[member=105]Thryleon[/member], I imagine if the boy cried wolf early on and 800 of the town’s flock had been slaughtered by the wolf, the townsfolk would have been a little more willing to heed his calls later on.
Unfortunately, human nature suggests otherwise. Case in point: hurricanes in the US. The hurricane warning system is pretty accurate. But of course hurricanes don’t follow a rigid path. They can and do change direction and lose strength. Many towns have dodged a bullet when this happens and the locals are cynical the next time a warning is issued. And then disaster strikes. The same could be said here about bushfire warnings.
As with hurricane warnings, epidemiologists can only call them as they see them and if we’re lucky and those predictions don’t pan out this time, we should just count our lucky stars.
If we want to draw a better analogy from the literary world, maybe epidemiologists are like Cassandra in Greek mythology. She was blessed by the Gods with the ability to foresee coming disasters but cursed by ensuring her warnings fell on deaf ears.
Unfortunately, human nature suggests otherwise. Case in point: hurricanes in the US. The hurricane warning system is pretty accurate. But of course hurricanes don’t follow a rigid path. They can and do change direction and lose strength. Many towns have dodged a bullet when this happens and the locals are cynical the next time a warning is issued. And then disaster strikes. The same could be said here about bushfire warnings.
As with hurricane warnings, epidemiologists can only call them as they see them and if we’re lucky and those predictions don’t pan out this time, we should just count our lucky stars.
If we want to draw a better analogy from the literary world, maybe epidemiologists are like Cassandra in Greek mythology. She was blessed by the Gods with the ability to foresee coming disasters but cursed by ensuring her warnings fell on deaf ears.