Summary

by David Ignatius, Daily Star, Lebanon

You could feel a shiver of panic coursing through the American body politic this week as the country struggled with a metastatic set of crises: the spread of the Ebola virus, the surge of ISIS terrorists, and the buckling global economy.

President Barack Obama tried to speak calmly to a rattled nation Wednesday, describing how he had kissed and embraced nurses at Emory University Hospital who had treated Ebola patients safely.

Panic is a natural human response to danger, but it’s one that severely compounds the risk.

It showed the human spirit in its most selfless form.

Fair question, but criticism soon escalated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, probably the world’s best resource in combating infectious disease and one of the first responders to the Ebola epidemic.

On Wednesday afternoon, Smith admonished viewers not to panic about Ebola.

The best advice for now is what Smith offered viewers: Don’t panic.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2014/Oct-20/274504-ebola-theres-nothing-to-fear-but-panic-itself.ashx#ixzz3GknjlZDe
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