The Word “Swine” Is Scarier Than The Word “Flu”

Posted: April 27th, 2009 | Author: miconian | Filed under: Miconian At Large | Tags: chinese astrology, kashrut, pigs, swine flu | Comments

Before the recent panic, when was the last time you heard yourself using the word “swine”? Two choices:

1. Quoting Samuel Jackson in Pulp Fiction when you were smoking pot circa 1994.

2. Reciting a prayer or a bible reading when you were a kid in Sunday school.

One reason that the bible you were reading in answer #2 didn’t just use the word “pigs” is that “swine” is probably more accurate, referring to boars and other wild pig-like animals as well as domesticated pigs raised to become pork.

Another reason, though, is that calling the animals “swine” allows us to make a distinction. A distinction, that is, between the bacon we buy at Applewood, and the swine before whom pearls must not be cast. (Cafepress has a different way of looking at it.)

And yet, if you were raised Jewish, Muslim, or Seventh-Day Adventist (and who wasn’t), it’s always there at the back of your

mind when you eat pork, whether you were raised in a religious home or not.

I wasn’t; we had bacon, pork chops, and a Christmas tree.  But then, that was in Kansas in the 70s. As cholesterol started to become a more widespread concern, I couldn’t help but see the high saturated fat content as – somehow – organically associated with the biblical edict, even though I’m the most secular, agnostic Jew I know. In my mind, “pig” is the animal that bacon comes from. “Swine” is the ancient wild tusked beast that we were forbidden to consume, the thing that Odysseus’ men became because they were too hungry and stupid to ask why Circe was being so generous with her wine and food.

net.effect suggests that Twitter itself has been infected with Swine Flu, and the metaphor is not far off. The popular sci-fi novel Snow Crash tells the story of a virus that affects both computers and people. It’s able to do this because it is based on ancient runes that serve as a sort of open API to the human brain. This revelation makes a scary kind of sense. It seems apt that some of the most terrifying ancient evils were not superstitions or even supernatural, but rather real, organic, and dormant, destined to be revived and exacerbated by modern technology.

The mainstream is fascinated with the power of twitter right now. So many op-ed pieces attacking it or defending it. Twitter is a new diety in the global village, popular with the young folk, powerful, dangerous. The elders bicker. But then the threat of swine suddenly comes to the fore. Visceral, ancient, physical. We were told not to cast pearls before swine, not to consume swine, but we did, we have been, for so many centuries now. Last year was the year of the Fire Pig, which can only be quenched by the Earth Pig, not due til 2019. Does the old god still have power? For salvation, the older generation embraces the New Way. Just a week after Oprah gets involved. Yahweh rambled in long verses, Twitter keeps things succinct and fast. Can the new gods save us from the old ones? Mashable provides a hymnal. The answers seem so close…

swinegate image by Indigo Goat

swine idol image by erix!

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