Ebola

I am sure that if we asked which is the word you have heard most in the last few days I am sure that 99% of the humanity will answer the same: Ebola. Suddenly, it has become a very popular word in our conversations and everybody looks worried with its side effects. Of course, newspapers, radio programs and TV news have decided to make the topic of the month and we get loads of information of this terrible disease.

Spain has the honour of becoming the first western country to detect the first person with Ebola. Before, two missionaries died in Madrid after being rescued from Africa. But before this missionaries died and the nurse got infected nearly 4.000 people died in Africa because of this disease.

I have to admit that in the news I heard some information about the situation in countries like Guinea, Sierra Leone o Liberia, where Ebola has being killing people for months as you can read here. As usual, some countries send help and many people didn’t hesitate and decided to stay or to go to those countries to try to help.

However, most of the western people were not really aware of what was going on. That has suddenly changed since we knew that Teresa Romero was infected with the virus. I won't be demagogic: the easy thing to say know is that nearly none of us worried about Ebola until we had it at our front door.

We also know that in Africa, for example, and other parts of the world there are thousands of conflicts that we ignore. I think that it is totally human, because one only worries about things that are near or that affect him directly. However, it is true that maybe we had to put one eye in Africa because what is happening is terrible.
 

I heard this morning that there is a second case detected in the United States (the third one after Teresa and another nurse working in the same Texas hospital). I understand that authorities will have to calm down the population and try to follow all the procedures to avoid Ebola spreading.
 

Probably, as we conclude after reading and listening the news, the authorities don’t have all the information to stop this disease. I think we have to be patient, but I also think that those who work with infected people have to take all security measures when there are with them. I really admire those people that don’t doubt it and they help people infected. I am sure that not everybody would do it.
 

In short, I think it is time to be calm and let people work. I am sure that they will find a solution. Probably, and it is a shame, more people will die but we don’t have to get hysterical; let them work.

To finish just one last comment, I am surprised on the fact how some journalists here in Spain speak about Ebola, preventive measures, etc. as if they were experts. The funny thing about it is that they can talk about the Catalan process, Ebola or football. I think sometimes these journalists should be more honest with themselves and they shouldn’t participate in radio talk shows if they really don’t have all the knowledge they need to speak about some topics. I wouldn’t be able to do it and if I did, I would have to read a lot, listen to the news and talk to experts before saying anything. I am sure that most of them don’t follow any of these rules.

Hooligans or supporters?

Journalists must use the language correctly. A lot of people repeat what they hear, watch or read in the newspapers and if the information or the words are not the right, is when mistakes appear.

During a long time, here both in the Catalan and Spanish press they use to call hooligans to all the British supports. Maybe it is because my mother is English that annoyed me a lot. Of course you can find hooligans in England and there are well known because of the trouble they have created in some trips with their teams or the national team, but not all the supporters are hooligans. Here in Spain we had a lot of groups that went to the matches to cause trouble. In past years, a lot of them have disappeared but we also had our problems with big fights and people that even got killed.

The other day, watching the match between Atlético de Madrid and Chelsea, I saw a lot of families in the stands of the stadium. Honestly, I doubt that a ten year old boy is a hooligan or his parents. Obviously, I know that there are hooligans that can’t go out of their country and the Police are after them, but as I said, not all of the supporters are like that. However, I have to admit that in the past years this word is used more accurately and most of the journalist referred to them as supporters.

But one thing journalists can’t avoid talking is about the supporters and the beers. The other day, in one of the main radio stations in Spain, a journalist said that the streets of Madrid were full of Chelsea supporters with their beer in their hands AS if the English supporters are the only ones who drink. It is true that sometimes they get carried away but thery are not the only ones.

Last week R. Madrid and Barcelona played the Spanish Cup final and I saw a lot of photographs and TV shots were I could see supporters of the two teams with beers in their hands. I am sure that more than one of them arrived completely drunk to the match. I have been to three finals myself and in all of them I have seen how the supporters drink since first thing in the morning.

As I wrote at the beginning journalists have to be very careful. They generate some topics that can create mistakes. Of course British supporters drink, but also the supporters of any team, specially, in an important game for them. I am not saying that it is right, what I want to point out is that it is something normal in football.