Mark Segal: Ebola, ISIL and Halloween, Oh My!

Has the worldwide double crisis of the health threat of Ebola and the terrorist threat of the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (otherwise known as ISIL) have you in a panic? The reality is it shouldn't, but considering the 24/7 news channels like CNN and Fox, but in this case mostly CNN, they make it seem like you should being heading for the hills or an underground bunker. They do all of this gloom, doom and fright reporting, just in time for Halloween, so much so that they are scaring more Americans than any ghoul or vampire. Let's look at the facts on both and attempt to calm the waters a little.

ISIL forces are certainly as bad as the media portrays them. But the only threat they pose at present is currently in the Middle East, half a world away from us. Will their Internet call-out to recruit members in the U.S. work? Probably about as much as it did for al-Qaeda. Our real problems are the homegrown teenagers we seem to have not paid attention to, and how easy it is for them to get their hands on guns. There have been many more instances of homegrown terrorism than anything done by ISIL or al-Qaeda. Yep, do the math. Or want to look at it from a right-wingers perspective. Here goes.

The conservatives keep telling us that almost anyone can cross our southern border. Since 2001, and remember that's 13 years that we've been fighting al-Qaeda, how many terrorist attacks came across that border illegally? None that we know of or has been reported. The point is that they're too busy in the Middle East or too disorganized, or, perhaps the simplest explanation: Our borders are better protected then those conservatives have been saying. You can't have it both ways.  

Now lets look at Ebola. I was on a plane a few days ago, and heading from Texas. A guy in the row in front of me was wearing a mask covering his nose and mouth, like those you use while mowing the lawn. There are many reasons to wear a mask on a plane, but Ebola is not one of them. Yes it's deadly, but the chances of getting it if you live in the U.S. are almost, though not completely, zero. Why? Yes, we made some mistakes, but those mistakes have taught us, and we are nothing if not a resilient nation. From what we have learned, it is so hard to get this viral culprit that the family Thomas Eric Duncan was living with and sleeping near have not come down with the decease. Who has? Two health-care workers who were exposed to his bodily fluids at close proximity. Take into account that about 100 people in Dallas are under watch, and 800 more from the Frontier airplane which one of those health-care workers flew on. Of those 900 people, presently NONE of them has come down with the virus.  

Putting it in perspective, every day you have more of a chance to kill yourself in your own bathroom, the least safe place in your house, or just walking outside and being hit by a car. You want to be scared of disease? Try cancer, heart, lung or kidney cease, or the 39,000 people that will die this year from the flu. They are real threats to each one of us. Otherwise, stop worrying about something that won't kill you. There's more to life then thinking of death. 

Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation's most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. You can follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MarkSegalPGN or Twitter @PhilaGayNews.