RE: weapons of mass panic

From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Wed Feb 26 2003 - 17:56:48 MST

  • Next message: Jonathan Standley: "Re: weapons of mass panic"

    R. Coyote suggests

    > Ascertain and apply whatever degree of preparedness you can practically
    > achieve without disruption of your life, and then get over it.

    Okay, so I did hear one talk show host that I respect say in a
    response to a listener that one ought to have an emergency
    cache of supplies, like drinking water and a little food. But
    he quite sensibly pointed out that (as we live in California)
    you want to do that out of ordinary prudence anyway (earthquakes).

    Now I was only thirteen or so at the time of the Cuban Missile
    crisis, and we routinely thought that there very likely would
    be atomic war. Wars had taken place every twenty years or so,
    and it just seemed due. So of course all the kids knew how to
    take quick shelter if a bright light suddenly appeared in the
    sky somewhere, and then, if you got quickly inside your house,
    open all the doors to minimize the effects of the shock wave.
    If you and your house survived this, then go close all the
    windows to block the radiation.

    We lived 12 miles away from a very large Air Force base, and
    knew that in case of war we'd either be instantly dead, or
    have a rather small chance of living. Twelve miles away from
    a megatonnage weapon was pretty iffy. And then, what if the
    Russians missed, and it came closer :-(

    But none of the kids seemed very perturbed or badly affected,
    and I don't recall that there was a lot of anxiety about it.
    Some people built bomb shelters, but I didn't know any.

    So I guess that I have to agree with R. Coyote's advice:

    > Ascertain and apply whatever degree of preparedness you can practically
    > achieve without disruption of your life, and then get over it.

    and with Amara and Steve: if you are noticing signs of anxiousness
    or find yourself dwelling at length unpleasantly about disasters,
    then, yes, get over it.

    But let me know first. As I say, I'm just not in the loop about all
    this, evidently.

    Thanks,
    Lee

    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Feb 26 2003 - 17:52:47 MST