy flesh of swine in outright disobedience to Muhammad’s commandments.

I’m of course constructing fabrication in this discourse because there have been no reports that our Muslim brothers are indeed thinking such wicked thoughts, let alone saying such dastardly things. I was being offensive once again just for the sake of controversy but it would be curious if indeed some of the more extreme believers in Muhammad’s law actually think such outbreaks are a punishment dished out by their loving higher power.

I know that there are practising Christians who often celebrate natural disasters as a sign of God’s anger or disappointment and in retribution reeking His wrath upon the sins of residents who are at the mercy of nature’s fury because God deemed homosexuals evil and  the root cause of failing society. Considering swine is a forbidden food in Koranic texts I wonder if some more fundamentalist believers or even mainstay believers secretly believe that such epidemics are God’s or Allah’s wrath? It’s perhaps taboo to be wondering about such nuances or speculating on the psychology of believers, however, since I’m a non believer I can perhaps ponder about these things without fear that I’ll be cast into eternal hell fire, because frankly, placing restrictions on intellectual freedom is not a redeeming characteristic of a deity in my opinion.

Placing religious musing aside,  the very nature of the influenza virus being transmitted from animals to humans is certainly of concern due to the unpredictability it poses. We live in ever increasing and dense populations where the possibility of a massive disease epidemic crippling society as we know it draws nearer with each passing year. We’ve been lucky so far and the little microbes which threaten our existence have been slow to recuperate since the last pandemic. But it is a matter of probability and perhaps this pig flu will be the one that initiates an ethnic cleansing of its own, where humanity is the race it wishes to eradicate.

Although reports in the link above suggest this virus will not be the dooms day virus or superbug that will wipe out millions, we can never be too sure how a virus will mutate and what is a relatively benign in the beginning may mutate into something a lot more devastating . Let’s hope that it won’t come to pass. Who knows though, maybe the religious End Timers will still have cause to rejoice that their version of biblical prophecy is upon us. We’ll just have to wait and see but just in case, it won’t hurt  to stock up reserves of Tamiflu in your medicine cabinet. Just kidding don’t  that, well not just yet anyway.  :-\