Several threads down is the question "What would you take to the Internment Camps?" Have you ever thought in that sense, if you were not preparing and something happened what you would do.

Our DGI frineds and family will have to face this decision if something does happen. This might be one of the best threads to help those people.

I suggest everyone think seriously about this question and REPLY TO THE POST BELOW. After the list is complete, print it off along with your best Y2k material and give it to your nonbeleiving family and friend. Throw in an article or two about the internment camps.

Make sure you have a separate piece of paper with the question "What will you take to the Internemnt Camps" Include numbers, 1.________ 2.___________......Ask them to read your material and fill in the blanks. It should provide some very thought provoking moments.

I am preparing aggressively for Y2k but this question pulled me up shortly as to what I might be facing if I did not have information or know about Y2k. It is a very scary and frightening question to have to consider.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), March 23, 1999

Answers

First, I think this would be more informative if we used more common terminology. The newspapers and media call Internment Camps "shelters". True Internment Camps would be for those in violation of whatever laws are in place during Y2K (essentually prison overflow).

My top two for shelters? Clothes (mostly underwear) and radio.

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@anonymous.com), March 23, 1999.

K-Mart.

I buy all my underwear at K-Mart.

I'm a very good driver.

-- Rainman (I'm@K-Mart.now), March 23, 1999.

SILeNCE!!!!! WHAt mAKEs yoU IDIotS THiNK DgI'S ArE GOinG TO liSTEN tO YoU ABouT THiS?????? HoW DuLL IS thAT?????? tHeY BELieVE YoU NoT AbOUt y2K!!!!! BuT ThIS ThEY WiLL COmpREhenD?????? INfiDELs!!!!! GO awAY FRom dIETER WItH FOoLIShneSS SUcH AS thIS!!!!!

-- Dieter (questions@toask.com), March 23, 1999.

First, I'm not going. Second, I think any internment camps are only for looters, murderers, potential foreign or domestic terrorists and all other low lifes that take advantage of a bad situation.

Has paranoia run amok on this forum? I was worried about this stuff for about 24 hours before I quit listening to right wing, scare mongers and came to my senses.

-- gilda jessie (jess@listbot.com), March 23, 1999.

Paranoia? On this forum? Gosh, what a concept...

-- Y2K Pro (2@641.com), March 23, 1999.

Dear Gilda, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" Deep six the sweet and plug in foul and it applies to overflowing sanitation facilities as well.

I would think that the various govts in our fair land are thinking about instituting various forms of "A Night at Santa Rita". A concentration area (don't call it a camp) for those nasty rioters. A shelter for all those unfortunate citizens who lost their electricity.

The big question is this! Will there be much difference between the two? At the door the following will be taken away from both groups; food (insect and spoilage problems - Nanny knows best), guns/knives/etc. for safety reasons, radios (don't disturb the others, prevent rumor spreading heard on various right wing relgious fanatic shows etc. - nanny knows best).

Okay, let's talk disease. Give a Sieg Heil to the memory of that great Briton General (later Lord) Kitchner, the inventor of the concentration camp during the Boer War. Can't catch the rebel men? Grab their women and children (to protect them from the natives, can you say "For the sake of the children"?, I knew you could) and herd them into camps with overcrowding, inadequate water, food, sanitation and when they start dying off (I didn't kill them, I was trying to help them) that takes the starch right out of the rebel men.

Think about hundreds of families in school gyms, the stress, the one and later more people coughing germs all over the place, a real good recipe for a contagion.

So what's the difference? The rioter gaurds don't smile at you, the germs are the same.

DiETeR - I agree. People that can't understand the simple will also miss the complex.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), March 23, 1999.

That was cetainly an understatement that paranoia has set in on this forum. Practically every thread is laced with it. As a matter of fact, if you weren't paranoid you wouldn't even be preparing for something that may or may not happen. We are looking at possibilities and probabilities here. Yea, I'm paranoid alright and I think I'll go visit Costco today and see what else I can buy to save my butt or give away after this is all over with. I keep looking over my shoulder to see if anyone has followed me.....

-- paranoid (paranoid@para.com), March 23, 1999.

Internment camps may be the wrong word, too strong and scary. Maybe nice efficiency space would be better. Whatever you call them, it is the same.

To me, having to go to a large gym and sleep on a cot along with hundreds of people I don't know sounds horrible and I will do anything and everything in my power to prepare not to go there. And that is probably the best scenario.

I don't think it is paranoid or unreasonable to discuss this. First, it has happened before, people being moved into "SPACE" for their own wellbeing and protection. Second, if we are preparing for the inconveniences and disruptions of Y2k, then it only stands to reason that DGIs who decide not to prepare should undersand the results of that decision.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), March 23, 1999.

It ain't paranoia if they're really out to get ya.

-- Nope (not@thistime.com), March 23, 1999.

It's pretty obvious that those professing to be GIs feel very uncomfortable talking about such matters, but the reality is it could happen. Sometimes I think that many GIs really don't get it. They think the food and water will be what saves them and to some extent it will. But have any of you given any thought to all the other possibilities and are you ready to handle them? Sure you may have food and water, but what about your mental state of mind and how do you think you will handle isolation? Being isolated from the rest of the world with no communication, and the anxiety of not knowing what is going on in the rest of the world. Paranoid? You bet I am. Scared? yep! You may get the jist of knowing what to store to stay alive, but no clue about the other possibilities.

-- paranoid (paranoid@para.com), March 23, 1999.

it's possible for even GIs to have to make do with a shelter if they have to be evacuated because of a hazardous materials incident. in addition to the obvious, i would take a deck of cards, the Good Book, another good book, and lotion for scabies and lice.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), March 23, 1999.

I really do wonder why so many are fearful Big Brother is out to get them and stick them in a camp. In our area, there are too few shelters planned. In my immediate area, just the basement of the local firehall, "if needed." I asked how many people could fit there, if food and water are being stored, etc. The head of our town government didn't even know. I'd say that there may not be ENOUGH shelter for those who do need it because they didn't prepare. Have you folks looking out for Big Brother seen actual signs of preparations in your area that make "camps" look likely? Have you thought of the sheer numbers of people in this country? A camp would have to be immense (and have food, water, heat, latrines...) to hold even the population of one city. I live 1/2 hour from a major city, and there is no sign of any such activity. That city is going to have a few schoolrooms available "if needed, but we don"t expect it." So, really, whence all this fear of being packed off to a camp?

-- Shivani Arjuna (odnsmall@aol.com), March 23, 1999.

Linda,

Why do you ask this question?

What have you done to fear this?

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 23, 1999.

Where's the disbelief? Read the newspapers, study history. Refugee camps are common. Read about what happened in New Orleans just last Fall when the Hurricane almost hit full-force. The thousands crowded in the "shelter" were not let out when they wanted. True, it probably wasn't safe yet; but they were stuck. They got off lucky because the Hurricane swept to the side.

Literally millions upon millions in this century have been displaced and ended up after weary weeks of trekking and violence in relocation encampments. Millions upon millions. Think of all the places that suffered from civil wars and the long lines of people desperately streaming out of towns, villages, cities. Do some research! Anybody seen the movie "Gandhi" ? It keeps happening, over & over & over again. Disasters and wars are usually the catalysts. Think!

I'm not worried about this but do know that it could easily happen. Read about it so many times; it happens. It could happen in the USA. And the shock it would engender would be great because many cityzzzzns here don't know history and would feel so outraged and unjustly victimized. Insulated from the fate of much of the rest of the world can breed a certain dense stupidity. We pray it never happens here! We'll take the bullet over the camp; but remember, evacuations usually are not mandatory. Circumstances get so bad weeples are usually all too glad to be herded at that point.

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), March 23, 1999.

Hell no, I won't go. But why should it be in the interest of relief agencies to herd MORE bodies into a shelter than need to be there? If someone refuses to go because they're already prepared, isn't that less work for the agency? Why would this be any different?

Evacuations during natural disasters are strongly advised, but never forced on, people who refuse to evacuate.

This is the reality as I see it. The "internment camp" fantasy is a perverse power scenario which I suppose isn't out of the question, but why? Even if "power for power's sake" were the government's dominant agenda (which I doubt*), if it gets to the point of needing shelters then this will be way too big, there is going to be way too much chaos, to be able to shelter more than a small portion of the unprepared.

*Never attribute to conspiracy what can be explained by incompetence.

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), March 23, 1999.

You are right, Paranoid. Just having food and water is not going to be enough if things get rough. There will be mental anguish to contend with especially if you can not communicate with your family or not knowing what is occuring "out there".

My husband is very concerned with protecting us. We bought several guns. It is hard to talk about, to think about. But the fact is, if we are preparing for something, we have to prepare for different outcomes. Some will be the "bump in the road" slight disruptions, and others will be the more serious situations. Each of us may face a different scenairo depending on how much we prepared, where we live, how people react around us.

What are you going to do if things go really bad? I don't want anything to happen. If it does happen I want it to be short and not cause me a lot of inconvenience but with those thoughts we all have to realize, No One Knows what is going to happen and we have to be prepared for Anything.

Kindly do not flame me. I did not create this problem, only trying to contend with it the best way I know how. I just feel you can't be a complete GI without looking at the really ugly part of this issue and accepting it.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), March 23, 1999.

I'm amazed at the stunning beleif that "Guv'ment" and "Community" will care for all those that don't prepare.

I'm also amazed at the incredible lack of knowlege of history. As Leska pointed out, this century alone has myriad examples of how those in power "to keep the peace" & "for their own protection", placed millions in such camps.

Have we been so spoiled and dumbed-down with prosperity in this nation that we believe "It won't happen here!"????

First, John Q. Public today will DEMAND something be done to house and feed the millions left cold, dark and hungry. Secondly, the sheople will GLADLY walk themselves into a camp for a meal and warmth.

Thirdly, those that won't go and rely on self-determination may be perceived as a threat to whatever stability officials are attempting to create. You cannot have government control if a significant portion of folks opt out and rely on themselves. The gov'ment won't know what these folks are doing, or how it will affect their plans to control the situation. They MUST be controlled or at least restrained in what they are allowed to do. That will require enforcement...and manpower is already limited. Camps make perfect sense...from a logical conclusion.

WAKE-UP FOLKS!!!! It 'aint no conspiracy here (like the double negative??) !!! When the government decides that for the good of the nation (or in this current administration- the good of themselves), folks need to be contained for reasons of shelter, or national security THEY WILl DO IT! And probably with the point of a gun to enforce compliance. That is the reality.

You can go ahead and think this is some paranoid delusion....but just ask any Japanese American that is over 60 about "being moved and sheltered for their own safety". These are facts. Not an X-files episode.

The question is...Do you submit to that destiny....or make your own???

Got Courage?

-- INVAR (gundark@aol.com), March 23, 1999.

Where is George Orwell when you need him.

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), March 23, 1999.

once again:

no one, most especially neither the RC nor FEMA have demonstrated just exactly how they can have a hope of instituting emergency evacuation procedures during a serious y2k result, when such procedures *always* require the one thing which wont be available: reliable, functional infrastructure.

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), March 23, 1999.

Linking the twin threads

Items to Take With You on the Internment Bus

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), March 23, 1999.

Linda,

I think its far more likely well see shelters in High School gyms as central supply point for food, water, heat and shelter.

Diane

On a more positive note, see also thread ...

PERSONAL Y2K, EMERGENCY OR DISASTER RESPONSE MOBILE PREPARATIONS

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 000dz6

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), March 23, 1999.

Have you thought about the logistics of relocating everybody in the country? Impossible. It can be done in an area or two, or with a certain subset of people (Jews, Japanese, historically) but to relocate the entire population is just logistically impossible. Think about it. Say you wanted to take everybody in New York City and put them in a camp. Have any idea how many people that is? Where is a camp that size? Where are the vehicles to take people there? etc. etc. Right and wrong aside, it just is not possible.

-- Shivani Arjuna (odnsmall@aol.com), March 23, 1999.

No power, no water, and no heat means, no shelters. May as well stay where you are at and come out during the day time to stand in line for your cup of rice and beans, water, and use the over flowing Johnny-on-the-Spot toilets. It will take you all day to get your ration, but what the hell, you'll have fun visiting with the locals, meet new people, could be the biggest social event of your life!

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), March 23, 1999.