Fear of Fluing—Revisited

Six months ago I made a blog post here that I called: Fear of Fluing. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, feel free to go back and look at it now.

In that original post I talked about the Swine Flu, now more frequently referred to as the H1N1 strain of the flu. At the time, the media was—and still is—claiming that this was going to be a massive “pandemic.” What’s the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic? This source states, “when an epidemic gets out of hand, it is called a pandemic.”

In my original post, I pointed out, “In the U.S. alone, the CDC [Centers for Disease Control] estimates it [the annual regular flu] causes about 36,000 deaths yearly. Worldwide, the estimates are 250,000 to a half-million deaths per year.” So for HINI to really be a pandemic, it would have to go way beyond those tolls.

Why, in a blog about magick, was I posting about the flu? I wrote, ”

“Before doing a ritual you have to determine your purpose, plan out what you will do, and then perform the rite. In my opinion magicians should do the same thing when it comes to the flu. Your purpose should be to avoid or minimize the effects of the flu. Your plans should include getting as healthy as possible, including drinking fluids, getting exercise and rest, dealing with stress, eating healthful foods, etc…

“With this approach—the magickal approach—the media, politicians, leaders of various groups can’t make you fear. Without fear to motivate you they can’t get your money, they can’t get your power, and they can’t obtain control over you.”

So now that 2009 is finished, how accurate were my comments about the flu? According to the CDC, “very few 2009 H1N1-laboratory confirmed hospitalizations were reported by states during the week ending January 16.” This means the Great Swine Flu Pandemic of 2009–2010 essentially may be over, although it is possible that another wave could sweep the world before the end of the flu season.

And what are the totals for the Swine Flu? Was it a horrifying pandemic?

According to flucount.org, as of January 23, 2010, there have been 10,837 deaths in the U.S. and 24,068 deaths worldwide. According to the World Health Organization that number is much lower because they only count laboratory confirmed cases (14,142 worldwide). Still, there is no doubt that this is a horrible toll. If you have had the flu, and perhaps been hospitalized, you know how bad it can be. And of course, if you’ve lost someone you love from the flu, the numbers are meaningless and the toll far too high.

But the H1N1 swine flu that is still being touted as a “pandemic,” isn’t.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the numbers everyone was expecting “failed to materialize” (although they say this may be due to incomplete records). The H1N1 Swine Flu Hotline for the state of Kentucky was deactivated “due to a large decrease in calls. Apparently, the H1N1 virus is becoming less of an issue both on the medical front as well as with the concerns of the average individual.” According to the Irish Times, the World Health Organization is going to examine “its handling of the swine flu pandemic after accusations that it exaggerated the dangers of the virus under pressure from drug companies.”

I can’t go as far as Natural News which states that “H1N1 swine flu was never dangerous, and it never should have been escalated to a level-six pandemic in the first place. It was all a big marketing scam whose purpose was to simply sell vaccines. (And the CDC and WHO were in on it…)” However it is also true that big pharmaceutical companies have made billions off of this situation. I don’t know enough about medicine to comment on the claim by some that the vaccines weren’t very effective.

What I do know is that my original post has proven to be exactly correct. I was right. The great pundits and prognosticators who predicted massive numbers of deaths beyond the usual number of flu deaths were, in a word, wrong.

More importantly, however, is that a magickal understanding of this situation—as I wrote about in the original post and repeated above—would have protected you from the fear mongers. With a magickal approach, “leaders of various groups can’t make you fear. Without fear to motivate you they can’t get your money, they can’t get your power, and they can’t obtain control over you.”

Magick gives you real power. Many people believe (or want to believe) that this is power over others. The truth, however, is that the most important power magick can give you is power over yourself. As I wrote in that earlier blog, “That’s why they [the media, politicians, leaders of various groups] traditionally fear magickal people. It’s not because magick is “evil,” but because it gives you personal responsibility and takes away the power they so desperately want.”

What do you think?