Mark Thorson wrote:
> SD wrote:
>> Normally I don't even bother with Mr Mass Hysteria's postings.
>
> The people who always say DON'T PANIC would have a whole lot
> more credibility if every once in a while when justified
> by reliable information, expert opinion, and/or conservative
> speculation they said PANIC.

Take this approach, Mark: You're in a crowded movie theater, and things
are going along just dandy until you think you smell smoke. Where
there's smoke there's fire, right? Maybe. How soon should you yell "FIRE!"?

Okay, so you look around for smoke and don't see any, and you give it
another think. Maybe you ask some of the folks in the seats around you
if they smell something. The majority of them tell you to shaddap and
watch the movie, a couple say they don't smell anything, and a couple
more agree with you but attribute it to the smoker you all are sitting
near. Of course there will be those who didn't smell anything until you
mentioned it to them... Yell "FIRE" now?

Okay. Okay. So now you're convinced you just saw a wisp of smoke. You
tell some of the people sitting near you that you saw it. Of course, you
only really tell the people who sorta maybe smelled smoke, and before
you know it you all saw it. No one else is concerned, but you saw it.
And the fire itself. You saw a hint of flame, didn't you. Didn't you? Ah
ha! There's someone else who saw it! Yell "FIRE" now?

*Saw* it? Hell! We SEE it! There it is! Somebody sees it over there!

Where?

There!!

Did you actually see it? No, not really. But someone said they see it,
or that someone else sees it, so we all see it! That's where they said
it is, over there! Yell "FIRE" now?

You know where this is going