September 29, 2005

A matter of when

Alright, I realise newspaper pages must be filled, but I am so tired of hearing about the major disasters, tragedies and horror that Canada would not be ready to handle. I am all boyscout about being prepared and basic precautions, but at the same time the point of the future is that it creeps up upon you. Maybe Canada isn’t ready for a terror attack, but hardly anywhere is except places that are horrible. Maybe Canada is not equipped to handle to a natural disaster, but America the state-of-alert golden child certainly wasn’t either. I know I am simplifying things, but this sort of speculation leads to mass hysteria, which primes people to react to things badly. Every time something explodes or floods, there are journalists who are wringing their hands in despair that it wasn’t local, but then again next time it might be! So they write a story about that. And it’s boring, repetitive- anything “that isn’t a matter of if but when”. An expert in the paper this weekend followed up that gem with, “People must awaken to the fact that Big Brother isn’t out there and won’t help you when all hell breaks loose.” Does that mean anything? Are there people sitting around poking holes in dikes waiting for Big Brother?

I am very interested in the burial of Lenin’s tomb.