EBOLA: IT'S A SHAME

It's a shame that I was writing about the dangerous situation with Ebola in Africa years before the national media noticed it. It's a shame that I have been shouting about the current epidemic in West Africa long before the national media noticed it. It's a shame that the national media and the American people seemed far more concerned about three cases of Ebola in the USA then the thousands and thousands in Africa. It's a shame that I seem to know more about how to deal with Ebola then the CDC or WHO. It's a shame that I have lost so much confidence in the CDC and WHO. It's a shame that the head of the CDC is just another political appointment, that WHO regional offices are political appointments. It's a shame that the workers at the CDC and the WHO don't have more say in their agencies. It's a shame that local health departments are for the most part incompetent. It's a shame that we are all told absolutes when there are no absolutes. It's a shame that few share the fact that we have never dealt with this particular strain of Ebola, that we have never dealt with an epidemic the size and scope of what we are seeing in West Africa, that we have never tried to contain Ebola in heavily populated area. It's a shame that Republicans see all this as an opportunity to push right wing politics, and Democrats think complaining now about budget cuts is the best they got. It's a shame that the best the government can do is hold hearings after the fact and appoint a Czar. It's a shame that the Czar they have appointed has less relevant experience then I do. It's a shame that until a couple of white Christian Americans contracted Ebola, that no one here much gave a damn. It's a crime that thousands are dying in Africa not primarily as a result of a virus but as a result of poverty and healthcare inequality. It's a shame so few seem to get the fact that the battle lines are now in Africa because what happens there will shape what happens everywhere else, and because it is there that people are dying in droves. It's a shame that Americans really believe that the way to deal with Ebola is to take people's temperature at the airport, and believe that they can really build a wall around their country in a globalized world. It's a shame that Americans, the media, the government don't get the fact that if Ebola explodes in the developing world that it will have a huge impact on the lives of everyone worldwide. It's a shame that governmental officials don't seem to understand how international trade, energy, food, etc., works in a global world. It's a shame that so many now want to blame Africans and nurses for what is happening. It's a shame that racism and stigmatization have reared their ugly heads yet again concerning an infectious disease. It's a shame and it is frightening that three cases of Ebola in the USA has panicked the nation, while the deaths of thousands of black Africans seem to mean nothing. It's a shame that only I seem to know and warn that Ebola is nothing compared to avian flu. It's a shame that as unprepared as the nation and world has seemed in response to the Ebola virus, its preparation for a just as lethal, and much more easily transmitted avian flu virus is a big bunch of nothing. It's a shame that Americans can't seem to learn to think beyond their own individuality. It's a shame that the finger of blame for so much of this is not being pointed squarely at Capitalism. It's all a shame.