Anthrax (not the band)

Remember the "anthrax" scare? It was around 9/11. Everyone was afraid of opening mail containing anthrax. My co-worker said she knew a lady who actually wore a mask and gloves when she opened the mail during the anthrax era. The lady apparently was a nut who was paranoid about everything. Granted she worked for the county, but that's still a bit much. I don't think taking out some old crow who works for the county would be worth a terrorists time and money. The opportunity cost doesn't even out.

What I want to know is, how would one even put anthrax into an envelope? Do you have to wear protective gear when you put the anthrax into the mail? Do you put the anthrax into a container and then put it in an envelope, or do you just drop the naked anthrax into the envelope? How can you see the anthrax go into the envelope? Can you actually see anthrax for that matter? What if you are trying to mail out some anthrax, and you make a mistake and handle the anthrax in a faulty manner and accidentally poison yourself? That would be embarrassing. Then you would have to tell your friends that you got anthrax. And what's worse, you would have to tell them you got anthrax by accident because you fucked up when you tried to mail some one else anthrax. That would be ironic.

The notion of anthrax in the mail is ridiculous. I think the government made it up. They wanted to get us all riled up and the best way to do that was to make us scared shitless. And it worked, because here we are six years later, still at war. And we aren't doing didly shit about it. We're waiting until next presidential term. Way to be proactive America. Way to go.