The New Orleans termites is a scare put out on the internet that is almost entirely fiction, as discussed by snopes. The idea that we would be clueless as to the possibility of termites being in mulch, and therefore would let them get shipped all over the country and sold in bags to people with great negative consequences, is silly.
Anyway, I'm just poking fun at people who panic over specific but unrealised threats, when there are so many real threats around which aren't sexy enough to get noticed.
I always joke that one day we will spend trillions of dollars, and drive all civilization back to the stone age, because of the then-certain threat of global warming. Our efforts will be successful. At the cost of living like those in the 17th century, we will have cleaned up all our pollution, warming will stop, and all will be right with the world.
And then we will get hit by an asteroid and be wiped off the face of the universe.
It goes back to that fitness guru who spent years telling us we have to stop having fun and instead work at keeping ourselves healthy -- and then he had a heart attack at I think ag 50 while exercising.
I agree with you people shouldn't panic. But taking prudent individual precautions does not seem to fall into the classification of "panic".
Of course we'll all die someday, some horribly, some peacefully in our beds. We all wish for the latter but shouldn't delude ourselves the former is a distinct option and sometimes we can avoid it. So, why tempt the latter outcome if we have a choice?
Speaking of New Orleans, it seems some of the locals failed to recently prepare for a possible crisis. No doubt they felt it couldn't happen to them. Instead, they either partyed on or figured the government would take care of them. Now the rest of us are paying their bills for their sloth and shortsightedness. To that attitude I would say - and will say (if it comes to that) - "Your failure to prepare for an emergency does not constitute an emergency on my part!".