Our daily dose of fear

In my area of the city there is one big supermarket. I go there every Thursday morning, for the weekly shopping. And sometimes, one more time, for some item that might be needed and was left out of the weekly list. During the last two or three weeks, I noticed that the number of people inside the supermarket is much smaller. Not because of any entry control, let me add. It all starts at the underground parking. Nowadays, it’s much easier to find a good spot for the car. I should add that most of those shopping on Thursday in morning are older customers, retired people. I am told they are afraid of spending time in the big shop. And today, as I was chatting over the phone with a friend, I got the confirmation that there are many people – and more so now, as the bad figures keep increasing – who are simply afraid of any contact, even a distant one, with other shopping fellows. And I said to myself that we are living in very strange times, when the simple act of moving along the wide aisles of a supermarket is seen as a dangerous exercise.  

Mad people

Yesterday I wrote about social research linked to ethnicity in a city like Brussels. Today I should add a suggestion to be considered by those who look at psychological issues. I think it is also time to do some very serious research about the reasons, the psychological disturbances that lead a fellow to self-destruction and mass killings. It is important to understand that kind of deep mental disorder and maybe look at ways of preventing it of getting to the extreme. It will be another way of combatting terror.