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October 4, 2012

Letter: The sky is not falling

The Salem News

To the editor:

Seven people in Massachusetts have contracted EEE, according to officials. Two elderly of the seven have died. Now the Health Police have decreed that all outside activity must stop, lest this “plague” overtake us all.

Surely more than seven people fall in their bathtubs in Massachusetts each week (or maybe even each day), and perhaps two of those seven die from their injuries. Do we forbid our citizens from taking a bath?

Talk about overreaction. Isn’t it enough to simply warn the citizenry and give them information to protect themselves? Then they can decide how great the risks are and act accordingly. No. We need the nanny state to protect us from our own stupidity. And we are even encouraging our neighbors to “snitch” on us. Why does this sound like something familiar from the 1930s?

It’s high time for common sense to reassert itself in our lives. Otherwise, who knows what will be the next target of these zealots?

Richard W. Symmes

Beverly

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