Herman by Jim Unger for January 14, 2020

There was nothing nice about mumps and polio.

And measles and chicken pox.

At least the names were nicer: Consumption…Chilblains…Delerium Tremens….

Another antivaxer.

Were you ever a girl?

It’s not that the diseases were nicer, it’s that your defense mechanisms were stronger.

What like the plague or small pox?

I like George Carlin’s take on it.

1918 – Shell Shock (two syllables)

1945 – Battle Fatigue (four syllables)

1970’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (eight syllables)

Dear lord….put a lid on it

Well, if it weren’t for the “nicer” diseases, I would never have become acquainted with all those daily soap operas on the radio! Or gotten to eat my favorite comfort foods in bed! Or skipped school for three weeks in high school!

In the old days, you rested in a sanitarium until you recovered or died. Medicine was herbs, alcohol, and a little soothing laudanum. Now, they saw you open and charge $100,000 a week to keep you in incredible pain while you are still alive.

Plague, Pox, Consumption, bloody flux, St. Anthony’s fire, Ague…

And good old Grippe.

There’s just more of them now.

Uncultured cultures!

Really? Since when was the plague or black death considered ’nicer diseases?"

The man who created this cartoon must be too young to remember life in the 50’s!