War of the Worlds Free at Your Local Grocery Store

Once upon a time, there was a legendary director/actor named Orson Welles. He went on to produce spectacular films like Citizen Kane, but on October 30, 1938, his career was in its early stages and he hosted a radio show called the Mercury Theatre on the Air. The company adpated and performed the H. G. Wells novel War of the Worlds about Martian invaders, and supposedly there was a huge panic.

Even though the broadcast was interrupted at least four times to let people know it was fiction, there was supposedly a nationwide panic. People locked up their houses and ran, made a run on stores to buy necessities and some apparently committed suicide. Though the legend has been debunked, it remains an iconic story in our country -- and probably always will.

I couldn't help but think of that story yesterday when I was at the grocery store. There were bottles of disinfectants by the plums (what happens to those plums when they get sprayed with disinfectant)? There were paper towels so you could spray and wipe down your cart, and people wearing plastic gloves. Most alarmingly, there were long rows of empty shelves where the toilet paper should be.

I have never seen that. Ever. But it brought home to me the level of panic going on about the Coronavirus. And that panic is almost scarier than anything else.

I'm not saying we shouldn't take the virus seriously or we shouldn't take precautions. But WHY are people hoarding toilet paper? It screams out "End times!" and makes me think of people yelling about the apocalypse on street corners in horror movies, or the mass panics shown in early episodes of The Walking Dead.

Maybe we need to limit the number of toilet paper rolls people can buy. Maybe we need some media stories that explain this is not the end of the world and no one is going to turn into a zombie. Maybe we need to turn off the radio and TV and stop reading Apple News on our phones. I don't know, but I DO think we need to do something differently.

Since 9/11, and probably way before, I feel like the media has a field day with tragedies and ramps itself (and us) up into a frenzy. At least Orson Welles was trying to entertain people, and it was never his intention to make messes of his listeners' lives.

None of this means I hate the media or anything close. I KNOW there are numerous reporters out there doing stellar work at uncovering stories we would never hear otherwise. But I can't help but think an incessant, steady, unrelenting drum beat is robbing us all of toilet paper. And that just seems, well. Like a real War of the Worlds.