Substitute “Anthrax” for “Boba Fett,” and you have the media’s reaction to, well, the Great Anthrax Scare of 2001.
Now, I really hope I don’t eat these words. But it really seems like the media is so desperate for something to report on other than godawfully grainy night shots of Kabul being bombed that they are engaging in the worst sort of scare-mongering and panicking in the streets over this.
Some facts, bearing in mind that this is in a nation with a population of some 275 million:
Fact: One person has died from Anthrax.
Fact: A couple more people have tested positive for it.
Fact: Several more people have tested positive for antibodies to it.
Fact: More people are seeing mysterious white powder these days than are seeing Elvis.
Either Anthrax is the worst possible “biological warfare” weapon in the world, or the folks ostensibly spreading this stuff around have chosen the worst delivery vector in the world. Because, frankly, in the event of a real biological warfare attack, you’d see dozens, hundreds, thousands of folks dying.
What we’re seeing instead are dozens, hundreds, thousands of folks crowding ERs, demanding antibiotics.
Now, arguably, if there are terrorists behind all of this, then they may be having their desired impact by creating such a foofoorah. But in the process, the media are at least complicit. Anthrax has replaced Sharks as the Most Dangerous Thing Out There And We Have The Stock Footage To Show You, You Bet!
Call me when the smallpox epidemics break out ….