William Marvel: Panic Inc.

Ain’t it strange how the same population reacts to different crises, regarding some of the worst potential threats with virtual indifference but recoiling in horror from lesser dangers? A cynic might conclude that the proportionality of public reaction to any emergency directly reflects the degree of media attention, rather than the actual peril. The intensity of news coverage has its own direct effect on events, as the phenomenon of copycat crimes best illustrates. School shootings, for example, remained relatively uncommon until Columbine, which attracted a media frenzy that helped launch a generation of similar crimes, each of which received intense attention that kept the cycle going.

Just as the television performers who pose as weather experts attract viewers with dire warnings about this month’s “storm of the century,” news outlets hunger for stories of tragedy or terror to secure the attention of their audiences. If nothing better arises, the possibility of a potentially lethal and highly communicable disease is always sure to grasp public attention, especially if it can be associated with political shortcomings or the failure of medical systems. Cue the dazed orphans and the weeping parents, burying their dead.