WP2 Statement of Purpose

Disease has always proven to be a deadly, scary and occasionally undefeatable foe in the world of man. Specifically in the United States of America, there have recently been several outbreaks of disease that have left people hypochondriacs paranoid about any small symptom they may exhibit. Epidemics in America such as swine flu and West Nile virus effected a minimal proportion of the total population, but due to excessive media attention characterizing the people that have the disease as dead, people become apprehensive about their family and their own health. With such paranoia prevalent in society, a market has developed to accommodate every symptom and prevention of infection of germs further enforcing the hypochondria in society.

Illness signals something that is rooted deep within the human psyche telling an individual to fear the sickness and avert themselves from it. Evidence is prevalent through human history with examples such as Pestilence from the biblical four horsemen of the apocalypse, exemplifying a piece of chaos, and Nosi, the Greek spirits of sickness and plague that escaped from Pandora's box causing destruction. Sickness is often associated with death, the ultimate fear that every human being is inescapably born with, therefore it is human nature that people attempt to avoid getting sick at any at all costs. Even the sickness is not a deadly one, such as the common cold, the illness hinders the individual from performing at their greatest capability due to pain and suffering from the symptoms so it also becomes an inconvenience that costs time and money that Americans typically do not have to recuperate.

The comic satirizes the paranoia of disease in America through the simple analysis of a seemingly common red spot on a person's skin. The text plays a larger role in the comic than the actual cartoon does, narrating the progressive train of thought of an outside entity attempting to diagnose the dry spot on their skin. The arrangement of the argument is constructed from best case to worse case scenario creating a sense of mental downfall caused by an insignificant looking spot, according to the rendering of the spot adjacent to the text. The juxtaposition with such an insignificant, childlike rendering of a dry spot with such serious subject matter found within the argument, such as eczema and necrotizing faciitis, gives the comic a sarcastic tone. The sarcastic tone is enforced through the rudimentary interpretation of a possible harsh condition such as eczema or flesh eating virus through the small child fashion of organizing the argument through numbering and giving the dry spot a barely visible appearance against the background, as well as adding a happy smiley face. The font of the text also mocks the gravity of the situation because it appears as if, again, a young child wrote it and most likely a kid would not understand the context of the situation or a few of the words on the list enforcing the humor in the comic. The dry spot in the comic is far from the conditions explained in the text, as seen in the photo of eczema and necrotizing faciitis, personifying the spot by giving it appendages and a smiley face giving a spot a friendly demeanor, so it couldn't possibly cause any harm. Therefore why is the person fretting about such a friendly, insignificant dry spot, enforcing the humorous pathos through sarcasm.

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.