Be Scared

Be very scared, argues Robin Cook, in this essay in the Nov/Dec issue of Foreign policy. Somebody, he says, needs to write a gripping, mega-selling novel to

shake up the complacent public about the high risk of an imminent, serious pandemic. And I don’t mean the much-publicized swine flu. While the world media has obsessed, and rightfully so, about this fast-spreading illness, I’m worried about the next crisis, something much deadlier and much more catastrophic, indeed the kind of crisis most people wrongly believe could not happen in this day and age. If I were the author, this urgently needed novel would have to be called Plague.

As regular readers of this blog know, I’m generally not a fan of scare tactics. But if Cook has his history of the 14th century Black Death correct–and I think he does–then yeah, maybe the right kind of novel or movie might be necessary to jar us out of our complacency. And if not, well, anyone know where Cook’s well-stocked ski cottage is?