farmdoc's blog post number 548

Have you noticed? When you unknowingly touch a hot thing, your hand jerks away from it – instantaneously, and before you realise what’s happened. This is called a reflex response. It’s mediated in the spinal cord. That is, your brain’s not involved – because involving it’d take extra time. It’s like when the doctor taps your kneecap tendon with a plessor (pictured) and your foot jerks. Ten days ago, someone put a smoke bomb on the doorstep of Gunns Limited Chairman, John Gay. And graffitied his fence. Three days later, ex Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon wrote this op-ed piece in the Examiner, blaming anti pulp mill protesters for the ‘disgraceful vandalism’. The same day, the police announced the vandalism was a drunken prank unrelated to the mill protest. Two days ago, a suicide bomber in Iran killed 42 people – including five senior Revolutionary Guard Corps officers. It occurred in a region long plagued by Sunni insurgents who’ve previously targeted Iranian soldiers and Revolutionary Guards. The same day, and self evidently before the attack was investigated, the Iranian state media, the Iranian military, and Iranian President Ahmadinejad all blamed ‘terrorists backed by the Great Satan America and its ally Britain’. The US and Britain have condemned the attack and denied any involvement. The moral in both cases, and beyond? When responses are fast, until proven otherwise consider them reflexes – which go through no-one’s brain.