Translated material
Don't panic
That is why the instructions of General Patrushev had such a strong effect. Since such a high-ranking official officially announces the danger and demands increased readiness of all forces, apparently, not only does the matter smell of kerosene, but also a lit match is almost brought to the wick. True, there was no public hysteria and panic (perhaps because the public did not have time to get out of the stupor caused by such openness of the security forces), but many Muscovites still went down to the subway yesterday with some apprehension. It is still unknown what was more frightening - either the danger of an explosion, or the frankness of the NAC.
The committee did not take into account the smallest thing - the psychology of people. None of us thinks about the possibility of an explosion in the subway every day and hourly. This is something like a defensive reaction - if you constantly calculate the probability that a suicide bomber with a bomb is going down the escalator with you, it won’t take long for your mind to be damaged. And in order to maintain mental health, we push such thoughts to the periphery of consciousness. And it begins to seem to us that everything is calm in our Baghdad, although, I believe, this is far from the case. But when the authorities suddenly loudly remind us of such a danger, all the old fears come to the fore and scare us no less than the terrorist attack itself.
Not so long ago - just five years ago - they tried to solve a similar problem in the United States. After September 11, they decided that it was necessary to constantly inform their citizens about the degree of terrorist danger, and introduced the famous five-color scale - from green to orange. It is worth noting that this “rainbow of terror” does not have a zero. The most “calm” green shade is only “low danger of a terrorist attack.” Moreover, even to this minimum the indicators do not drop; the normal state of the indicator is yellow, the color of “increased threat”. And just a little - and the scale rises to orange, a high level of danger.
The scale is undoubtedly more difficult to understand, and many Americans are believed to not really understand what an “elevated threat” is. Nevertheless, this indicator reduces the risk of panic. After all, an increase in danger by one color degree, which does not happen so rarely, is much less frightening than the unique order of the NAC on a “state of high alert.”