Here is brief portion of the article courtesy of Time Magazine:
The death in Dallas of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient diagnosed on U.S. soil, and the infection of two nurses who treated him, shook our faith in the ability of U.S. hospitals to handle this kind of disease. From there the road to full freak-out was a short one. An Ohio middle school closed because an employee had flown on the same plane as one of Duncan’s nurses. Not the same flight, just the same plane. A Texas college rejected applicants from Nigeria, since that country had some “confirmed Ebola cases.” A Maine schoolteacher had to take a three-week leave because she went to a teachers’ conference in Dallas. Fear, too, was global. When a nurse in Spain contracted Ebola from a priest, Spanish authorities killed her dog as a precaution, while #VamosAMorirTodos (We’re all going to die) trended on Twitter. Guests at a hotel in Macedonia were trapped in their rooms for days after a British guest got sick and died. Turned out to have nothing to do with Ebola.
The problem with irrational responses is that they can cloud the need for rational ones. Just when the world needed more medical volunteers, the price of serving soared. When nurse Kaci Hickox, returning from a stint with MSF in Sierra Leone with no symptoms and a negative blood test, was quarantined in a tent in Newark, N.J., by a combustible governor, it forced a reckoning. “It is crazy we are spending so much time having this debate about how to safely monitor people coming back from Ebola-endemic countries,” says Hickox, “when the one thing we can do to protect the population is to stop the outbreak in West Africa.”
I don't know if it was purposeful or not, but Time is certainly going to ruffle more than a few conservative feathers with this choice.
After all it was the conservatives, and their propaganda channel that were yelling "The sky is falling, the sky is falling" when all that was really happening was that America discovered that they were no more immune from getting sick than everybody else.
The treatment of Kaci Hickox was simply embarrassing and I think it is awesome that she is being vindicated for her understanding that she was not a risk to her fellow citizens, and recognition for her selflessness in trying to help those who desperately needed her even at risk to her own health.
Oh and by eh way, and fuck Governors Chris Christie and Paul LePage.
I really don't see how the Ebola Fighters were more newsworthy than the Ebola Exploiters and general Fear Mongers.
ReplyDeleteI see a difference. Ebola fighters commit their expertise to manage, contain and toward eliminating a deadly virus. The Ebola fighters' efforts are based in factual reality. Their endeavors are for the good and benefit of mankind. They seek to educate the human race to halt unnecessary death and teach personal protection.
DeleteEbola fighters share their knowelege of safety to halt the transmission of a deadly disease. They are dedicated to make a lasting impact in global society. They do so by making some personal sacrafice like unpaid time off from their jobs. They are courageous to speak out and call out opportunists who exploit people by terrorizing and manipulating the same people they profess to want to protect for self serving gain only. They deceive people with lies manipulating people to hate those who are truly serving to protect mankind.
Yea, why did Time not use their cover when it mattered, to call out the RW propaganda in the Time of Ebola. Oh yes, there was an election and GOP had to win.
ReplyDeleteYeah! I care about their "person of the year" about as much as who wins DWTS or the Miss America pageant.
DeleteI think selecting the Ebola Fighters was a very good idea. Christie deserves to be called out for his stupid reaction in New Jersey. We don't want a bully like him to be forcing his ignorance and "seat of his pants" reactions on the entire country. New Jersey voters elected him so they can own him.
ReplyDeletePaul Lepage
ReplyDeleteBest governor in US
"Combustible Governor" OUCH that's gotta hurt. Speed dial Mary Pat, bring home an extra dozen cripsy cremes, stat!!!! I think having the Ebola Fighters as Persons of the Year was an excellent choice. It's fear that drives people to madness, and these doctors and nurses went ahead of the line to try to save as many lives as possible.
ReplyDelete