There are two schools of thought that crop up regularly on this forum. One: The government should be advising people to prepare. They have dropped the ball. They can't, they won't, they spin, they cover-up, they don't care about the people. Two: They want to control us, put UN troops, the NG, the military, the police in charge of us, herd us into camps, begin the NWO.

True the government should have dealt with the problem years ago, when it was presented to them, but now it's too late. So at this late date they are simply reacting in a way that the majority of the people have come to expect. Here's an interesting analogy.

I was recently in a large bookstore owned by a friend of mine. I asked her if she'd had many calls for books on Y2K. Before she could answer a woman came up and asked her about a book. She looked it up on the computer and told her where to find it, but the woman asked her to find it for her. For the next 45 minutes she was occupied with helping her locate books, the woman wouldn't make the slightest effort to find them herself. She laughed and said, "It's just easier if you do it for me. I'm really not much of a reader."

This woman was a prime example of how most of the public would react if the government put daily announcements on the radio and TV about Y2K. Some would listen, check for themselves and get busy. Others would just tune it out, or assume the governmnet or Bill Gates would fix it, or would not believe it, no matter what anyone said, or would take note of who was preparing and depend on them "If it happens," and finally the greatest percentage would simply expect the government to take care of them. The public has demanded help in every aspect of their lives for years, why should they act any different now. Quit blaming the government for everything. "People get the government they deserve."

I'd rather the government was still planning on taking care of them, than having them show up at my house.

-- gilda jessie (jess@listbot.com), April 17, 1999

Answers

Gilda...you hit it right on the head, 100%. Self responsibility has been declining since WWII. And I, like you, figure if the gov't will feed and water those in the city, I can take care of myself.

RIGHT ON SISSSSTAH!!

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), April 17, 1999.

Gilda,

There is plenty of blame to go around, none of which will be assumed by anyone in a position of authority or responsibility.

People in authority have some degree of responsibility with regard to HONESTY. When folks in authority LIE to those that have entrusted them with that authority it makes it considerably more difficult for some to dicover the TRUTH. This by no means excuses those folks from not searching harder for the TRUTH.

We are at the end of a looonng social and economic cycle. These cycles have been with us for centuries. The dependency you see many folks display are the result of years of social and economic change. We will be starting a new cycle SOON and as always it will be quite painful. One of the results will be MANY MORE INDEPENDENT folks.

Ray

-- Ray (Ray@totacc.com), April 17, 1999.

Gilda, living in hurricane country I noticed that as soon as the shelters are open, even way before a storm is said definitely to be headed in, TV footage shows some people will go to the shelters for a free hot meal or three and a "night out" with some of their friends from the neighborhood. There are volunteers to help with the kids and games to play, TV to watch and interviews to give--lack of privacy is considered a small price to pay for a bit of excitement and change. I'd be interested to know if this scenario is repeated in other forecastable disasters, such as fires and floods. Note I'm not advocating people wait until the very last minute to seek shelter, just that there are some who take advantage--anything for a free lunch (or supper).

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 17, 1999.

Hi Gilda,

Some good points you made.

I would point out that re: blame and the gov't, it woould be one thing if it were simply silent. But no, it is actively reassuring people not to worry and in many place you will even see "...recommend AGAINST stockpiling food or cash." Our school systems have trained people to memorize, rather than learn, to accept rather than think for themselves, and the results are clear. Since some of these traits are instilled in people when pretty young (a few just escape that is all), I can't blame the people for be an example of it.

That being said, you're absolutely right about the "hand-out" mentality. I have a lot of personal experience with a certain segment of society that seems to live on this. I was pretty idealistic to begin with. In fact, I had a friend who was a psyche major who owned the local 7-11. He said when he met me I was a "Bleeding heart liberal" and a year later I had the temperament of an old conservative Army General. ;-) Probably so. If every person was told to prepare for Y2K, I guarantee a huge number wouldn't do a damn thing, and would expect the government, or churches, or other people, to bail them out.

Your comments are accurate, but still I say, the goverment SHOULD BE advising people to prepare. They have taken the role of leadership, they have in fact pulled the media into their own sphere of presentation as surely as if our only media was TASS, and their comments to the contrary may cause the suffering or death of a lot of people.

People are to blame, sure. But right now the gov't has its share too. When it's all said and done, nobody will take responsibility, and the gov't will spin THAT, too.

PJ in TX

-- PJ Gaenir (fire@firedocs.com), April 17, 1999.

Gilda,

excellent observation...the quesiton of course is what will happen to these sorts of folks should the government not be immediately available to help them.

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), April 17, 1999.

Arlin, in my town, they'll ALL be at MY bleepin' door. And since most of them are either small children (12 and under) or elderly (65 and older), I will feel obliged to help them. Knowing that about myself, I realized I either had to move, or prepare enough for them -- at least for awhile. Which is what I'm trying to do. After all, there's only one apt. complex in my town, maybe 100 people total there (24 apts), and in such a small town, it would be hard to really improve my living situation (and still keep my job). However since the "outside" of my little town is actually ranchers who I'm pretty sure have wells, hopefully the city can deal with the water issue... I just can't deal with storing enough water for the 6-12 people I'm preparing for who will be in my house. But a lot of grain, and a lot of gardening, that part I think I can do.

Still, I agree with Gilda, I'd rather they did NOT show up at my house. I am hoping I can prepare local leaders (read: Pastors) to do some preparation.

PJ in TX

-- PJ Gaenir (fire@firedocs.com), April 18, 1999.