A Sane Man Speaks on Ebola: "If West Africa is a gas can that was waiting for a match, the rest of Central Africa is a gasoline tanker waiting for a match, and nobody anywhere has a Plan B for what happens if this gets out further...."

We have seen airborne ebola.

It looks much like an A-300

Posted by itor at October 20, 2014 9:11 PM

My God, common sense. It only seems reasonable that it would come from a guy from the Midwest, doesn't it? The real thread that arises in his recounting of the reactions to scientific discovery is that whoever decides these things opts over and over to treat the public like children, because "You're scaring people." It shouldn't be a surprise that the most information-centric society in history is daily proving itself to be the most childlike and naive. Whole generations, and increasingly whole races, are actively choosing to live their lives as tall toddlers.

Maybe the most responsible thing that any communications media could consider would be daily messages consisting of several hours of

"You're All Gonna Die, Kids. Grow The Fuck Up."

And now a word from our sponsors.

Posted by Rob De Witt at October 20, 2014 11:00 PM

This guy is the real thing. Nowadays he mostly does consulting and research, but he used to run Minnesota's version of CDC. And he was very good at it. Remember a few years ago, when there was a food poisoning outbreak that was thought to be related to produce? CDC worked on it for two weeks and still had no clue as to the source. Then there were a couple of Minnesota cases, and his group went at it. They traced the bug down to the particular farm in Mexico in about 2 1/2 *days.*

Posted by Gordon at October 21, 2014 1:57 AM

And this man is not the "Ebola Czar", why?

Posted by tripletap at October 21, 2014 6:15 AM

Tripletap: uh, he's not because he has three strikes against him:

1- he's White;
2- he's flyover conservative;
3- he knows what he is talking about and is capable.

Posted by chasmatic at October 21, 2014 6:22 AM

Also, tripletap, he is set in his old-fashioned way of treating other people like adults: giving them solid facts and letting them make their own decisions. This wouldn't work for Obama, his machine exists to massage the people towards the One True Utopia, not to react appropriately to events.

Posted by raincityjazz at October 21, 2014 1:04 PM