As Swine Flu becomes Novel Flu, Will Writers Suffer?

On a recent commentary on This Week in Agribusiness, Orion Samuelson pointed out the need to change the name of the so-called Swine Flu. Although the virus is genetically similar to the Swine Flu which affects pigs, it spreads human to human and had not been found in pigs, though there is a case where a pig may have caught the disease from a human who had been to Mexico.

Yet in spite of the facts some nations have been banning pork product imports using the flu as an excuse. People are being asked if they have given up pork because of the flu--- even though this is an utterly futile measure to take.

Orion Samuelson pointed out that this flu is not a true swine flu and that the Europeans have started calling it Novel Flu to avoid confusion, not to mention international agricultural trade wars disguised as health concerns.

But what will happen if the name 'Novel Flu' catches on? The news media still wants to generate hysteria over the disease. Will they be asking people if they have given up novel reading to avoid catching the Novel Flu? Will bookstores and libraries be asked to shut down for the duration? Will countries ban the publication of foreign novels?

This may seem silly, but in actual fact it may be slightly easier to get the Novel Flu from a novel, assuming the novel has been passed hand-to-hand and has been touched by an infected person, than it would be to get it eating pork, which after all is cooked before eating which would kill any germs, including flu germs.

However, writers of the world have one hope that they will avoid taking the hits that hog farmers have. The animal rights wienies of PETA and other hate groups have been trying to use the Swine Flu to scare people into adopting unhealthy vegetarian diets. They have no such motive to promote fear of novels in the case of Novel Flu. Without the help of the wienies, the media may have a harder job promoting the fear.
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