As I post this, there is a march happening outside of my office. It is the annual “A Day Without Latinos” march. Thousands of Latinos are skipping work to march down the streets of Milwaukee for immigration rights. Fine, whatever, they are marching for something that they believe in supporting. Nothing wrong with that.
There is, however, something wrong with people and their ever growing ignorance.
Cue a comment I just overheard:
“Why are the Mexicans out there marching in this state of epidemic (referencing the swine flu)? Don’t they realize that their culture is a carrier for the swine flu?!?!?! Now they are just spreading it around and infecting us!”
Um, hello? Now, I am not a medical professional, however, I am confident in saying that just because someone is Latino, it doesn’t make them a swine flu carrier. A “culture” doesn’t catch and spread a virus, infected people do. Furthermore, the swine flu, like any flu, is spread from human to human regardless of race, religious belief, age, or social status. You might even say that the flu virus is an “equal opportunity” virus. So unless all of the people marching outside of my window right now were recently in Mexico visiting with an infected individual (which I doubt) or sharing a water glass with the now two cases that have been positively ID as of Wednesday here in Milwaukee (which I also doubt), I think that we can put this ignorant and lame accusation to rest.
Disclaimer: please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the swine flu epidemic isn’t freaky (actually, as I am partly a hypochondriac, I find it very freaky and am looking for budding symptoms in myself and hubby constantly). What I am saying is that some people are very ignorant and deserve to be called out on it.
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