You have mail!

With anthrax spores being mailed from Malaysia to Nevada, the world's postal system may finally fade away. Who else will want to open mail again? Secretaries and mailroom clerks may now demand hazard pay. Many US companies decided to close down their mailrooms following reports of anthrax contamination in mail sent to an NBC news anchor and The New York Times writer in New York, to a Microsoft office in Nevada and to the Washington DC office of a US Senate leader.

But, The New York Times reports, it is unclear how the prospect of potentially lethal letters might affect the way American companies do business. "Much of the vital correspondence that was once sent by mail is now handled over fax machines and e-mail, and by express-delivery services that typically require more information about senders than the postal system does."

Because of the anthrax scare, mailroom employees have been asked to be careful in handling envelopes that have a postmark or name or a return address that is unusual, unknown or if it has no return address at all. People are also advised to be particularly alert when they see excessive postage, uneven lettering or stains on the outside of an envelope because those might be signs that it contains a substance other than paper.

Most likely people will now make it common practice to call before sending packages. The companies where business is most likely to suffer are those whose operations depend on unsolicited mass mailings. If there is one good thing this crisis has brought upon us, it is the possible end of junk mail.

This latest twist of events confirms the way I handle mail. Actually, I haven't opened unexpected or unsolicited mail for a long time. If anyone has anything to say to me, he can send me an e-mail. There may be viruses going around in e-mails too, but at least these are not the biological kind. At worst, I'll have to reformat my hard disk or get a new one.

Those who send me mail at the PhilStar office are wasting their time. I drop by at most, twice a year – to attend the anniversary party and the Christmas party. For the rest of the year, my computer is my link to my editor.

Sometimes I get complaints for being such a snob, failing to attend dinners, cocktails and other social functions for which the invitation was sent to the office. In reality, I never got them. Or I would get them after the event. If you really want me to attend, drop me a line via e-mail. Any PR person worth his or her retainer should know better than to send me an invitation or a press release at the office instead of by e-mail.

Consigning my traditional mail to the recycle bin is the safest, most healthful way of dealing with them. I get a lot of junk mail on my e-mail too but at least, I can delete them with just a keystroke. And if you manage to get my fax number, don't try sending me a junk fax because nothing irritates me more than a junk fax message. It wastes my precious fax paper as well as my time. To retaliate, I normally fax back the junk fax.

The best is to use e-mail. Communicating via e-mail will also help cut down the volume of paper we consume, saving the earth's forest resources. Soon enough, the only paper we would gladly handle is the note issued by the Bangko Sentral. But only if the plastic variety isn't acceptable.

Hysteria

I am worried that Bin Laden's terrorist organization may be scoring even without firing a single shot. They seem to be expertly handling the battle for the minds of people. This propaganda war seems to have made paranoid hypochondriacs out of people in America and even here. This is an effective way of sapping the will of a people in the midst of adverse conditions.

Take this panic buying of the antibiotic Cipro, the drug of choice to fight anthrax infection. From a macro perspective, that seems totally irrational and may even be a danger to health in itself. People might self medicate and take the antibiotic unnecessarily and thereby make the antibiotic useless when it is needed. Also those who actually need Cipro now may find it difficult to find supplies.

The same hysteria – fear of flying – may cause the airline industry to go belly up. Because of the events of Sept. 11, people are altering travel plans to exclude flying. If this goes on, this efficient and cost effective way of travel may lose its economic reason for being. While this seems a long way off, it is conceded that a number of smaller airlines may not survive the year-end.

I was asked why it seems that the Americans seem more susceptible to this mass hysteria compared to us in the Third World. I guess it is because we are more used to living with adversity where nothing surprises us anymore. But even then, the more affluent among us are as susceptible to rumors and hysteria. In real life, there is a very fine line separating reasonable caution and irrational fear.

The influenza scare created by some overexcited radio news reporters a few weeks ago showed that some of us could be as crazy as the Yanks. In the past, panic buying would ensue at the slightest hint of trouble. Not anymore. Perhaps we know better. Perhaps we just quietly panic because we don't have the resources to buy.

I believe that because we should know better, media practitioners should take care that we do not subject our audience to the dangers of mass hysteria. I think we should report what the terrorist organizations say because that is news and people have the right to know. But we should caution our audience about such things as propaganda and the dangers of taking everything hook, line and sinker.

Breaking point

Here's something Dr. Ernie E. e-mailed from Texas. A monastery in Europe was situated on a high cliff and the only way to get there was through a suspended basket pulled to the top by several monks. The ride up the steep cliff in that basket was terrifying.

One tourist got exceedingly nervous about halfway up as he noticed that the rope by which he was suspended was old, frayed and had developed tear ends. With a trembling voice, he asked the monk riding up with him, "How often do they change the rope?"

The monk thought for a moment and answered brusquely, "Whenever it breaks, my son."

(Boo Chanco's e-mail address is [email protected])