Storm preparation: I don't get it.

[sixdogs]

I used to live where big snows and ice storms were common event and really no big deal. Then the press started to hype things and it got crazy with people that know better.

A friend of mine is an accountant at a supermarket and his office upstairs overlooks the sales isles. He called during one such media induced panic to say there was a fist fight over the remaining bread in one isle while in the next isle they were re-stocking the shelves with more bread and there was plenty to go around.

What would some people do if there ever was a real panic?

 

[wedge40]

I also never understand people running out to by food and gas when a storm is predicted. I'm single and live out in the boonies, so I usually have enough food to last a couple weeks on hand, milk might run out in a few days but as long as the water doesn't freeze I have something to drink. I wonder if people have to buy food cause for the most part they eat out every day? Hence the cupboards are usually bare.

I dont keep the vehicles full of gas, but when I get gas I fill it up. I have that luxury. I really think younger folks are just programed to put $5.00 at time in and stop every day to get gas. The shovel thing also eludes me. Is there some black hole where all these shovels end up, like socks? I've got about 5 shovels right now, each one different and all are about 20 years old.

Wedge

 

[kidr]

I buy mostly extra toilet paper. After the media scares the sheet out of me, I seem to to do more pooping during a storm. Don't have those old Sears catalogs around anymore.

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

I buy mostly extra toilet paper. After the media scares the sheet out of me, I seem to to do more pooping during a storm. Don't have those old Sears catalogs around anymore.

Way too much information !

 

[Tig]

In the 70s we got hit with a double wallop storm that caught my parents out and my brother an I in. They had gone to work in the lull after two days and gave us the option to skip school. The lull only lasted till noon and my brother and I spent 5 days home alone. We had a great time, got all our old toys out of the attic. Set up the slot cars right in the living room. Bleaching tires ala NHRA, right on the carpet The only thing I remember running out of was eggs for baking cakes.

 

[jymbee]

What would some people do if there ever was a real panic?

Good question. There will always be the hair-trigger types out there but in "real" emergencies, people have a way of coming together. A number of towns around here were devasted by hurricaine Irene. It was heart warming to see how many people pitched in to help those most seriously affected. No one asked what political party they belonged to, what religion, or anything like that. They just rolled up their sleeves and pitched in to help.

Maybe that's the difference between the media driven emergencies, and real emergencies which often bring out the best in people?

 

[3930dave]

I used to live where big snows and ice storms were common event and really no big deal. Then the press started to hype things and it got crazy with people that know better.

A friend of mine is an accountant at a supermarket and his office upstairs overlooks the sales isles. He called during one such media induced panic to say there was a fist fight over the remaining bread in one isle while in the next isle they were re-stocking the shelves with more bread and there was plenty to go around.

What would some people do if there ever was a real panic?

As Homer Simpson would say "I was jus' doin' what the TV told me to".

The Romans had the Coliseum, today we have TV to entertain and distract the masses. The programming is good (I'm talking about social programming, not TV content of course).

So..... when the talking head in the little box tells people to panic..... they are just responding to long embedded social programming.

As much as I consider most TV programming to be just a waste of electricity, I gotta admit, the (social) programming works pretty well on a significant portion of the population.

Rgds, D.

 

[teejk]

Maybe that's the difference between the media driven emergencies, and real emergencies which often bring out the best in people?

There was one of those a few years in NJ. Local reporter reporting from a canoe on some street. A few firemen entered the scene behind her wearing boots...the water was less than ankle deep. I howled with laughter. But somebody once said that "dog bites man" is not news.

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

I used to live where big snows and ice storms were common event and really no big deal. Then the press started to hype things and it got crazy with people that know better.

A friend of mine is an accountant at a supermarket and his office upstairs overlooks the sales isles. He called during one such media induced panic to say there was a fist fight over the remaining bread in one isle while in the next isle they were re-stocking the shelves with more bread and there was plenty to go around.

What would some people do if there ever was a real panic?

They would wait for the FEMA gods to come and save them ! it's the "mall mentality " nobody takes care or responsibility for themselves anymore . If something goes wrong they "Call the guy "

 

[3930dave]

I lived there (CT and NY). It's not necessarily gov't reliance. Many times it's just they make a lot of money and can't be bothered ("call the guy"). We always got funny looks from the neighbors when we mowed our own yard or shoveled our own driveway or did painting/repairs on our own house. Different cultures I guess. They were probably just as happy to see us leave as we were to get out of there.

A lot of people don't react well, when confronted with someone holding a different world view.

By doing your own manual labour, you were clearly an alien life form, and to be regarded as having a questionable mental state.

True emergencies expose the weakness of the Rich Guy thinking..... in a Sandy event, the peasants that the Rich Guy usually calls are 100 miles away, secure in their well maintained shacks. Rich Guy is then stuck, trying to figure out which end of the screwdriver to use.

There's the old saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Some people test that axiom with their ignorance during an emergency - many people are killed in a cold weather event because they don't understand CO exposure.

CO don't care what your trust fund, bank balance, or stock portfolio is.

Be careful out there.

Rgds, D.