State of Fear
Essay
Thesis: Media is well known as the fourth power. Is so the influences that, in many countries they are blamed to be responsible for elections manipulation, the success of a product or an artist or the collapse of any of them. On September 18, 2001 the first of several letters was send containing the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis better known as anthrax. Five people died and other seventeen were infected during the following weeks but; the repercussions of that incident still affecting our way of life even though that Robert Stevens the first reported victim, was the fist case of anthrax in US since 1976.
Topic: The anthrax attacks happen only one week after September 11:
• The whole country was on a panic, that factor contributes with the press to add some sense of sensationalism to any story related to terrorism.
Topic: The government was under pressure find some guilty.
• As a result laws such as The Patriot Act and some other anti-terrorism congressional resolutions were approved not to mention the green light to go on war against the alleged responsible country, Afghanistan.
Topic: Today the US Postal Service has made significantly security changes.
• Changes includes the managing of the mail and packages, the articles that can and can not be send, and the establishment of new safety standards for the employees at all levels of the postal services.
The events of September 11 definitively defined the way that we live but, the media realized the power of sensationalism after that lamentable incident and forgot about the level of stress that this society was exposed and the consequences. The coverage of those incidents is necessary and justified, but it is also necessary the explanation when this cases are isolated cases to avoid the state of fear that we live.