Ebola is no joking matter!!!

[Casino Knight]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/man ... oke-576432

[DaBurglar]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/man ... e-576432Oh wow.....what a nightmare.I actually am completely EMPATHETIC (not sympathetic) with BOTH parties in this fiasco, the casino as well as the man responsible for making the comment.First and foremost, we need more info, such as HOW the man said what he said (what was his tone, facial expression, emotional level, etc)    Second we need to know what were the circumstances:  was he just drinking and talking out loud, was he gambling and had just LOST a lot of money (and therefore, possibly looking to exact some type of revenge?)   That being said, I will state that OBVIOUSLY  no one should ever joke about or attempt to joke about in public this disease......whatever the guy said, it was clearly inappropriate.   Freedom of speech is NOT protected in such specific and unique circumstances.....this is the same thing as yelling "fire" in a cinema when there is no fire, or joking about a bomb in an airport or plane.    You just cannot do it, ever.....But I empathize with the man IF.....and I do mean, IF, this was a case where he said something (VERY) inappropriate, then attempted to undo or downplay what he said and instead, it just grew and grew out of proportion until the casino personnel around him had no choice but to take him seriously.   If he actively fanned the flames and then skeddadled (or tried to) once panic set in, then bust his arse.....But if this is one of those cases where it should have been obvious the guy was just being a total idiot, but instead the people (or even a single person) around him who heard him DECIDED to actively make as big a deal as possible about this because "its always better to be safe than sorry", then I can spare this guy a small amount of empathy.You know what I am talking about.......there are people in this world who LOVE to build mountains out of obvious mole hills, who will take EVERYTHING as seriously as possible, ALWAYS, never discerning or discriminating between the highly improbable and the highly likely disaster scenario....they get off on pulling the fire alarm at the FIRST sign or whiff of smoke, whether its a match being struck to lite a candle, or a pile of oily rags about to burst into a full-on blaze, they never bother or try to ascertain the scope of the emergency before Sounding the general alarm!And with things or situations such as we now face with this dreaded (but still extremely rare) disease in this country, where the media has fanned a near panic that is out of all proportion to what the actual situation calls for, then it is totally understandable how as soon as someone hears the word "ebola" in public, they flip out.....its a common phenomenon we've seen over and over and over......anyone remember hearing the account of the 1938 Orson Welles Radio Show with HG WELLS "War of the Worlds"??  Orson was so good in his radio act, he had half of New Jersey and Staten Island believing Martians were here, and real people began showing up in Police stations and calling in "SWEARING UP AND DOWN" they had just seen Martians!   it is called HYSTERIAThe casino is in the worst possible situation here......ANY disruption will cost them a lot of money.....but in today's liability climate and Blame-happy society, large businesses must ALWAYS operate on the cautious side.  They must assume a threat is real until proven otherwise, or unless they have anticipated the threat and have taken measures.....how they could have anticipated someone with EBOLA exposure showing up is impossible, nor could they really do ANYTHING proactive (like have all dealers start wearing masks or rubber gloves and have hazardous waste trash bags).   One thing the casino COULD possibly have done is post a sign that says "ANY person making a statement or mentioning in any way a infectious disease or agent in an irresponsible manner, will be regarded with the UTMOST gravity and credibility by the Management."   Or something like that........I don't know, the casino is screwed in this instance, and underscores just how VULNERABLE these places are and how vulnerable all of us are when we visit them......Since this was a casino, its likely the guy was also slightly intoxicated, enough to impair his good judgement perhaps.....bottom line, WATCH what you say when out in public!!This is all going to get much much worse before it ever subsides.......