Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Anxiety Index at Red Alert

I've only got a few minutes tonight before getting back to Robert Fisk's book on Lebanon. Today I was in the gym working out, listening to the very un-funny, very serious, very informative WBAI's Free Speech Radio News," which I'm happy to see has a podcast. A lot of the news was frightening; the scariest piece, to me concerned oceanic dead zones. The one that hits the Gulf of Mexico every Summer is larger than ever. Although they've been around for years, I'd never heard about them in such detail.

I think I should maintain an anxiety index. We can start it this way: Every day, whoever reads this can add a comment with the most wildly alarming news-item of the day. We can compete over the worst piece of news. On the days when the news is really bad, I will know because my only desire will be to stick my head in the sand. It's beyond red alert. The anxiety shoots right past "red" and goes right to "lights out," from "alert" to "inert." Maybe we shouldn't do it, competitive anxiety will make me more anxious. As some of you know, I get anxious enough just crossing the street.
On that note, I'm going to go to bed and read about the really bad stuff that happened twenty years ago. Since it's over, the only thing I can worry about while I'm reading is why the hell I still haven't finished the book and when I will get to the next one in the pile.

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