Friday, October 24, 2014

Please stop this: "There are more ___ than Ebola victims in the US"

I get it. Can we please stop comparing the number of Ebola victims in the United States to all sorts of irrelevant things? PS: It's not that funny either.

The following are directly copied from recent tweets. Links have been removed for your protection.


There are more Saudi Princes than Ebola victims

Kim Kardashian has had more husbands than Ebola victims in the US

More Americans have been dumped by Taylor Swift than have died from Ebola

Fun Fact: More #kids die annually due to #faith healing than #Ebola.

FACT: Katie Price has claimed more victims than Ebola.

NYC traffic. another thing that's much more dangerous than #Ebola, courtesy of @bobkolker via @intelligencer

There are more people in this tram than ebola victims in America.

I've lost more followers than US Ebola victims [I didn't tweet this or any of these other tweets.]

@lbftaylor fewer #ebola victims in US than drunk Palins in a #PalinBrawl.

@pbolt @robertjbennett Also, there are more ex-wives of Larry King than there are ebola victims int he US.

Rush Limbaugh has more ex-wives than USA has Ebola victims!

@xeni Menudo has had more members than 3x the number of American Ebola victims...

Put #ebola in the context of vaccination preventable dz: 118,000 children < 5 yrs old die from measles per year

@Tiffuhkneexoxo @LeeTRBL more dc team quarterbacks have played this year than there are US ebola victims

Rest assured, there will always be more American guns in Africa than Ebola victims. Everything is fine. Relax

As #Enterovirus spreads faster x country & kills more than #Ebola, sure victims' parents must b sad congress isn't demanding an ED68 czar.

We are all far more likely 2 be victims of identity theft than #Ebola. Obama has a plan to fix that

Americans spend more money on Halloween costumes for their pets than the UN spends on helping Ebola victims and fighting ISIS combined.

@mikebarnicle 9900 gunshot victims since Newtown, much scarier than Ebola.

So FYI... More people die from the #flu than #ebola .

Fear hospital infections not Ebola. 1 in 25 patients are infected. 75,000 die yearly.

Every day in America around 100 people lose their lives to mostly preventable car crashes. #Ebola

There are more experts on CNN right now talking about Ebola in America than people with ebola in America.

9 comments:

Moose said...

Between you, me, and Comrade Lamp, I prefer this to those who are insisting that the dangers of Ebola are being suppressed by the government and/or exaggerated to hide other governmental goings on.

If there's one thing this Ebola mess has shown me it is how too many Americans are lacking in basic science education. I've read people claim that Ebola is going to become a danger to us all because of antibiotic overuse, and, my favorites, that Ebola will become airborne because viruses mutate like the flu does, or because it gets in the lungs (because, you know, every disease that gets in the lungs can become airborne. Just like, you know, cancer. Or shingles.).

People make comparisons to try to comfort themselves (ie. More people die in car crashes than airplane crashes, but we're still more terrified of flying). Personally, I'd rather see the comparisons than the stupid.

Anonymous said...

Regarding your Oscar Wilde quote, I would add that man is himself, truly himself, when he has no one else around him for whom he must "act."

Mike McInnis MD said...

Moose: "If there's one thing this Ebola mess has shown me it is how too many Americans are lacking in basic science education." That's been my #1 takeaway too.

Skeptical Scalpel said...

Moose, I guess you are right, but I think the comparison concept is worn out. Those of us that understand it didn't need the comparisons, and those who don't understand it will not suddenly become enlightened.

Anon, your quote is almost as good as Wilde's.

Moose said...

Rule #1: People are idjits.
Rule #2: And you can sell them anything.
Rule #3: You cannot fix stupid.

Anonymous said...

"Stop" and then post them all??

Skeptical Scalpel said...

I didn't post all of them. There were too many.

http://solowomenathomeandabroad.blogspot.com/ said...

So funny!! I tweeted this twice!

Skeptical Scalpel said...

Thanks. Glad you liked it.

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