Terrifying ourselves to death
Found this in my local paper this morning. Alan Able is a dual US/Canadian citizen and well known journalist in this country who writes a weekly column on the view from Washington D.C.
Most disconcerting to read over the scrambled eggs and sausage. Between the recent rise in Islamophobia and this, what is going on down there?
worriedly,
ronnie
Labels: politics
posted by ronnie at
10:06 p.m.
9 Comments:
Well, we are kind of tossing and turning in our sleep, aren't we? What's it like up there, sleeping with the elephant?
It's happened before.....the survivalist thing...not the need for it....and it'll happen again.
Although I'm not sure what "Islamophobia" has to do with it.
Regards,
Dann
Mike: We're really wishing we'd invested in the Simmons mattress that passed the bowling ball test.
Dann: I know it's happened before. It's the happening of it in tandem with the rise of a new wave of public discrimination against a specific group - unprecedented, I think, since the early 20th century - that's so disconcerting.
It feels like you're not preparing for survival. It feels like you're preparing for war.
ronnie, the other half of that coin is that war was declared upon us. Winning that war and survival are related.
Lemme suggest you're connecting dots that don't necessarily lead along the path you're inclined to follow. In the context of Mormonism (which is Beck's religion), as the article says, this Costco survival pack is business as usual. I once lived in a home built by Mormons in the fifties that had enough pantry space to store two years' worth of food; it's been the church's teaching for decades. The pack also sounds a lot like the supplies we folks in earthquake country are advised to keep in a plastic bin out back for when our homes are destroyed. Just as a general principle, there's nothing wrong with planning to be entirely self-sufficient for a couple of weeks. That's American. Shit happens.
The article's apocalyptic survivalist tone seems to come from one seed company with economic incentive to sell seeds and one nut-ball blogger. Paranoia goes both ways: I had a conversation with my dad last night (the New Age commune owner in the New Mexico mountains) who told me how he and his neighbors get together once a month to talk about sharing their vegetables, managing their common water supply, living without electricity and any outside infrastructure. It sounds flower-power terrific, but it comes from the same place: you can't trust The Man (in Dad's case, it's the military-industrial cabal that actually runs the country and deliberately drove his retirement investments into the ground) so you'd better be able to stand on your own. It just sounds nicer when hippies say it.
So I'm kind of with Dann--not sure what Islamophobia has to do with anything, except that terrorism is one of the hundred reasons (climate change, chemical overexposure, government overreach, economic collapse, wireless Internet) people think everything's going to hell. Although I tend to be more even-keeled and optimistic than those folks, I do have a disaster survival plan and don't think it's irrational to keep a sleeping bag and a bag of beans in the garage just in case, for whatever reason.
Worst case, Costco makes a few bucks and the survivalists end up looking as stupid as the fallout shelter kooks in the fifties. Best case, they'll be willing to share when we come knocking on their doors.
Ummmm....Brian, you may want to think your agreement with me. [grin]
I had a different point in mind.
Regards,
Dann
Nah, I got your point.
looking as stupid as the fallout shelter kooks in the fifties
Hey.
Only in hindsight, Sherwood. Only in hindsight.
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