Marc Siegel, MD

Dr. Siegel’s thesis is basically that the hysteria regarding terrorism, biological weapons, and communicable diseases is way out of proportion to the risk. Furthermore, Siegel elaborates that such fears are manipulated by the government and media. While all this sounds logical and evident, Siegel’s writing style is lacking in conviction and overly-repetitive. Furthermore, evidence to back his points is missing from the text. Again, I’m ready to believe him, but sometimes he seems to just be saying “no it isn’t” in a somewhat callous disregard to threats real or imagined.

“Joey Reynolds, the host of a late-night talk show on WOR radio in New York, has anointed fear “False Evidence Assumed Risk.” - p. 73

Risk - Ropeik and Gray; Risk and Reason - Sunstein; Risk Communication - Morgan and Fischhoff.

“Mostly, we are becoming a society of hypochondriacs, not just for medical reasons, but because of preoccupations in all aspects of our lives. We build elaborate safety nets for the wrong things, and then we panic when these nets are found to be ineffective.

Healing this rampant fear means all of us becoming our own filters for information, not simply parroting what we hear on TV. We need to be deconditioned, decontaminated, and decompressed from the high-pressure misinformation that is being shot into our brains. Once purged, once healed of our programmed fears, and with the help of knowledgeable go-to people who really care about us, we can reappraise the safety of our lives.” - p. 205… (mais)