With almost eight thousand persons infected, and about half that number of lives lost, the world is grappling with one of the most devastating diseases ever suffered by humanity. In the midst of this healthcare crisis, with calls for massive public enlightenment in order to help fight the scourge, some individuals have signed up with a disingenuous tool—propagating ridiculous conspiracy theories.
Thanks to their increasing efforts, the world now knows that:
- Ebola is not real.
- The Red Cross is the organization propagating the illness (which illness?) through treatments and injections.
- The real goal of the “Ebola scare” is to get American military boots on the ground in oil-rich Nigeria and diamond-rich Sierra Leone, and exploit the available resources.
- Troop have been sent (sorry! Mr. Obama) to force vaccinations (deadly “ebola” poison) onto those Africans who are not foolish enough to take them willingly.
The “truth” above is being blogged and re-blogged in a continent where the average individual (I’m sorry! I’m also an African) has an antipathy to thinking. What makes these idiots better than the other fools that have contributed to the number of people suffering from polio in northern Nigeria and Pakistan? They all have seemingly logical reasons. “The polio vaccine is an American tool to sterilize Muslims”.
A few individuals with access to the internet start deliberately deceiving people. The problem is that many persons would believe them—the same set of people who believed that bathing with common salt would keep Ebola at bay.
Scrutinizing the theories being propagated, I’m bedeviled as to how any sensible individual would buy any of it. Since Ebola is not real, what’s the disease that has killed this large number of persons? Why accuse only the Red Cross for the disease? I think Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), other NGOs and missionary groups, and the World Health Organisation, with the health ministries of all affected countries should also be blamed for being part of the plot. Are American soldiers really needed to exploit African resources? I think it should be easier (and cheaper) to just bribe the relevant government officials. I didn’t hear Mr. Obama say anything about vaccinations and to the best of my knowledge, there’s no industry-approved vaccine available. All we have right now are different cocktails being tested with the hope of finding them efficacious.
No matter the amount of publicity carried out by governments, other organisations and individuals, some persons would never reject the conspiracy theories. I just hope this nonsense would not severely hinder the fight against Ebola nor keep people from seeking early health care. If this happens, the propagators of these theories should know that they will have blood on their hands.
Jilomes 