Set Paranoia Bit to On

William Aronstein, a correspondent of Instapundit, wrote:

Remember that the Hajj will take place in January, prime-time flu season. Two million pilgrims --or more-- will be living cheek by jowl in communal tents. A better means for transmitting a virus from Java to the entire world could not by any stretch of the imagination be devised by any human intelligence.

Was that deliberate? A society that emphasizes maintaining routines during epidemics can operate better than other societies when epidemics are more common (at the cost of a few lives, of course). If that religion acts in a way to spread disease, it looks suspicious.

On the other hand, I suppose the Pilgrimage Festivals in Judaism (or the command to visit the sick) also look suspicious …

Addendum: On the gripping hand, maybe this is all hype.