"It's difficult for me to get a grip on what you mean
When you stick your fingers in your ear and create another scene
You always step into the traps set perfect in your path
Busy going crazy over whose knife's in your back"
- J. Bush

"What if you walked down the street and someone pricked you with an infected needle? You might get anthrax!"

About a dozen friends asked me something like that when I told them I wanted to take a trip back to Manhattan.

Everywhere around me, I hear people talking about the anthrax epidemic.

In the supermarket, a lady was telling another lady how licking an envelope could give you anthrax.

A guy on the street coughed, and his friend backed away from him and told him to run to the hospital, "…in case you have anthrax."

I think the terrorists are winning.

With a few letters and a handful of people in prominent sites infected, the rest of America seems to have gone bonkers. People are taking the news and blurring the facts into fantastically horrible rumors.

To get to the real facts, I checked out a few web sites. And came across some opinion pieces from the NY Post and Time Magazine.

The facts state that anthrax, also known as bacillus anthracis by its scientific name, is not highly contagious. You cannot get it from someone coughing on you, and certainly not from licking an envelope.

It really isn't as bad as the news makes it out to be.

The Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison had some pretty good advice on how to protect yourself from bioterrorism:

  • Stop Worrying
  • Stop Smoking
  • Don't Drink Too Much
  • Eat Right
  • Exercise
  • Stop Worrying

In other words, don't give in to panic. Otherwise, the terrorists win.

Ironically, do you know who is helping the terrorists win? The American media. Either it's ignorant or misinformed news reporters giving the public the wrong information (no, anthrax is NOT a virus), or unscrupulous reporters trying to sensationalize the incident to make money.

Sound crazy, huh? Why would anyone sensationalize such a horrible event? Think about it. Every news source is reporting on the same event. How can you get readers to buy your media over a competitor's? Make it sound more horrible, more terrifying, more sensational.

And in doing so, scare your public into reading more news media. To make more sales. To make more money.

The public: 0. The terrorists (with the aide of sensationalists): 1.

Of course, not all news sources do this. And not all of the public is taken in by sensationalized news. But enough of it is happening to cause a general panic.

And that's when the terrorists win.

. . .

Do you think the terrorists are winning?