Here's the story: About 5 years ago, a case of Mad Cow disease was detected in a cow that was imported to the US from Alberta (I think--I do remember when it happened). Because of this, the US froze its exports of beef for 5 years until the problem was sufficiently dealt with. The 5 year halt on export has now been lifted, and the US has been trying to broker a deal with Korea: beef for electronics.
Well, the Koreans are furious because they are convinced (and I am not kidding) that they are more susceptible to Mad Cow disease that white people and that they will all die from this miserable and obviously rampant disease. Their protests in the streets of Seoul are numbering around 80,000 people. 80,000+ people who truly believe that Mad Cow taints most US beef at the present time. All of this seems to be in complete disregard for the fact that there is Avian Flu and apparently Foot and Mouth Disease in their own country. They will not die of either of the latter before they die of Mad Cow.
I liken this frenzy to a time that I know nothing about--when people panicked because they thought aliens truly had invaded Earth because they heard a fictional story on the radio. This does not seem all that different. May we all learn a lesson in all of this--please base your mass protests on fact, or at least some semblance of a fact, before you look stupid to the entire world.
2 comments:
Oh my. Mad Cow hysteria to the max. You put it all so nicely and succinctly. Can I steal this post and put it on my blog? With credit to you, of course!
As Mom said: "What if they had an epidemic, and nobody came?"
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