Her notepad poems:
Trust In Terror Media Poem

Trust in terror media

They say the flu is coming, saw it on TV
The death of fifty thousand, just in this country
They're making lots of money, writing scary words
How to protect the humans, kill off all the birds
Avoiding all the Chicken, never eat the eggs
Farmer goes out of business, on the streets he begs
Somebody starts a rumor, feel the tension rise
There's stories in the papers, TV never lies
Always trust the media, here comes judgement day
Trust in terror media, look at Y2K
Dean Thorpe
Seagull about to take flight

A friendly local seagull about to take flight, spotted in a park in Hastings by Dean Thorpe 

Breakdown of the poem

They say the flu is coming, saw it on TV.
Anybody that has watched the news recently (October 2005) can not have missed the constant Avian Flu (Bird Flu) reports. They claim its moving towards here, but its what will happen then that they do not seem to be at all sure of. It varies from having to kill a few birds, to millions of people dying. They get their information from the government and we all know they never lie! Avian Flu could be just as real as the Weapons of Mass Distruction that they found in Iraq, oops actually they didn't find them in the end did they!

The death of fifty thousand, just in this country.
Fifty thousand deaths in the UK during this outbreak of Avian Flu was what a lot of the press were reporting. It may happen, it may not, but I do not think they should scare people until they really know what is going on. An asteriod could hit the Earth tomorrow and wipe out all life as we know it, but on the other hand maybe one won't. The friendly bacteria in the many health drinks on the market could mutate and kill off thousands, but it probably won't. Avian Flu / Bird Flu could kill fifty thousand this year in the UK, but until they know its going to happen they should keep quiet or at least not make as much fuss as they have been. From the amount of media attention Avian Flu has had you would have thought it had already killed fifty thousand.

Their making lots of money, writing scary words.
Avian Flu or Bird Flu as many people are calling it arrived in the UK recently, that is true and the papers reported on it, but they plastered it all over the front pages and sold a lot of newspapers because of it. I know thats how the press work (I have nothing against most of the press), but they made such a big thing about it arriving in the UK, despite the fact it was actually one bird that had been spotted in quarenteen (a place designed to keep us safe from such things) and there was virtually no risk at all from this one safely quarenteened bird).

How to protect the humans, kill off all the birds.
Typical, humans get into a mess, so to protect ourselves loads of animals have to get wiped out, when will we ever learn. I can just imagine it, machine guns turrets at places like Dover shooting down any bird trying to get into the country! Black market people smugglers will start to get paid thousands for sneaking in Parrots and Budgies. People stamping on Pidgeons in public places, because they thought they heard a sneeze. Why not just wipe out all the worlds animals and save the humans from any future Avian Flu, Mad Cow Disease etc. I eat meat, I am not a 'tree hugging hippie' (South park quote), but even I find something very wrong with killing millions of animals to save us humans.

Avoiding all the Chicken, never eat the eggs.
The actual advice was that if we want to avoid Avian Flu then we should not eat raw eggs or uncooked Chicken, wow what a shocker that is! They have been saying the same for years anyway, I know some people still risk raw eggs in certain fitness drinks and mayonaise, but I would have thought the advice not to eat uncooked Chicken was something people have known for years due to the food poisoning risks. All it will do is make people scared to eat any Chicken or eggs. Until there is proper documented evidence that there is any link at all between eating Chicken products and Avian Flu they should not panic people. Lets face it if we did not eat or drink anything that there had ever been a health risk or warning about we would probably all die of hunger or thirst!

Farmer goes out of business, on the streets he begs.
These days farmers are having enough trouble keeping in business without more food scares. Do the media not care that people in the farming industry could lose their jobs if too many many stop eating Chicken. If its proven that eating proper well cooked Chicken spreads Bird Flu then people should be careful, but so far I have not heard of any evidence saying that.

Somebody starts a rumour, feel the tension rise.
Anybody can start a rumour and with a little help it spreads like wildfire. People like telling stories, its in our nature as humans, but we all want to be telling the most interesting stories. Somebody tells you a story and you might find it interesting, then later the chance comes up to tell somebody else. Maybe it would be more interesting if you added a few bits, maybe change a few details here and there. By the time the story has passed hands half a dozen times it could be told to the person who started it and they might not even realise its the story they started!

There's stories in the papers, TV never lies.
It must be true, TV told me so! TV is a great source of entertainment and stories, but sometimes they make mistakes and sometimes they just lie. I studied Media studies for a while and they taught us how to twist numbers etc. to make stories the way we want. i.e.

Just a handful of people were there to complain over the pulling down of the dangerous old school building.

A large group of defiant people stood side by side today valiently fighting to stop the destruction of the much loved old school building.

Both of those have a totally different twist, but could both actually be describing a dozen poeple trying to stop a school being pulled down. The press have such power to twist things to what they want a story to say. The BIRD FLU HITS UK headlines are a good example, as I have already said it turned out to be one bird in quarenteen, but when you read that headline (which took up most of the front page) you think it means there are actual proper cases of Avain Flu in the UK countryside.

Always trust the media, here comes judgement day.
Its a reporters job to come up with stories that sell newspapers and make people watch the UK news on the TV. If at the start of the news they said that coming up on tonights news is:

Chris Thorncroft gets promoted to manager of a computer shop.
Somebody was spotted feeding the ducks at the local park.
Mrs Drinkwater had to complain that the shop tried to sell her out of date bread.

Most people would turn over and see what else is on, but what if they said coming up on tonights UK news is:

Bird flu claims new victims.
Bomb factory raided, many arrests.
The world is going to end.

I think most people would not be able to turn over, but when you watch the news it turns out to be:

Bird Flu claims new victims. (Two dead birds were found today in Australia and they think it may have been Bird Flu, but its probably not)
Bomb factory raided, many arrests. (A factory in Japan that makes fireworks was raided today, Police went in after neighbours spotted boxes of gunpowder being taken in and claimed it was a bomb factory. On investigation the police found the place to be in breach of child labour laws and arrested the bosses)
The world is going to end. (Scientists today have said that the world will end, they say that they have discovered that we are moving closer to the sun by an inch a year. At that rate we will collide with the Planet mars in approximately two hundred and fifty million years)

Catchy headlines, not so exciting stories.

Trust in terror media, look at Y2K.
I remember just before the year 2000 there was loads of fuss in the media about the Millenium bug and how all the computers were going to crash, order would break down, chaos would take over and the world as we knew it would basically end! They predicted people fighting in the streets to get food, Planes would fall out of the sky etc. Thanks to the media a lot of time and money was spent preventing all that happening, but I do wonder how much of that was really needed. Yes the world did continue, but a lot of people think it would have done so without all the fuss, maybe some computers would have gone wrong, a few people may not have got their wages on the day they should etc. but some of the media made a lot of money out of stories making it sound like it was virtually going to be the end of the world. I could be wrong about Avian Flu / Bird Flu, but then again, so could the press.

Please select a page:
  1. Her notepad poems: Introduction
  2. Her notepad poems: Being free to be me
  3. Her notepad poems: Big metal box
  4. Her notepad poems: Blue lights in the mirror
  5. Her notepad poems: Christmas thoughts
  6. Her notepad poems: Cold and grey in the UK
  7. Her notepad poems: Colours of my life
  8. Her notepad poems: Computers are a pain
  9. Her notepad poems: Concept of happiness
  10. Her notepad poems: Crowds all around me
  11. Her notepad poems: Derailed train of thought
  12. Her notepad poems: Eh Ju Kay Shon
  13. Her notepad poems: Evil people around us
  14. Her notepad poems: Exploring the woods
  15. Her notepad poems: Feel the pain
  16. Her notepad poems: Feeling alone
  17. Her notepad poems: First true love
  18. Her notepad poems: Fluffy little tails
  19. Her notepad poems: Fluidity / genderfluid
  20. Her notepad poems: Free school parking
  21. Her notepad poems: Frozen moment in time
  22. Her notepad poems: Gay Pride
  23. Her notepad poems: Going to Disneyland Paris
  24. Her notepad poems: Hand beside me
  25. Her notepad poems: I hate you
  26. Her notepad poems: Illusion of life
  27. Her notepad poems: Just another dumb animal
  28. Her notepad poems: Just be
  29. Her notepad poems: Life of a photographer
  30. Her notepad poems: Life of a snowflake
  31. Her notepad poems: Light from another world
  32. Her notepad poems: Lurking in the darkness
  33. Her notepad poems: Maybe I am going mad
  34. Her notepad poems: Mindfulness
  35. Her notepad poems: Normality
  36. Her notepad poems: Not going mad this Christmas
  37. Her notepad poems: Opening my mind
  38. Her notepad poems: Out there
  39. Her notepad poems: Passion or prayer
  40. Her notepad poems: Perfect man
  41. Her notepad poems: Psyonic dreams
  42. Her notepad poems: Raindrops on the window
  43. Her notepad poems: Red is the colour of blood
  44. Her notepad poems: Roller coaster rider
  45. Her notepad poems: Scared Little Girl
  46. Her notepad poems: Scared to be alone
  47. Her notepad poems: Second by second
  48. Her notepad poems: Side effect of Doctors
  49. Her notepad poems: Silence closes in
  50. Her notepad poems: Sometimes
  51. Her notepad poems: Some people
  52. Her notepad poems: Storm
  53. Her notepad poems: Strange creatures
  54. Her notepad poems: Stranger beside me
  55. Her notepad poems: Sugar excess
  56. Her notepad poems: Tick and the tock
  57. Her notepad poems: Time flies by
  58. Her notepad poems: Trapped in the Summer
  59. Her notepad poems: Trust in terror media
  60. Her notepad poems: Watching death poem
  61. Her notepad poems: Westwood House
  62. Her notepad poems: When I grow up
  63. Her notepad poems: When munchies attack
  64. Her notepad poems: Who Do I Trust
  65. Her notepad poems: Why I go to Pride
  66. Her notepad poems: Why me
  67. Her notepad poems: You are my reason