Fear Society

I tend to become upset, even depressed at times by the propensity of leaders worldwide to rule by instilling abject fear in their respective populaces. Cases in point being AIDS, that huge osamabogeyman TERRORISM and illnesses such as Avian Influenza, SARS and the current mindscrewup SWINEFLU. All could so easily have been handled with a degree of honesty that did not necessitate making the populace have difficulty sleerping.

The meeter-greeter-teacher in this photograph is supposed to be standing on the school steps, welcoming the children with a polite "Wai" and ensuring all is well for the start of the school day. Instead, as you can see, she is standing as far as she can from the path they will take and wearing not one, but three masks to protect her from the current nightmare. I have no idea how she copes in the classroom. (This photograph was taken a couple of weeks ago.)

This afternoon, on the way to school, I noticed a helmetless lady riding a motorcycle, talking on the phone and wearing a mask. She obviously thought this dire disease is more dangerous than the prospect of her head contacting the road or roadside furniture in the case of a crash. (I wanted to photograph her, but decided safety was more important while driving.)

No sooner had I passed her than I noticed another similarly masked helmetless couple on a bike. During the 15 or so Kilometers to school, I counted thirteen motorcycles, each with one or more, presumably concrete-cranium-cretins in dire terror, masked in prophylaxis against contracting bacon disease.

If the powers can instill abject fear in their masses about such a relatively mild, (for most sufferers,) illness, why can they not make these people understand that skulls are softer than stone?