Nope, that headline is not my own witty turn of phrase. (I wish.)
It’s been floating around the media for the last few weeks—ever since thousands of birds mysteriously died and fell out of the sky over various U.S. states, as well as several other countries including Italy, Sweden, China and Chile. We’ve seen reports that hundreds of thousands of fish have died all around the world, too, mostly during the first week of 2011.
It’s no wonder why “dead fish” and “dead birds” have become top Internet search phrases this year. Based on the media buzz I’ve read, I’d bet the phrase “end times” is up there, too.
ABC’s Nightline, however, took a less apocalyptically oriented approach in explaining the deaths. And biologist E.O. Wilson of Harvard University says we should blame technology for the hysteria some people have felt, saying the Internet, cell phones and worldwide communications cause us to notice and even distort events that would otherwise fly (or swim) under the radar. William & Mary biology professor Dr. Dan Cristol agrees and adds, “[Mass animal deaths] do happen, and they happen every year, and I think a lot of the frenzy that we’re getting around the world is because the media and the Internet have allowed more of these stories to be exposed and connected than normally happens.”
I understand that. Still, I don’t exactly know what to think. Did 8,000 turtledoves in Italy simultaneously overeat and die of indigestion, as scientists say? (Though the pasta there is so good that I can see it happening with humans.) It seems strange to me, but stranger things have happened. And people do have a natural tendency to look to religion, sometimes erroneously, when seemingly odd occurrences frighten them.
But I still wonder whether Nightline should have been quite so dismissive.
Recent Comments