Page 13 - eMuse Vol.9 No.04_Classical

Did You Know? Grandma’s

Mind Numbing Statistics

For Australia, the First World War re- people in Eurasia, peaking in Europe from Sayings
mains the costliest conflict in terms of 1347 to 1351.
deaths and casualties. From a population Commonly believed to have been
of fewer than five million, 416,809 men spread by fleas from rats, which no doubt Question Not but
enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were made a huge contribution, modern think- live and labour til
killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or ing tends to favour poor hygiene and yon goal be won.
taken prisoner. crowded conditions (such a on board ships) Helping every single
Spanish Flu Aftermath was more likely the major cause. Once it
Further compounding tragedies of the went viral it seemed nothing could stop it. neighbour seeking help from
era, in the closing stages of the war, the Many saw it as a punishment from God none. Life is most froth and
world was struck by one of the greatest for a variety of sinful excesses. Such mis- bubble but two things stand
natural disaster of all time. guided beliefs in turn led to large scale reli- like stone Kindness in anther’s
It became known a the Spanish Flu pan- gious persecutions.
demic. Statistics vary. Some say 50 million Nursery Rhyme trouble. Courage in your own.
people died from it other say 100 million. Ring a ring of rosies Adam Lindsay Gordon
In Australia it is credited with over 150,000 A pocketful of posies.
deaths in a single year . A-tisshu, a-tisshu.
Estimates put the Spanish Flu deaths as We all fall down.
being at least three times the total deaths Let’s explain the believed connection.
of the war. A ring of roses is a reference to the fact that
In many places around the world it was people often carried poses of flowers to
associated with war’s end. Right or wrong sniff wherever they came upon the stench
people blamed returning soldiers for its of death which was almost everywhere.
meteoric spread . A-tisshu, a-tisshu! A sneeze. Sneezing
Origin Of The Name was the usual first symptom of the Black
Wartime censors minimized early re- death. There was no known cure. To catch it
ports of illness and mortality in Germany, meant one would die, or “We all fall down.”
the United Kingdom, France, and the Unit- Coronavirus
ed States. However papers were free to re- At present, quite naturally, the thing on
port the epidemic’s effects in neutral Spain everyone’s mind is Coronavirus. I’m not
(such as the grave illness of King Alfonso medically qualified to make in depth com-
XIII). These stories created a false impres- ments on this subject. Of course we must be
sion of Spain as especially hard hit, giving careful. I would still note the jury is still out
rise to the pandemic’s nickname, “Spanish on where this is heading and there is a lot
Flu . of misguided information akin to the story
More Recent Times of Chicken Little calling, “The sky is falling.”
Spanish flu was the first of the two pan- Panic cuts in so quick. Irresponsible
demics involving H1N1 influenza virus, with journalism has caused panic buying on toi-
the second being the Swine Flu in 2009. let paper. Annoying as it is for most of us
The second pandemic was a new strain of this is nothing more than a mild inconven-
the virus. In spite of its name it was not ience but if such panic goes over to medi-
spread by pigs or eating pork. It is typically cines as it threatens to . . .
contracted by person to person transmis- Irresponsible Journalism
sion through respiratory droplets . I can’t speak for everyone. But I get an-
The Swine Flu did not have anywhere gry at that kind of irresponsible journalism.
near the same rate of fatalities as the Span- Don’t get me wrong. I’m a firm believer in
ish Flu . freedom of the press. Having said that, I
Black Death Comparison also believe that same freedom should nev-
Spanish Flu has often been compared er be confused with a licence to do what
the Black Death of the 14th Century. Prob- you like.
ably more than any other epidemic this me- As I see it, the job of news services is to
dieval tragedy has gripped human imagina- report news not proactively generate it as
tion and paranoia. they have done in the toilet paper fiasco.
It is known by a variety of names: the This situation is akin to a joke but it could
Black Death, the Pestilence, Great Bubonic be extremely dangerous .
Plague, the Great Plague or the Plague, I’ve seen newsrooms exercise cen-
and the Black Plague. It was one of the sorship for commercial considera-
most devastating pandemics in human tions. Why can’t they also exercise
history, resulting in the deaths of restraint for the common good?
an estimated 75 to 200 million Wally

April 2020 eMuse 13