We're Worrying About the Wrong Disease  A deadly disease has
infected the direct mail industry. It isn't anthrax. Or
smallpox. Yet, if we give in to it, this disease can be as fatal
to our industry as any biological or chemical threat cooked up
by some terrorist maniac.  The disease, of course, is fear.
When Franklin Roosevelt told the country, "the only thing we
have to fear is fear itself," he was speaking to the Depression-
riddled America of 1933. But his words ring just as true in the
skittish atmosphere pervading today's direct marketing industry.
The purpose of terrorism is to keep us on edge, to make us feel
vulnerable in many areas of our life. But if there is any aspect
of terrorism that has remained consistent throughout human
history, it is its 100 percent failure rate. That's right. To
date, there has been no instance of an act of terrorism toppling
a government or forcing a single policy change to meet terrorist
demands.  Even in countries like Ireland and Israel, where the
threat of terrorist