Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:26:08 GMT

If you don’t know what to do, and you’re frightened, might as well panic.

That seems to be the first rule of being a member of the human race. Apparently, panicking is an acceptable substitute for forethought, contingency planning or actually taking productive action. We almost want to blame the thing we’re anxious about on the person who isn’t planning. “Don’t you care! Can’t you see that we’re all gonna die! That we’re going to go bankrupt? That the world as we know it is going to end?”

More people are killed by deer than sharks, but you don’t see park rangers running around like nutcases.

There’s huge pressure on our leaders and co-workers and institutions to panic. If for no other reason, we say, they should panic as a sign that they care, that they are taking things seriously.

A while ago, I said that the devil doesn’t need an advocate.

Let me add to this: we have enough caution. We don’t need an abundance of caution. That’s too much.