My letter to the gentlemen in surgical masks at DFW:
I realize that this is a serious disease. Yes, people have died from it, and that's awful no matter what the cause is. Yes, it's spreading around the world faster than wildfire. But come on people!!! To walk around the Dallas Ft. Worth airport wearing surgical masks while eating (with your bare hands) Big Macs from McDonald's is a tad ridiculous.
For one thing, as paunchy as you guys are, you probably have a far higher risk of dying from heart disease after a life of eating Big Macs than you do of contracting the swine flu.
For another thing, why protect your mouth and not your hands? You touch a lot more nasty stuff with your hands than your mouth.
(Errr. Actually I don't know that for sure and don't want to know that for sure. But it's just a guess, because these gents didn't exactly appear to be too popular with the ladies. Even the pay-by-the-hour type of ladies.)
Why not wear gloves if you're that hyper about contracting swine flu?
And another thing...you talk about "our friends from the South" bringing this disease into this country.
(And make no mistake, the word "friends" didn't come out in a too friendly tone.)
Well, I hate to break it to you, but look who's predominantly working at that McDonald's that you just went to? Look who put their hands all over your meat and cheese and drink? Look who got all their "Mexican-American germs" all over your food? Huh? How do you feel now, bitchez?!?!?!
(OK strike the last few sentences. I got a little riled up. But honestly, I can't stand these snide, middle-aged white men acting like everyone from Mexico or of Mexican descent, whether they've ever stepped foot in Mexico or NOT, is carrying the swine flu. It's racist, it's degrading, it's disgusting.)
End of my tirade. I just think it's heartbreaking that people who already suffer from so much discrimination here in Texas now are bearing the brunt of "their people" (argh!) bringing a deadly disease into this country. I'm hearing people saying, "SEE???? That's why we should have shut the border between Texas and Mexico long ago!!! We should have slammed that border shut long ago! Then they wouldn't be bringing this awful swine flu in here!!!"
Seriously? Do people not realize that there are planes that fly all around the world? Shut the border all you want, but it's not going to do any good. We're a highly globalized society. We're going to spread a disease no matter what. Shutting the border between Texas and Mexico isn't going to do much at all in the grand scheme of things.
Furthermore, the most recent reports are indicating the first cases of swine flu might have come from California itself. Not Mexico. I would love to see these guys' faces when they hear THAT.
Hey, know why there are so many "Mexicans" in Texas, Arizona, NM & California? Because in the 1840s, we STARTED A WAR with Mexico with the express purpose of stealing those territories away from them because it was our "Manifest Destiny" to make them ours.
That was kinda not nice, too, wasn't it?
these gents didn't exactly appear to be too popular with the ladies. Even the pay-by-the-hour type of ladies ...
Pffftttt! Suckers! Because who needs a whole HOUR ... what are you paying for those last 58 minutes after you're done?
Hahahahahahahaha!
Can I add to your rant, though, and point out that the town in Mexico they've linked to the first few cases of swine flu is home to a pig "farm" partially owned by American company Smithfield?
Sigh. If only the swine flu targeted jerks like that.