there is a quote we can refer to in these times, the only thing that spreads faster than a virus is fear. it is in the air, it is rampant. in china, as people become more reactionary and draconian with the way they are dealing with the ongoing sickness, the society is on edge. videos of people being forcibly removed from their homes, rumors of family pets killed and funerals hastened should any sign of the coronavirus spring up. but are these forced quarantines, domestic animal culling and trinkets of things on the web true? and if they are, will fear protect you?

in some aspects its important. if all we are doing on a basic level is surviving, fear keeps us off the train tracks when we need to. it makes us follow laws and causes children to obey as the consequence of what will come sometimes does not merit the action. at other times though, it is debilitating and causes us to make the wrong choice, it is also contagious. we are all sheep, and as herd animals, fear of one in the flock provides the entire herd to react strongly. if the wrong choice is made, a whole group will suffer from it. it happens over and over in history, and is happening now in China. fear has driven a society to stop moving, interacting and helping one another, a fear to stop a contagion that like the flu will continue to grow.

what happened to zika, bird-flu, influenza, aids and other viruses that have come to get us? like Y2K they have come and gone and stayed. we have adapted while others perished, it is inevitable that more and more of our society is going to fall ill to something. we should be aware of this, to use less of our defenses on animals that we consume and be careful how we prepare our foods, but we should not overreact and punish a large group of possible carriers in the hopes that we ourselves are somewhat immune to the waves that will come. in one way, it makes sense to be aware and keen to threats that might come, but it also very important to know that this fear will also ruin the precious time we are hoping to gain . the web is full of things to scare us, keep aware that those shouts and bit of information and will do nothing but keep us very far from the tracks missing the train all together when it does come.