How Do We Stop the Public From Fretting About Anthrax?

[KenElevenShadows]

I've been waylaid with immobilizing lower back pain for the past couple of weeks, so I've turned on the television occasionally to try and keep up with what's going on. Every time I turn on CNN, Fox News, CNN Headline, or other news channels, they are rattling on about anthrax, but always ending their reports with, "...but we must emphasize that the public should not panic!" However, the news coverage of anthrax continues on, unabated, for 24 hours a day. If you don't want people to panic about something, the last thing you'd do, of course, is keep telling them about it non-stop!!! ------------------ Ken/Eleven Shadows/d i t h er/Nectar http://www.elevenshadows.com 4 music, travel, more! http://www.cdbaby.com/elevenshadows

[Steve LeBlanc]

The news media is despicable...they are creating terror...by definition they are terrorists. A friend of mine called it [b]"Infotainment,"[/b] I can't think of a more perfect word for what mainstream media has been spewing.

[WFTurner]

Actually we've been quite fortunate in what appears to be our first bio-terrorism attack. From the terrorist's it was a somewhat weak and even seemingly somewhat bungled effort... warning... they will get better. From the public's, the government's, the medical community's and the press's perspective it has also seemed like a somewhat bungled effort but I personally seen growth in all parts of the arena. I think we as a nation have endured a learning experience the last two weeks. If you want to put some kind of positive spin on it, think of it as a chance at a practice run. I suspect such weak attempts from future terrorist's (domestic or foreign) will not be a reality as we face the future. Sadly, the death of even one individual makes it hard to put a positive spin on it. But in the beginning of an attack, till we become aware that one is in place will be the time when the most deaths will take place I would guess. Yes the press has made mistakes, as have officials and we the people. But hell this is the first game of a somewhat sick season so let's not be too hard on any of us. Every mistake warrants a lesson. A learned lesson hopefully will merit a better game. God bless us. ------------------ William F. Turner Songwriter [url=http://www.csonline.net/wfturner/index.html]turnermusic[/url]

[Tedster]

(John Lennon impersonation)...The only thing I fret over is me guitar... Ken...I feel your lower back pain...I've got it myself. Nearly incapacitated today. At any rate, about the Anthrax...weird, I'm not aware that I'm the slightest paranoid about it, and yet I've been having vivid dreams the last couple of nights. I think for me what consciously keeps me from fretting over it is to realize that I'm a very low priority target...unless Osama starts sending mail marked with "YOU MAY ALREADY BE A WINNER!" [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] , I'm probably not on his mailing list. Paranoia would increase with stature, though...political and media targets. But, even if you were in media, and just on a local scale, I'd say you were pretty low priority as far as the terrorists go. I'd guess that one would have to have a relatively inflated view of their worth on the global scale to have to be concerned about being a target.

[GuitarMan]

I have nothing but disdain and contempt for the press...they really are richly deserving of: "YOU GOT THE BUBBLE HEADED BLEACH BLOND...SHE COMES ON AT FIVE SHE CAN TELL YOU 'BOUT THE PLANE CRASH...WITH A GLEAM IN HER EYE SHE SAID, I COULD-A-BEEN AN ACTRESS... BUT I WOUND UP HERE I JUST HAVE TO LOOK GOOD... I DON'T HAVE TO BE CLEAR" THE EAGLES--"KICK 'EM WHEN THEIR DOWN"

[KenElevenShadows]

Actually, that's a song from a Don Henley album from the '80s. Steve, yes, I don't think it's news. "Infotainment" is pretty much it. Tedster, you know how immobilizing lower back pain can be then. I've been in three car accidents, am pretty tall and have a long spine, and am a bit high-strung and hard on myself, so all these things contribute to a giant-sized mess of a lower back. I started going back to work. It's a looong drive, something like 45 minutes, and it's excruciating. The only thing that truly seems to help are these Iyengar yoga stretches that I started doing. One has to be very precise with these stretches, and it's best that they are done with an instructor rather than purchasing a book and doing them yourself, unless you really know what you are doing. And Tedster, also, you mentioned that you have been dreaming about it. I've been finding similar things ever since the terrorist attacks. I think that it doesn't bother me that much, but there is a bit of anxiety that seems to manifest itself in different ways. Just a general feeling that seems to come out sometimes while dreaming, or laying in a half-waking, half-sleeping state -- I can then feel that anxiety bobbling around inside. It's not like I think I am going to be nailed by anthrax suddenly or anything, but just a general feeling. It's difficult to divorce this from my extreme lower back pain sometimes, but I think it's there. And WFTurner, I was thinking that since much of the CNN staff is experienced in reporting news and disasters from all over the world, that they would have more experience. I mean, I'm not a media person, in yet it seems immediately obvious that if you don't want to cause widespread panic, you don't give it a whole lot of air time. If you want to cause panic about something, the easiest thing to do is to keep reporting on it 24 hours a day, which is what CNN, CNN Headline, Fox News, and others have done and continue to do -- always ending their reports with, "but don't panic!". A far easier way would be to simply report it, nice and brief, don't analyze it, state that it's extremely difficult to contract, and then be done with it -- a short 10-15 minute report containing lots of facts, very little analysis, and no conjecture. This would be if they were truly NOT interested in causing widespread panic. This, obviously, is not where their interest truly lies. ------------------ Ken/Eleven Shadows/d i t h er/Nectar http://www.elevenshadows.com 4 music, travel, more! http://www.cdbaby.com/elevenshadows