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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (5454)	10/16/2001 4:26:24 AM
From: Jill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I agree that Guiliani did just right. My concern is one I stated before on this thread--as a populace, from laymen on up, we are pyschologically simply not prepared to understand what's happening to us. For instance, reactions to the first anthrax case by the FBI--that it was NOT terrorism--was rather inconceivable. In context, how could it be anything else? Reaction to the first one here in NYC was completely screwed up. Rather than issue reassurances, as anthrax cases mount and the FBI can't even quite figure out the sources, we should be hearing exactly how to avoid it (for instance--the cutaneous form--if there are spores on your skin, can't you decontaminate? Could you even wash them off? Who knows). Only now, weeks later, are they beginning to understand what might be happening. I think that mindset is a serious serious weakness. It's an inability to recognize the danger, the shift in our world that is so sudden and extraordinary. An inability on some gut level to fathom how vulnerable we are, and what is happening to us. That means we can't protect ourselves well against current threats, much less agains possible future threats. It's only been a month and our world has completely changed. To repeat the obvious, our planes were turned into missiles that killed 7,000 people and destroyed a chunk of the greatest city we have. And since then people in various cities have been exposed to, and some have come down with, anthrax, ranging from a baby to a 73 year old man, and we can't evenf igure out how the baby got it. And this is only the first month. Back to sleep...