What are People Thinking?

From Male Hysteria  by W. H. R. Rivers he states that "[s]hell shock was so obviously a retreat from the war that the British military initially tried to keep it from the public;" 

Then after a few lines down he continues with "when they realized that shell shock did not have an organic cause, many military authorities refused to treat victims as disabled and maintained that they should not be given pensions or honorable discharges." 

Fear controls people more then they would like others to believe, so when something unknown and potentially unstable arises, people let the fear control them. 

Why does the public matter so much when the people that are hurting the most are trampled under foot?