From Flu Wiki 2

Forum: The Psychology of No Preparation

21 March 2006

NW – at 19:35

I have been intrigued with the question as to why so few pwople are taking the threat of a pandemic seriouslly enough to make basic preparations since I became aware of the issue - about 6 months now. To me it was a simple and obvious choice to prepare. But I’ve tried to figure out why other folks have a problem with it and have come up with the following list:

I’ve see a number of these positions taken by visitors to this forum and some regular posters (you skeptics know who you are:) . Have also encountered some on a personal basis with friend and co-oworkers. I can pretty much think of pro-prepping counter arguments to all of these. Anyone come up with any more reasons people use for not prepping? This excercise might be useful in future discussions with people to encorage preparedness as you can logically anticipate and counter their position.

Melanie – at 19:39

NW,

Y2K wasn’t a disaster because a lot of prep was thrown at it. I know the developers who put in thousands of hours of programming time to make sure that everything worked on January 1, 2000. It cost billions of dollars and it worked.

kmc – at 19:40

NS: thanks for putting this in such a coherent form. I’m giving a talk at my church in a few weeks on prepping and would like to use this as part of my “opening number”… Is that okay with you?

Grace RN – at 19:41

WE LIVE IN A FAIRLY ISOLATED AREA; IT WON’T COME HERE. Didn’t work for the Eskimos in 1918, and I doubt anyone these days in America lives in such isolation.

THE GOVERNMENT WILL: have a cure/have a vaccine/provide us with Tamiflu/make sure it doesn’t happen. Magical thinking to the tune of psychosis.

My absolute least favorite excuse of all time, ever: It’s not my responsibility to prepare, with the taxes I pay, I’m ENTITLED to have someone take care of it for me.

If I hear the word entitled again, I will scream…………

Melanie – at 19:42

One of the possible outcomes of “adjustment reactions” is denial. We’re seeing a lot of that.

NW – at 19:46

kmc – at 19:40 NS: thanks for putting this in such a coherent form. I’m giving a talk at my church in a few weeks on prepping and would like to use this as part of my “opening number”… Is that okay with you?

More than ok by me :) Hopefully some other folks will add to the list.

STH – at 19:50

I’ve been thinking about this issue as well. It’s not really clear in my head yet, but it seems to me that people are so surrounded by real or supposed threats—mad cow disease, terrorism, AIDS, flesh-eating bacteria, etc.--that one more doesn’t make much of an impression. I worked for a beef processor when the first dairy cow with mad cow disease was found in the U.S. Many in the industry predicted that sales would plummet, but it didn’t happen. I think people in the U.S. have become accustomed to a higher level of perceived threat than previously; it takes a BIG event to get their attention. You could call it “threat overload.” Or maybe it’s just a variety of fatalistic thinking, since the average person can’t really change the probability of many of these threats: “With all the bad stuff going on out there, if one threat doesn’t get you, another one will!” And, of course, many of the medical threats we were warned about never became a big problem here.

BroncoBillat 19:54

Another comment from the X-Genners: “I’ve never been sick a day in my life. I work out and lift weights and eat healthy. I won’t catch any flu bug.”

Grace RN – at 19:59

BB-good one; that’s my 29 year old son’s thinking..(sigh)…

NW – at 20:14

Just though of another one I’ve seen in the forum here:

IF IT WERE GOING TO GO H2H IT WOULD HAVE DONE SO BY NOW -

The argument has no merit because no one knows how long it takes a pandemic to brew. It is like saying we didn’t have an earthquake today so we won’t have one tomorrow.

anonymous – at 20:22

And how many people living in earthquake country don’t even prep for earthquakes? If i stopped 10 people on the street tomorrow and asked if they knew how to turn of their gas, and how to decide whether or not they needed to turn off their gas, I’d be thrilled if I could get 1 person who had thought it out in advance.

Thordawggy – at 20:53

I am prepped for whatever happens. Melanie was right about Y2K. I worked for a software company and, believe me, it was a long year or so to save our butts fixing that stuff. We made it through except for some individual software. Heck, my little fax software which was just in my PC didn’t work on Jan 2nd. It locked up and indicated that it was 1899 for some reason. I got a fun snort out of that on Jan 2, 2000. I like prepping. It makes me feel secure. It has also been our savior when my husband got laid off a couple of times.

Fla_Medic – at 21:04

Interesting, I wonder how many of us here were part of the Y2K repair effort. LOL, yes it’s true. My post paramedic career was as a computer programmer. I started work on Y2K remediation in late 1997.

Worked on hundreds of thousands of lines of DBASE code over a 2 1/2 year period. I still dream in spaghetti listings.

Melanie has it right. We busted our rumps, and we dodged a bullet. Our reward: laughter and scorn.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Rod, Australia – at 21:22

If everybody prepares and withdraws into self imposed quarantine, there will be no society to return to after 3 months. Every concerned person should put their energies into flu transmission prevention and control. Deaths can thereby be limited and everyone will be doing their part rather than hoping to rebuild when they maybe emerge from quarantine hoping that others kept things going. I work in the electricity generation sector and am positive if our workforce doesn’t show up there will be chaos.

NW – at 21:28

Fla_Medic – at 21:04 Interesting, I wonder how many of us here were part of the Y2K repair effort. LOL, yes it’s true. My post paramedic career was as a computer programmer. I started work on Y2K remediation in late 1997.

COBOL here. Worked at a manufacturing firm. Come Jan 2 we had a few minor glitches but very few. It seems weird to me that companies took that seriously but so far are pretty much ignoring this threat. Guess that one was easy in comparison when you consider the scenarios that may confront us. Better to ignore it so it will go away.

Craig – at 21:31

Another reaction to add to the list: “Ah shucks, I get the flu every now and then and have always gotten over it, so what’s the big deal?”

Craig – at 21:39

NW and Fla_Medic: Another advantage that Y2K had in getting corporate attention was that it was pretty easy to show them that their software used 2 digit year fields and point to the calendar showing that “00″ was coming in a few years. That is an easy problem to visualize and there was a known problem occurrance date. Neither of these are as easy with bird flu.

p.s. Yup, another Y2Ker, but in a more minor remediation role.

STH – at 21:48

Craig, I think you’re right—the word “flu” doesn’t have much power to scare people! I couldn’t believe it when I first read about the 1918 epidemic and the high death toll. Who ever heard of dying of the flu?!? What helped to make it real for me were the pictures in National Geographic of flu victims in the hospital—respirators and tubes and god-knows-what with a little person almost lost in the middle of it.

ricewiki – at 21:59

NW,

Thanks — you really hit the nail on the head! Well stated.

mnmary – at 22:05

I first came here looking for info for a daughter ( she lives in Germany)..And ,no, I haven’t started to stockpile..We usually have 3 wks to a mth supplies on hand..( we get a lot of company)..We have a wind/solar power….Our own water supply & a composting toilet.Many people around here live like us..So I am waiting until the status hits 4..And I think there are others like me..Maybe we are foolish but there you go..And, no, we didn’t worry about Y2K..(Though we did make some money off of it to be honest..We install wind & solar)anyway, my 2 cents in defense of the rest of us non-preppers..

KyJackat 22:13

STH – at 19:50 yes, we’ve become desensitized to the news. My brothers initial reply when asked about th bf was something like” I’ don’t worry about all that stuff you hear on the news. If you did it would drive you crazy.” He is my brother so I’ll prep for him.

Okieman – at 22:20

I think the biggest excuse is: our medical technology in 2006 is so much better than 1918. I do not think most people realise that our medical knowledge is not up to snuff on this one.

Another one is simply human nature: they do not want to think about it because it scares them. Not thinking about something does not make it go away.

Melanie – at 22:20

KyJack,

I’m also prepping for my neighbors. My brothers have gotten a clue and they are going to be okay, but the rest of my little town is going to be a disaster.

Janet – at 22:25

I think Oprah expressed it very well. People aren’t reacting because it is mixed up with too much other news and becomes just “noise”. It is reported at the same level of Brad Pitt’s relationship with Angelina! We can go from sports, to weather, throw in a little bird flu, bash the President, show some bombings in Iraq, a little more sports, some Hollywood entertainment, back to weather! It is all just buzzing in our ears.

I think if they start to throw in some “breaking news” alerts, it would get alot of attention. But this won’t happen until the bird flu hits the U.S. I think it will then get our attention. Until such time, it registers on the same level of the latest Hollywood break-up.

moeb – at 22:28

goes where the people are..

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/cgi/NGoto/134718352?-13907

a small Y2K connection

Lollipop – at 22:28

I think for me it is combination of belief that I will know and have time to prep and a lack of belief that essential services will breakdown that quickly. I think they might breakdown, but it will take a few weeks. I expect to be ahead of the prepping rush.

I also do not think it will hit before my spouse’s thesis is due and our life is on hold until that happens.

Melanie – at 22:29

Okie,

It’s also a lot of work, and that’s easy to put off. Many people file their taxes near midnight on April 15, after all.

N.Idaho – at 22:38

I am in the semiconductor industry. We worked around the clock upgrading equipment for Y2K. I was a mess.

As far as preparness goes, after being in the militry and traveling the world. I always have back up supplies for any situation I can think of. For me reality was in my face, I know what is like to have no food, water or services. You can not know for sure that the government will be there. There has been earthquakes, huricanes, massive snow storms, terrorism and war. That is just the last 10 years. So for those who are not prepared beware, something will always happen somewhere. Better to have a backup plan.

Concerned Dad – at 22:41

I’ve been lurking here for a while. I haven’t prepped yet but every day that goes by, I wonder if I’m playing russian roulette. My problem is that when Sept. 11th happened, I got wrapped up in coverage…I couldn’t read enough information about it…trying to figure out the end game in terms of where it was headed. I’m a mathematician by trade, a teacher, and I was searching for a conclusion to the chain of events. I couldn’t come up with a viable conclusion for the situation and became consumed in the search for more information to help me see a solution. Eventually, I came to grips with the fact that there was no solution and amazingly, my outlook improved. Since then, we’ve been inundated with global warming dangers, mad cow and now bird flu. I hate to bring it up with my wife as I’m sure she thinks I’m crazy but we have a 6 year old little girl that is the love of our life and yet I don’t want to be chicken little. I know how I became consumed after 9–11 so I can’t really blame my wife for worrying about me.

It’s just that we’re inundated with so many warnings from the media these days, that it’s hard to tell when you should take them seriously. I’ve once again immersed myself trying to absorb as much information as I can in order to make the right decision. I can’t help wondering though that if this does pan out the way people feel it will, how will we pay the bills? I teach…I can’t work from home. My wife does day care…those kids are always exchanging germs. Can we survive if the world has to go into a 3 month isolation period? Again, I find myself following the chain of events and information trying to follow it to its end game and once again, I find myself unable to follow it out to it’s logical conclusion. The frustration grows in trying to make the best decisions for my family. I do believe this weekend I will start gathering some supplies. I ask those of you though that are immersed in this on a professional level, i.e. scientists, doctors and such…just how serious do you deem the threat? Is this more of “the sky is falling” or is that literally the case this time. Keep feeding me info folks. I can use all the help I can get.

moeb – at 22:54

like you I’ve worked it forwards and backwards.. constantly doing so. One moment I think the event will be here in days, the next I think maybe six months maybe three years.. and once in a while I even think it may never come. I know I have to play the risks… how risky is it not to have extra water around, not to know which stores you have to get to as soon as you know? Still do what you can. As to your future as a teacher.. learn dreamweaver and get yourself a web site. Teaching over the net may well be a very big thing in the near future.

N.Idaho – at 22:57

Concerned Dad.

There was a sientist on fox news not that long ago. He said 50% chance it will happen. I tend to lean around 20 - 30 myself. However when I was in Thailand working last year I saw first hand how it could go very bad. I say just prepare for any emergancy situation. Yes 911 was very confusing, and for me I understand fully what it was about. But most people would have a hard time understanding what was going on. Lets face it people in the USA live a great and sheltered live. Good luck preparing just start adding back up supplies. Knowone will ever fault you for keeping your family safe. That is what Love is all about.

Ok back to the shadows :-)

Lollipop – at 23:06

Concerned Dad – at 22:41

I’m with you. I’ve had a life long interest in following apocolyptic theories and those who believe in them. It’s like a strange hobby. My spouse has always thought it cute that I could list the ways that world could end in great detail. But the idea that I could stumble on something that was an actual threat is strange for both of us (is there a giant white spot forming over Canada wiki? That might be more fun and less scary). He thinks I’ve fallen off the edge, and I’m genuinely uncertain.

I don’t feel qualified to judge whether this is a serious threat or if I’ve just gotten myself worked up over nothing.

Preparing in terms of gathering supplies is clearly the wise decision, but it involves serious sacrifice now. Spouse simply won’t allow that and I’m not sure enough of myself to convince him. Plus, between his thesis and the impending death of my grandfather (thesis should be completed within weeks, grandfather is unlikely to last another week) bird flu preps is way down on the list.

I waiver between terrfied and certain that I’m delutional.

Concerned Dad – at 23:08

moeb, I already run three websites now. As a matter of fact, I wondered if there was any thought to running a php Bulletin board on here. It would load faster and make navigation easier.

N. Idaho, Knowing what it was about and knowing how it will end aren’t quite the same thing. The thing that worries me is I was right about the end game in 9–11, there’s no end in sight. Although if bird flu does go pandemic, that might just do it. Sobering thought.

Lollipop – at 23:10

That’s delusional!

Janet – at 23:16

Concerned Dad,

Taking some precautions and preparations on behalf of yourself and your family is very empowering. It gives you some sense of “control” in this uncontrollable world. When I hear the news about the bird flu and I feel anxious, overwhelmed and confused, looking at or thinking about the preparations I have made or am making gives me a direction. It might sound simplistic but I think others on this site would agree. Control what you can control and give the rest up to a higher power. 9/11 was such a shock to our system….totally unexpected…we just woke up to it one sunny morning (I live in the NYC area so I know how much it affected you). It made us feel powerless. We were a victim of a horrific act of hatred.

The bird flu is a health threat. There are things that you can do about it. Just the way we try to prevent heart disease, or diabetes or cancer. There are steps we can take. No guarantees, but none of us are going to go out without a fight on behalf of those we love.

Felicia – at 23:45

Here’s another one. If it’s my time to go, then so be it.

Concerned Dad, I don’t think you can overanalyze this because we have no idea how severe this will be, how much the economy will break down, etc. etc. Those are the things that you have no control over. So don’t expend your worry on the things you can’t control. If I were you, I would prep appropriately and then if you’re worried about your longer term survivability and your ability to provide food and shelter for your family given that you may not have a job, then your next prep should center around having a nest egg. If you think that it might take you a year to get back on your feet, given that you may not be working for a period of time, then try to figure out how you could survive that period of time with the assets you have. There would probably be a period of tremendous deflation so, for example, you have a lot of equity in a home, you might want to think about a home loan and converting that equity into a liquid asset. Worse case, the value of your home goes way down, you’ve essentially cashed out and you walk away from the house and let the bank have it. You find a little apartment that you can afford with the money you’ve liquidated while you work to rebuild your life. So, flu prep first and liquid assets second. Get your wife on board. You don’t need to carry this worry alone.

22 March 2006

Allquietonthewesternfront – at 00:00

Melanie and Dem, I’ve been thinking a lot tonight about how to prepare the things I’ve learned and putting them in a coherent form and getting another email out to friends and family. I learned when a put one out after first finding this site and putting together info that the email got sent on to lots of people. Anyway, I’ve learned a lot more and need to get it out also. The thought has been running through my head all night that both of you and your cohorts could end up being responsible for saving thousands of lives. Once the infected birds hit here, Flu Wiki is going to explode,IMO. I hope some day, you guys can get some idea of the impact your actions will have had on humanity. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

STH – at 02:01

Concerned Dad, the uncertainty of it is driving all of us bonkers, not just you! If you read the forums on this site, you’ll find that much (maybe most) of the discussion boils down to “tell me what will happen!” Everybody wants to know what will happen and when and how bad it will be so that we know how to prepare. And we speculate and argue and go around and around about it. The bottom line is that nobody knows, but that it’s always a good thing to prepare for natural disasters and other calamities. We each have to make our own decisions about how much time, money, and energy to invest in preparations. Maybe, in addition to all we’re learning about water filtration, propane stoves, and how to prepare rice, there’s a valuable lesson to be learned about how to live with uncertainty instead of pretending we can control everything. That’s one of my goals, anyway.

Dr C – at 05:35

When met with unexpected stressors, most people respond with the defense mechanism that is their usual one. Many of the themes and their variations listed above, can be described as denial, avoidance, suppression, rationalization, projection, resistance, displacement, sublimation and so forth.

Most people seem to be able to hold onto their favorite defense until there is some aspect of a situation that no longer allows them to maintain it, reality often comes crashing through, although some people can hold on to their avoidance to the bitter end. Those, you don’t waste your time on becuase their job is to defeat your efforts at changing them.

Sometimes it’s an authority figure, someone who is respected, sometimes it’s some particular piece of information or an image that will catch them, others it’s the steady drip, drip, drip of reality against the defense that finally breaks through.

Losing yourself in the world of prepping is also a defense, it helps to bind the anxiety caused by the stressor in a helpful way, but like any defense, it can be useful or counterproductive, depending on how it is used.

Defenses are neither good nor bad, they protect us from being overwhelmed, and can either serve us and move use to appropriate action, or paralyze us into inaction, or inappropriate action.

Grace RN – at 06:05

Concerned Dad – at 22:41-I understand your concerns. Think of prepping as “disaster insurance”. We pay alot of money for car, homeowners, life insurance etc, and rarely get any return on our hard-earned money. “Disaster insurance” ie prepping essentials like food, water, medications, utility alternatives etc is a hedge against all types of disasters, not just a pandemic. Even a sudden money shortage-no need to worry about going without food- it’s already been stored!

My husband calls our prepped supplies the “strategic reserves”-and loves not having to face a sudden lack of coffee on a cold Sunday morning!

mnmary – at 22:05 -re: your composting toilet- can you explain how it works and how you set it up? Advantages/drawbacks?

NotParanoidButat 06:31

Rod Australia - you mentioned you were in the utilities area have you been briefed yet, offered vaccines etc what is the level of knowledge circulating about it in your industry I am keen to see how far this Howard govt has gone in preparing!

crfullmoon – at 07:58

mnmary – forget waiting for the WHO alert level to be raised -the one that says “Level 3, Nov.2005″ ? They admitted Jan 2006 that they are no longer raising the alert level; too visible and was making nations squirm rather than help the WHO get data. The WHO will respond to worsening situations without raising the alert level. (They had previously tweaked their definitions for the levels too.) Look in the recent news threads at the size of the clusters, and the fact there’s been limited human-to human at all this year/last year. H5N1 isn’t behaving the way they thought it would, and is now on continents where it can’t even be really monitored.

Concerned Dad, if there is pandemic, your wife’s day care families would need to have their own finances in order and stay quarantined at home with their own kids to prevent contagion. Also, this is way more likely than a terrorist attack on your location; if pandemic occurs at all, it will become a global event in a short time, for perhaps a year duration. (ugh) No help to rely on from outside areas, families and communities supposed to be planning and preparing now how to cope.

Like many other natural disasters, pandemic wouldn’t be something everyone could rush out and prepare against once it starts occurring.

Rod in Australia, the energy sector needs to be getting employees’ families to stock up for months of quarantine, and, making plans how the power plant can keep getting needed deliveries, or stockpile extras now, of anything it gets from elsewhere. Going back and forth from work to home during pandemic may just not work - if people try to keep “business as normal” and a week later, they are down sick, (perhaps even die if the virus is very virulent) what would be the point? Would they be able to communte wearing personal protective equipment? Influenuza is very contagious, and it might not take much to spread it around since people aren’t used to being that careful.

Perhaps having a sort-out now, as to who is in the under-40 or under-30 age group, who has/is pregnant or has children at home, who relies on mass transportation to get to work, what plans do the local authorities have for blocking roads or stopping movement during pandemic, are there any retired workers who could be given a refresher and would like to pitch in during a disaster, have employees been given the pneumonia vaccine and the seasonal flu shot? (less they can get sick from at a bad time) Can the power plant stockpile food and water and other things and have some employees volunteer to stay away from contagion and run the plant in shifts living at the plant? Even if some had to stay quarantined at home for the duration you’d have trained experienced power workers ready to go back to work How tied in is the communication and understanding with other sectors and their planning; police, military, if any vaccine or antivirals are available are you listed as essential? If line repairs have to be done, would workers perhaps need armed security to go with them, if they had to go into areas that were having civil unrest?

I haven’t seen local planning really planning for “worst case”, so of course I am worried that’s what we’ll get, and all the official plans (with in the US imagined a lot of effective vaccines, or “we’re screwed”) will be for naught by the end of the first week there is mass illness in our area…

Too many unprepared people, and the local officials’ brittle smiles as they explain they will wait until a later time, and only tell the public what they need to know when they need to know it, are infuriating, since the public has already had so many mixed messages, and we’ve wasted months we could have been using to educate them so more of them would prepare. Being prepared helps with many different unexpected problems not just pandemic.

Mathematician – at 08:19

Concerned Dad – at 22:41, I think I know how you feel. My solution has been to think first about what prepping I can do that doesn’t involve buying things that will otherwise be wasted, but instead involves having bigger stocks of things we use anyway to rotate. Like Grace RN, we’re enjoying the side effect that we don’t run out of things so much! Then think about what extra things it’s worth buying as “insurance” specifically for a pandemic. I reckon I’ve spent under 100 pounds on things I won’t use anyway, and that seems a reasonable cost for the peace of mind. A serious pandemic - the kind of thing that will close schools and daycare, make isolation sensible, etc. - is probably not really very likely. More likely than your house burning down, I feel, so definitely worth insuring against, but still more likely not to happen than to happen. What’s more or less inevitable at some point is a pandemic like 1957 or 1968 (if I have those years right), not necessarily even based on H5N1, that would be a bit, but not dramatically, worse than a usual flu season. You might like to have a look at the MinimalistPrepIdeas thread, where I asked for things I was missing from my minimalist plans and lots of people had good ideas.

mnmary – at 08:56

crfullmoon …I didn’t know that in regard to the level not being reported ! Thank you for pointing that out~ GraceRN..The composting toilet is from SunMar ( out of canada) we ordered it from a local hardware store ( less than a week delivery time)Fairly easy to set up & maintain.Needs to be kept warm ( can’t be outside) there is no odor..There is a spray that is used to speed up composting.And peat is added to inside.They have a drawer that is emptied ( for us once a mth)They are larger than conventional toilet.. There is a vent pipe and a drainage pipe..but not complicated to set up.. many people use them in cabins..

malachi – at 09:01

Dr c @5:35……Here is an example on how people must hear it from someone they feel is credable…I have been telling my sis to prepare for months and how it was the governments recommendation.She just called me and said did I know the government is now telling people to prep,She heard it last night on David Letterman!!!!I guess I owe some thanks to Dave :)

Nanita. – at 09:34

One word comes to mind…saturated. People are so saturated by so much information…it’s information overload…so they tune out or excuse it away. I remember watching hurricane Katrina on the news when it was in the Gulf coast…it was huge(encompassing at least half of the Gulf of Mexico), it was furiousssss….it was at the door steps of Lousiana…inside of me I was thinking…”surely people have prepared, and surely they are ALL getting out of there”…..yet after it passed we all know it wasn’t true. Of course we hear that many couldn’t get out and that the gov. wasn’t there to get them out…and I think for alot of people that is true…like for example all those nursing home patients…why did’nt the gov. get them out?…there was time. But what about able body people?…all kinds of excuses were told as to why they didn’t leave. So there you have it…with a very reallllllllllll…”in your face” catastrophe, neither government nor individuals prepared.

Anam – at 10:54

in order to make preparations one has to face a “sensible issue” - and this is being mortal. My guess is that prepping has a lot to do with aknowleding this very basic fact. We - or many of us - may be prepping because we are aware of it. Some - or many (?) - won’t prep in order to avoid this whole “issue”. Another reason for not prepping may be a lack of imagination.

lauraB – at 11:54

I can totally understand it. Even though I have been watching news stories about it for ages, I haven’t done anything to prep until recently. The news about it spreading to Africa got me going - the countries are too poor and ill equiped to closely monitor things well and it’s ripe for an explosion to occur. Anyway, part of it was “it won’t happen. it will mutate to just a basic flu, they’ll be able to confine it, modern medicine, etc. All those things go through my mid. Also, fear of feeling like an idiot. I was even going to start a thread on it. What if we are wrong? Will I feel like a fool? I already feel weired prepping and almost “afraid” I’ll be found out and thought to be a bit extreme. I thought those who panicked over Y2K were extreme. But then I figured, I’ll get some extra cash and can live without the atm for a week. This is differnt. People will die. It took awhile to get rid of the inertia but I am glad I finally did. I actually feel less stressed about it knowing I have taken some control over what I can control. The rest is out of my hands.

Oremus – at 13:49

Concerned Dad – at 22:41

Make two lists: Reason to Prep, Reason not to Prep

Mine goes like this:

Reason not to Prep:

Reasons to Prep:

Numbersgal – at 14:07

Nanita - Why didn’t everyone evacuate for hurricane Katrina? We have lived through hurricanes in the past. They are usually over quickly and leave you without power for a few days to one week. Water might have to be boiled for a day or two. This is the norm. Really, it’s no big deal. That’s what the past said; now, we know differently.

This is the mind-set that concerns me most. It’s just the flu. We will probably have to live through it for there to be a change in attitude. 1918 was a long time ago. People forget. Even after recent and repeated abuse from mother nature, some Florida residents were not ready for Wilma.

Asked the dentist last week if he was concerned about bird flu. He replied that they had discussed it in a meeting that morning and was happy to report that he was “blissfully ignornat”. BTW, he is an excellent dentist.

Nearly Ready – at 14:36

Dear Concerned Dad-

I decided to take prepping seriously after a briefing by our County Health Officer on the inevitability of Avian Flu in the U.S., in wild and domestic fowl certainly and possibly in humans. After hurricane Katrina, it was obvious to me that the Gov’t is NOT going to be able to provide for those in need after any major disaster and I thought, “Well, better take the flack from Husband and family and just get on it.”

Raised the issue with my husband as logically as possible and hammered out a deal: 1) I would buy only food items that the family would like to eat anyway, and would rotate stock into ordinary use on a regular basis. Only exceptions are powdered eggs and some “convenience” type items chosen for their nearly eternal shelf life — potato buds, dehydrated fruit and Velveeta. 2) We would keep a detailed inventory spreadsheet so that we know what is in reserves and would not suffer loss due to neglect. 3) I would organize a dedicated, convenient storage area (I am using a suana room thaty we have only used as a sauna once in 15 years…) 4) We would follow our longtime family rule of “no single item purchases over $150.00 without prior discussion.”

Over the course of two monthes, shopping in local supermarkets and discount stores (no Sam’s or Costco near us) and spending @ $500., I have built up food reserves sufficient for 2 people for 6 monthes or 6 people (our adult kids and us) for 2 monthes. Durable items and drugs have been extra. This is buying prime foodstuffs. If my family would agree to subsist on rice, beans and tuna fish it would have been much cheaper!

The POMG (peace of mind guarantee) has been worth the initial discussion and subsequent joshing from the family. I recommend you develop a strategy that would work with your family and start the discussion and lobbying necessary to implement it.

lugon – at 15:35

Folks, how I hate you all. :) I go away for 24 hours of real work, come back, and see all this! Please use or add to or create something parallel to Consequences.AdjustmentReactions? in any way you like.

All of this “perception” thing is quite interesting in a crooked way, isn’t it? I mean, we all have lots of brain-cells:

My current feeling is we want to be able to look at our own perceptions and to the perceptions of others, somehow validate or invalidate them, make them more fluid (“I’m not sure, so what?”), and move forward.

But that’s just my way of looking at things. ;)

lugon – at 15:37

Oremus, there’s also a bunch of reasons to “prep, not individually, but cooperatively”:

We may yet get there, no?

Oremus – at 15:44

lugon – at 15:37 And if we are nuts, they can build the asylum around us. 8^)

delphina – at 16:05

Today I spoke with my chidren’s pediatrician — whom I greatly respect — about the possibility of a pandemic. I couldn’t believe my ears when she said “Since so many people got their flu shot this year there’s no chance of the bird flu virus mixing with any flu viruses around here! I wouldn’t worry — we (in Austria) won’t get anything like that!” I was speechless, and decided against lauching an information campaign just for her. How could an otherwise excellent doctor have views like that? I mean, even I have a better understanding of the situation and I haven’t studied medicine.

JoeWaldronat 16:42

Stage One: The person simply does not believe there is a threat. Most people probably think that if there was a “real” threat to humans it would be on CNN.

Stage Two: People who take a slightly closer look, like when we ask if they are prepared, see the doomsday philosophy of Ayn Rand. It may be interesting but it in the science fiction “survivalist” category.

Stage Three: the individual becomes overwhelmed. A little bit of knowledge goes a long way in this case. Physicians, HCW in administrative positions and related people simply place their heads in the sand. “God, this can’t happen.”

Stage Four: The person is preparing. But here too one can get overwhelmed when consideration is given to the need for isolation and all that means for career, pocketbook, and change in life style.

Stage Five: The individual is resigned, prepared and hoping against all odds that this does not happen. If it happens, the person is now looking to survive. Level A is personal and family, Level B is societal.

Stage Six: The reader is referred to W.H.O. where the pertinent data are being sequestered or lets b---ch about it.

JoeWat 16:44

Actually Stage Six fir those who missed it is the stage where Black Humor kicks in.

JoeWat 16:45

Actually Stage Six for those who missed it is the stage where “Black Humor” kicks in.

Prepping Gal – at 17:16

It doesn’t take a phd to know that we were giving “intuition” and “instinct” in part for survival. Haven’t you ever found yourself going against your intuition (women know more about intuition in general then men probably because they bear the children). I consider it a gift. I have ignored it on a few occasions and found myself regretting it later.

I am amazed at how determined I become when we are talking about survival. The drive is so strong that I can’t ignor it. I don’t know where it comes from except perhaps because of my heritage and it’s in my genes. I know that there is a level I have to be at to feel we can survive. Not all my family members have it.

Use this gift wisely and your loved ones will love you even more later.

24 May 2006

DemFromCTat 19:49

Older thread, closing for speed purposes.

check dates

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