I’m not sure what caused the Middle East to depart from their usually quite rational thinking, but an Israeli official has stated that the name “Swine Flu” is offensive.
JERUSALEM (AP) — The outbreak of swine flu should be renamed “Mexican” influenza in deference to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork, said an Israeli health official Monday.
Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman said the reference to pigs is offensive to both religions and “we should call this Mexican flu and not swine flu,” he told a news conference at a hospital in central Israel.
Both Judaism and Islam consider pigs unclean and forbid the eating of pork products.
So what I don’t understand is how this outbreak is anything out of line with what Muslims and Jews believe. The timeline as I see it is:
“Stay away from pigs. They will make you sick” – God
2000 years later, people get sick from pigs.
As far as I can tell Swine flu is just proof God exists. Guess we can finally tack a QED on the end of that one. Is it that even the word “swine” is too unclean to sully their mouths and ears? Not a chance I’ll ever understand what goes on in those people’s minds.
