This is a random act in that the victims were not chosen a head of time. But someone did put the bio agent in an envelope, and did purposefully mail it, expecting sickness and death to follow the package as it went its way. We are talking about murder here. That is not the same as most highway deaths caused without malice.
Panic no...and I am not seeing much panic at all, if you mean purposeless stampeding over a cliff. Prudent actions and caution based on the information available, yes.
Why are there those who don't want us to discuss the possibilities so that we can be prudent in a dangerous situation?
Mail seems the favored delivery system. You can ask all your friends and relatives to either call you or use email. You can have your bills payed directly out of your checking account.
You can then dump all your mail into the garbage unopened or get a post office box and never go check your mail.
Personally, I feel the terrorists have won if I experience terror or worry. I refuse to submit. The old saw of it is better to die on your feet than live on your knees comes to mind. I am not trying blow smoke up my own Hillory, I just refuse to let it get to me.
The only exception being is that I am my family wash with soap, particularly our hands, more often than we used to and we have cleaned the house very thoroughly; Washing down everything with Lysol and bleach.
It isn't silly at all. What we are talking about is the risk of you or anyone else not making it through the day. The risk of me being killed driving 20 miles around Atlanta on onw of the interstates is greater than it is for me catching and dying from an exposure to anthrax. The real value of an anthrax attack to the terrorists is all the media attention and hype. Setting off a couple of bombs would kill more people, but right now they are attacking our psych and our infrastructure. They want to shut down the airlines, restrict travel, and create fear.
Richard W.