Government Lied About Pandemic Which Killed 50 Million People … Attempt to “Prevent Panic” Backfired

Tuesday, November 4, 2014
By Paul Martin

WashingtonsBlog.com
November 4, 2014

Governments Have Suppressed the Dangers of Epidemics Before, Only Making Things Worse

The mainstream American press has agreed – at the request of the government – not to report on suspected Ebola cases.

Let’s provide some context …

The U.S. National Academy of Science noted in 2005 (starting on the bottom of p. 64):

In the United States, national and local government and public health authorities badly mishandled the [1918 “Spanish Flu”] epidemic [which killed up to 50 million people worldwide], offering a useful case study.

The context is important. Every country engaged in World War I tried to control public perception. To avoid hurting morale, even in the nonlethal first wave the press in countries fighting in the war did not mention the outbreak. (But Spain was not at war and its press wrote about it, so the pandemic became known as the Spanish flu).

The United States was no different. In 1917 California Senator Hiram Johnson made the since-famous observation that “The first casualty when war comes is truth.” The U.S. government passed a law that made it punishable by 20 years in jail to “utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the government of the United States.”

The Rest…HERE

Leave a Reply

Join the revolution in 2018. Revolution Radio is 100% volunteer ran. Any contributions are greatly appreciated. God bless!

Follow us on Twitter