2003-06-18

I only just found out about this whole Monkey Pox business, willfully inhabiting a news-media-free bubble as I do (seeing Dubyah�s face on the telly is hazardous to my mental health, so I try to avoid it). I�ve been missing out, apparently. Monkey Pox! That�s good stuff! I want me some Monkey Pox. It sounds like a barrel of fun. As Monster remarked last night, the Monkey Pox needs some better PR if it�s going to be the next SARS or West Nile. It just doesn�t sound menacing enough. Remember back in the day, when they named diseases right? �Consumption.� �Brain fever.� �Black Death.� Yikes! I�ll pass on the death, thanks, no matter what colour it is! That shit�ll put the fear of God in ya. These days everything is some pansy-sounding �syndrome� or �deficiency.� And �Monkey Pox�? Heck, I�d line up to get Monkey Pox! I�d love to call in sick for work with Monkey Pox. They should get a little more technical with the description: �Oozing Pustule Pox,� perhaps. That�d make for some ominous headlines. �Extremely Painful and Potentially Scarring Pox.� You�ve got to get people running to their doctors in a panic with the slightest symptoms! Otherwise, what�s the good of media scaremongering?