ABC's BIRD FLU MOVIE IS FOR THE BIRDS

 

 

 

 

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, DO
May 8, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

The made-for-TV movie, "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" will be broadcast Tuesday evening, May 9. ABC is playing its surprise card this week in a morbid attempt to increase ratings during the May Sweeps. In the television industry, the sweeps are when networks vie for the largest number of viewers so they can demand the highest rates for their ads over the upcoming months.

The promos portray the worst case scenario of what a 1918-style, global pandemic could be like. The previews have shown bodies being stacked up so fast that dump trucks must be used to haul them away to funeral pyres. Characters are heard saying, "We're all going to die." Barbed wire fences are used to quarantine entire neighborhoods. All this hysteria certainly makes for a great thriller and that is the context in which the movie must remain.

The fear-mongering impact is being anticipated across the country. In fact, The Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported that there will be fifteen phone lines in the studios at WTAE-TV staffed by public health officials, infectious disease experts, mental health professionals and first responders armed with the �latest, most accurate information about the bird flu threat.� People who are especially upset by the movie or concerned about the potential bird flu pandemic will be referred to CONTACT Pittsburgh, the region's 24-hour crisis and suicide hot line.

Suicide hotline? This is fiction!

There were global pandemics in 1957 and 1968. Were bodies dropping dead in the streets? Did international commerce come to a halt? Did we have the creation of WHO-directed, worldwide master plans to control every aspect of personal life and business? Did we call out the National Guard to enforce quarantines? Did governments allocate billions of dollars to prepare for next pandemic? (Remember, that is your money�your tax dollars�being handed to the drug companies to make toxic vaccines and ineffective drugs.) If we really are �over due� for another global influenza outbreak, could it be similar to the relatively mild occurrences of 1957 and 1968 instead of causing a complete disruption of Western society?

Last fall, I wrote an article, �Throw Out The Playbook: A New Plan Arrives� which reported on a ten-step blueprint given to the CDC and governments around the world by risk communication experts, Peter Sandman and Jodi Lanard, MD. The plan suggested a program to guide and direct (i.e. manipulate) the response of the masses during the evolving bird flu crisis. Step #2 of the plan directly states, �Don�t be afraid to frighten people.� In their August 2005 article, the experts advised, �We can�t scare people enough about H5N1.� Since pictures are more powerful than words�by many magnitudes�the bird flu movie will certainly be consistent with the plan.

In 2002, the FX channel aired a similar movie called Smallpox. The movie was filmed to look like a documentary, one that could be seen on Discovery Channel or PBS. Viewers had to continually remind themselves that it was only fiction. The tag line of the movie was, �It�s all true. It just hasn't happened yet.� The underlying message of ABC�s Fatal Contact will no doubt be the same. However, there may be a more sinister purpose behind this movie. Based on the previews, it may be sending a particular message into our subconscious: �This is what could happen if you don�t get inoculated as soon as the pandemic influenza vaccine is ready.�

For those who are Steven King fans, the intent of a horror flick is obvious. Intense story lines coupled with hair-raising music are used to cause fear. Similarly, the bird flu movie is fiction that will no doubt induce widespread fear. However, this tale was not created by a novelist and ABC�s attempt to blur the line between science and fiction may indeed backfire. People are waking up to the fact that mainstream media is the mouthpiece of our government which, in turn, is controlled by the international power brokers: The WHO, the UN, multi-national corporations, international bankers, and the pharmaceutical industry. The show�s thinly veiled purpose is succinctly stated by Jack Allis in his piece called, �The Disgrace of ABC�s Bird Flu Movie �:

There is a fundamental concept called the Law of Attraction, which advances the idea that you get what you focus your attention on. Instead of polluting your mind with visions of widespread death, armed guards imprisoning neighborhoods and uninformed masses stampeding for vaccines, my suggestion is to forego the movie and tell everyone you know to do the same. Force ABC�s ratings to fall flat. In this way, justice will be served to ABC for trying to capitalize on the fear of Americans as a means to increase the fees on their ad rate cards.

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But just in case you are inclined to watch horror shows, get a big bowl of popcorn and view the movie for what it is: Purely fiction coupled with focused propaganda.

� 2006 Sherri Tenpenny - All Rights Reserved