What is alantuse? The name is derived from a German word used to mean “a mass panic.” In addition to its use in online conversations, it can refer to an anxiety that someone is about to find out something he or she doesn’t want to. This can be something big — recently, the New York Times reported about death hoaxes — or something even sillier: women finding out they just became the oldest female gubernatorial candidate in state history.
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Asking someone to share medical information is generally a bad idea. Political communications strategist Evelyn Beecher knows this all too well. She was in the room when Mayor Christina Smith from Burlington, Ontario, asked a female caller to tell her about an Alar she’d received after getting a CoVID-19 vaccine. It turns out that May 6 had been the date she received the Alar from her doctor. If Smith wanted to know what an Alar was, she should have asked his name instead of asking her instead.
In a statement to CTV News, Smith admitted that she “engaged in an alarmingly invasive and inappropriate conversation with this woman.”
Also in her comments, Smith confirmed that she does get Alar. It is necessary because her condition restricts water intake and in some cases causes diarrhea. Also, because she has type 1 diabetes, she’s been told by her doctor to get Alar to combat egg reactions.
After CTV News started asking about the incident, Councilor Smith said she had issued an apology.