{"id":1210,"date":"2009-05-03T08:02:38","date_gmt":"2009-05-03T16:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/03\/swine-flu-conspiracy-theories\/"},"modified":"2009-05-03T08:02:38","modified_gmt":"2009-05-03T16:02:38","slug":"swine-flu-conspiracy-theories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/1210\/swine-flu-conspiracy-theories\/","title":{"rendered":"Swine Flu Conspiracy Theories"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"9609_512.jpg\"
\nA medic wearing protective gear attends to a sick child carried by her mother
\nin the\u00c2\u00a0 emergency area where people with swine flu-like symptoms are checked
\nat the naval\u00c2\u00a0 hospital in Mexico City, Friday May 1, 2009.
\n(AP Photo\/Brennan Linsley)<\/p>\n

By Ralph E. Stone<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

May 3, 2009<\/p>\n

Dead pigs found in a south eastern province of China, an Al Qaeda plot involving Mexican drug cartels, pharmaceutical companies working with the International Monetary Fund and G-7, are just a few of the conspiracy theories attempting to explain the deadly swine influenza outbreak in Mexico.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, after a big event like the current swine influenza epidemic, conspiracy theories inevitably appear.<\/p>\n

Governments and private entities do engage in conspiracies. However, most conspiracies do not hold up under critical inspection. The problem of succumbing too easily to a conspiracy theory in the present crisis is that it can be damaging to the immediate action needed to avert a possible worldwide pandemic. Conspiracy thinking can produce a deep cynicism towards positive action and long-term organizing upon which change depends. Conspiracy theories also increase the anxiety of an already fearful public.<\/p>\n

What we need is to find the source of the new virus and how it jumped to humans, which could lead to more effective vaccines and drugs to help prevent future outbreaks. Now we need sound science, not wild conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A medic wearing protective gear attends to a sick child carried by her mother in the\u00c2\u00a0 emergency area where people with swine flu-like symptoms are checked at the naval\u00c2\u00a0 hospital in Mexico City, Friday May…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1230,"featured_media":1211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nSwine Flu Conspiracy Theories - Fog City Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/1210\/swine-flu-conspiracy-theories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swine Flu Conspiracy Theories - Fog City Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A medic wearing protective gear attends to a sick child carried by her mother in the\u00c2\u00a0 emergency area where people with swine flu-like symptoms are checked at the naval\u00c2\u00a0 hospital in Mexico City, Friday May…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/1210\/swine-flu-conspiracy-theories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fog City Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fogcityjournal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-03T16:02:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fogcityjournal.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/plugins\/2009\/05\/9609_512.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"267\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ralph E. 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