I take it you don't consider bio weapons to be a problem?
I don't know why folks keep getting the impression that I don't consider any of this to be a problem. I do. A serious problem. One to be dealt with sensibly and rationally.
Bathtub falls are a problem, too. I am not, however, afraid of bathtubs even though I might, indeed, fall in one. I am not afraid of snakes, car jackers, global warming, lightning, pajama buttons, white slavers, or outsourcing either. That is because the risk from each of these is minuscule. It is minuscule because, while the consequences for affected individuals are serious, the probability of being affected is minuscule.
What do you think your chance is of being killed by anthrax in the next year? No more than one in a billion, less than killing yourself from a bathroom fall. How can that make you afraid?
We are individually at very little risk from terrorists, even those of us close to the action. The greater risk is to our country--to our way of life, our economy, our freedoms. A handful of people dying from anthrax can send those into a tailspin while we totally ignore bathtub falls, which do more actual damage. The reason that anthrax is a risk to our country is because we overreact to it out of fear, not because of the actual damage from the anthrax itself. Fear of terrorists does more damage than the terrorists. Fearmongers do more damage than terrorists. We should expand the war on terrorism to include a war on fearmongering. Deal with the threat of terrorism just as we deal with the threat from bathtubs--we put non-slip strips on the bottom of the tub, a hand hold on the wall, and we remember to be careful getting in and out. We do not react with fear. |
