The focus of this article will be one of the most dangerous of all modern pandemics... This pandemic is not limited to the rural highways and byways of ill-fated Sierra Leone nor is it without a victim in the most posh penthouse palaces of Manhattan. In fact... you may even be infected! Don't worry, here's a quick test to determine your status.
Please consider the following scenario... (there really is a point to this by the way)
Let's say you were watching your favorite TV show when the local news agency interrupted the broadcast and alerted viewers that Ebola was now a reality in the US: that New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and [your local city] were experiencing massive amounts of casualties. You watched in horror as emergency rooms were overrun and the infection spread like a raging fire! Next you saw that the President had declared a state-of-emergency, declared martial law to be in effect and seized control of all "needed" services and facilities by means of a executive order passed in 2012 (1), doctors and nurses now had to follow federal treatment guidelines or face misdemeanor charges and loss of licensure, according to the guidelines from the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (2). Families who refused the experimental vaccine "fast-tracked" by the FDA were reminded that, according to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, they would lose custody of their children and face felony charges if they did not comply... Chaos ensues...
Glad this isn't the current reality right? I am too...
Okay... now back to our test. Here are the results: If you right now are in utter disbelief and amazement at how I could even imagine such a scenario you, very well, my friend, may be infected... with something called "normalcy bias." Wikipedia states that this "refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It can result in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation."
On the contrary, if you are trembling with fear and about to go outside to build your underground bunker you are also infected: with "worst case scenario bias." This, of course, is a form of severe overreaction. If you are actually thinking: okay this is possible... what can I do to truly "prepare" you are deemed "normal" and pass the test :)
How did you fare? Are you "normal?" Do you want to be? Then what are you doing to prepare? Get ready! Get ready! Get ready (yes, this is important)!
1)http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness
2)http://www.publichealthlaw.net/MSEHPA/MSEHPA2.pdf
3)https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/federal/index.cfm?event=federalLegislation.viewLegis&id=2
Please consider the following scenario... (there really is a point to this by the way)
Let's say you were watching your favorite TV show when the local news agency interrupted the broadcast and alerted viewers that Ebola was now a reality in the US: that New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and [your local city] were experiencing massive amounts of casualties. You watched in horror as emergency rooms were overrun and the infection spread like a raging fire! Next you saw that the President had declared a state-of-emergency, declared martial law to be in effect and seized control of all "needed" services and facilities by means of a executive order passed in 2012 (1), doctors and nurses now had to follow federal treatment guidelines or face misdemeanor charges and loss of licensure, according to the guidelines from the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (2). Families who refused the experimental vaccine "fast-tracked" by the FDA were reminded that, according to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, they would lose custody of their children and face felony charges if they did not comply... Chaos ensues...
Glad this isn't the current reality right? I am too...
Okay... now back to our test. Here are the results: If you right now are in utter disbelief and amazement at how I could even imagine such a scenario you, very well, my friend, may be infected... with something called "normalcy bias." Wikipedia states that this "refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It can result in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation."
On the contrary, if you are trembling with fear and about to go outside to build your underground bunker you are also infected: with "worst case scenario bias." This, of course, is a form of severe overreaction. If you are actually thinking: okay this is possible... what can I do to truly "prepare" you are deemed "normal" and pass the test :)
How did you fare? Are you "normal?" Do you want to be? Then what are you doing to prepare? Get ready! Get ready! Get ready (yes, this is important)!
1)http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness
2)http://www.publichealthlaw.net/MSEHPA/MSEHPA2.pdf
3)https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/federal/index.cfm?event=federalLegislation.viewLegis&id=2
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