WP2 Post 2

Daily Americans are bombarded by advertisements warning against the diseases prevalent around the world, detailing the deadly symptoms and precautions to avoid catching the disease. Every year there seems to be another pandemic sweeping America and terrifying the people with its death tolls and symptoms further embellishing the monstrosity of the sickness. SARS, MRSA, hoof and mouth disease, bird and swine flu are a few examples of pandemics that come and gone as soon as they were first heard of, occasionally being covered by the news if a single person should die. The media has intensified the health paranoia in the United States by covering the bad news of the disease, such as deaths of people that had the sickness even if they were susceptible and weak to begin with, and ignoring any “good” news pertaining to the illness, such as a cure. With all these prior diseases and new ones surfacing every year, Americans have learned to be overcautious with their health because a simple symptom such as the appearance of mysterious red bumps can be blown out of proportion if they also happen to signal small pox for example. The diseases plaguing America causes a fair portion of the health care paranoia with the constant fear of a painful, premature death.

If the constant fear of mutant disease wasn't enough to worry about in America, the medical professionals also caution the people of America of their overall poor health. With such preventable diseases as obesity, heart attacks, respiratory diseases, cancer, flu, diabetes, and septicemia as leading causes of death among Americans, half of the commercials on television remind people of the risk of poor health and the disease and death associated with such insignificant things as cleaning the kitchen counter. A large portion of advertisements warn against medical improbabilities, but again the problems are blown out of proportion in order to scare Americans into buying a product that prevents the germs from infecting them. Examples of such advertisements include vacuum cleaners, disinfecting wipes, toothpaste, nicotine patches, and many more products that people can live without, but the advertising world convinces the public that their product is necessary for the safety of their family and themselves. Media has called the attention of the public to seemingly unnecessary aspects of their lives, blowing it out of proportion to sell a product. Some health problems should be called to the attention of the public for their consideration and precaution in the daily choices, an example being obesity which is quickly becoming the number cause of death in the United States.

The combination of disease control, overexaggerated germs infestations, and major health issues have undoubtedly made the people of America cautious, slightly paranoid about their health, especially pertaining to mutant sickness that are derived from animals. The comic contains dark humor pertaining to the obsession with health in America, satirizing the fact that something as small and seemingly insignificant as a red spot can be exaggerated to the point that a person would go running to the emergency room, asking for a diagnosis. There is a paranoia that Americans have about illness and hoping that a simple cold does not turn out to be swine flu which would be absolutely horrible, forcing the sufferer to remove themselves from society for an extended period of time.