I can’t believe what I saw last night… it was something I thought I would never see: Very few kids on Halloween!
Now, you have to understand that I am in a new neighborhood so this could be completely normal. After speaking with my neighbor, however, I know for a fact that either parents are spooked, kids are spooked, or both. I’m sure it doesn’t help that the FBI have announced that there is some type of “threat” just hanging out there that can possibly strike in the next week.
This of course makes me just have to bitch about two things: Hoaxers and the media. I’ve always been very open about my contempt for the news programs and their switch over to sensationalism journalism that seemed to have shown its ugly face back in the height of OJ and just hasen’t recoverd. Watching the news now a days it seems that all of them figure they have to have at least three Anthrax related stories a day or they aren’t hitting their quota. Why, I say, why? It’s not like the people of America aren’t freaked out enough so could you please make sure to say the word Anthrax at least 40 times per news broadcast so that we can get even more people huddled in to the corner and paralyzed with fear?
Ahhh… but I said something about hoaxers, didn’t I? Well, let’s take a quick look at what has happened. In the beginning of the month (October 5, 2001) an email started popping up in people’s email boxes and has taken on a life of it’s own being forwarded by every paranoid person (why is it that people both still believe these unconfirmed email stories and continue to forward them on?). Now, granted this email was quickly judged by many as a new Urban Legend because it fit a lot of the elements an Urban Legen has. Now, Urban Legend or not people as a mass are panicy and just plain stupid so you just know that there are some people that got this thing and kept themselves and their kids locked in their basements on Halloween rather then let them trick-or-treat or go within 10 miles of a mall.
My question, of course, is why do people do this type of ridiculous crap? Most of the times his type of email actaully exists as to be a very un-noticed type of virus. This happens from the number of forwards that the email may go through without an editing. The list of recipients and its trial gets so fat and long the email itself becomes a large size and when forwarded inside of a corporation can exponentially eat up space. Something like this, however, in a time of war and fear is both melicious and evil and just seems un-American to do. To be honest, it disgusts me completely and makes my stomach turn.
Then again that might be from all the candy I ate tonight because there were no kids.
-WW