Forum Poll: What percentage of your family, friends, etc., are preparing?

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With 102 days to go, I thought it might be interesting to try and get a handle on the "How many are preparing" question. I started a similar thread on the prep forum a week ago and found that my percentages were high in comparison to most who responded. My percentage guesses are as follows:

Family (includes extended) 70%

Friends 70%

Neighbors 50%

Parish 30%

Community 20%

How about you?

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@com.net), September 20, 1999

Answers

Family - none Friends - none

nope nada no one Just our family. We have many, many friends and large families on both sides. Still getting blank stares when we ask what they think will happen.

We are ready - completely ready, down to the natural gas lights and two natural gas refrigerators (we have our own gas well). The food, the supplies, the whole nine yards. And, don't know another soul who has done a thing to prepare or sees a need. We have decided to quit trying to get through to anybody. No one is listening.

-- homestead2 (working@the.farm), September 20, 1999.


Famuly--100 percent (I only have one other family member and her boyfriend)

Friends--100 percent of those I speak to daily (two). One other friend is and one says she really will...

Neighbors--probably none

Religious circle--"What is y2K?" "My husband is an enginneer--he says it's just the paperwork. There won't be a problem."

Community--a few percent. (This is NYC) The guy in GNC, yes, a couple of people in the camping goods store.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWayne@aol.com), September 20, 1999.


have to agree with homestead2. the *only* people i know who are preparing are the dozen or so new friends i have acquired through a common y2k interest. we tried to generate interest in our county and all efforts fell flat.

oh well. you can lead a horse to water. . . .

-- Cowardly Lion (cl0001@hotmail.com), September 20, 1999.


Finally got the Parental Units (mine) to GI. Brother is a lost cause but he's SS so he'll be fine being with Slick n' the boys.

The wifes fam seem to think that after they eat all their own supplies, (3 days worth and nothing else) that if it gets bad they'll be 'welcomed with open arms.' to my A.O.

Lemme tell ya, 'open arms' translated to me means a free-fire zone... Every grown married mans fantasy...wasting/enslaving the Demon/mother-in-law!! LOL Amazing how they still don't get it!

-- Billy-Boy (Rakkasn@Yahoo.com), September 20, 1999.


Sadly I only know one other family preparing. He GI'd me. He lives close and after w talked to a few neighbors and couldn't GI them we both decided to remain closed mouthed about the whole thing.

Wifes family goes back and forth between wanting to get it and madly DGI. Says they come here if it gets that bad. Good thing they live 600 miles away.

-- Nobody I know gets it (except @for .one), September 20, 1999.



Zip...My husband and I are the only ones preparing. Trying to get my sister to GI to no avail. My husband,kids and I will be fine. However, it is really hard to come to grips with the possibilities facing my family.

-- Sharon (sking@drought-ridden.com), September 20, 1999.

I know two families that sort of get it, but... With NO reinforcement from the mainstream media, & zero encouragement from fellow citizens, & only limited time to surf the net for all the doomer news, & countless other more pressing matters that require one's time & limited resources... It's VERY hard for the average person to stay motivated about preparing.

I'm pretty prepared, but then I'm not average.

-- cut (them@some.slack), September 20, 1999.


I sent Ed's book to eight family members last Christmas and only one of them gets it. Comments from the others:

"I don't want to read that book because it might make me paranoid." "Amy probably has a whole basement full of food. (Laughter)" "Nobody wants to talk about Y2K." (That's putting it mildly). "It's a big hoax" (yeah and wait until you find out the joke is on you).

I have some dog food saved for my mother-in-law.

-- Amy Leone (leoneamy@aol.com), September 20, 1999.


I'll split this answer into two parts...We left Silicon Valley a year ago, and bugged out to the boonies:

Silicon Valley (we're still in touch)

Friends 4% Family 0% Neighbors 0% Community 10%

Oregon

Friends 90% Family N/A Neighbors 40% Community 60%

The most remarkable thing about this area when we arrived was the Y2K awareness (this was a year ago). In Silicon Valley, it was ignored completely.

Jolly

-- Jollyprez (jolly@prez.com), September 20, 1999.


Not a one. That scares the heck out of me. Not even my wife is preparing. I have to sneak supplies into another outbuilding on our property. Billy Boy in regards to demon Mother-in-Law, I have one too!! Having her move in with us is one of my greatest y2k fears

-- Bill (sticky @2sides.tape), September 20, 1999.


A lot depends on how preparing is defined. I didn't feel prepared till I had food, water, heat and all other essentials enough to last for quite a long time. Some of my friends feel fully prepared by being ready for two weeks, others for a few days. Yet they feel prepared. One family said they were prepared but turned out they had bought a little butane heat/cook/light set and one case of fuel, but had no idea how long the items would run. When I checked it out for them, it turned out not to be long at all, so they ordered more. Then it finally occurred to them to actually try lighting the items. One they couldn't figure out and had to call the manufacturer. Hmmm, they said to me, "So-and-so's bought this set too. I wonder if they have enough fuel? I wonder if they have tried to light it?" Yeah, I wonder. I said "There is not use having this stuff if you don't even know if it works," and the husband gave me a very surprised look. "Boy, you talk like this is really going to be serious," he said. Jeez. I thought they were "serious" when they bought their prep items, but I guess not. Well, a few of our friends are preparing. Not many. I do hope they don't come to our place. We are telling folks now that visitors will not be welcome. They should be prepared, or prepared to be unprepared. Family is mostly getting it. My brother keeps saying nothing's goona happen, but at the same time he keeps telling his wife "Do this. Buy that." They got a generator and are storing food. My mom was a GI from the moment we first discussed it. I wonder if her Depression experience made it easier for her to imagine? My husband's family really didn't wanna get it, but I just kept sweetly mailing info. Now they say they have a few plans. They really don't want to talk about it, even now that they have begun to make some preparations. As if talking about it openly would be acknowledging the liklihood of disaster. I've been keeeping the neighbors informed, too. Most are doing some prep, but not all and not enough. In our local spiritual group I have handed out articles, etc. and got an amazing array of reactions. From "Geez. We better get ready. Thanks!" to "It's a bunch of bullshit, just bullshit!" And also one so frozen with fear at the mere idea of what could happen that they refused to talk about it, and said they'd just die if it comes to that. And one who thought that divine spirit would protect her and therefore she didn't need to prepare. It's gonna be interesting.

-- Shivani Arjuna (SArjuna@aol.com), September 20, 1999.

Depends what you mean by family. The number of true GIs outside my household can be counted without taking my catcher's mit off. I'm guessing that there are a lot of stealth GIs. Overall, if I were in the office pool and had to guess across the US, I would say

True GIs (tinfoil hat-toting): 1% GI wannabes (think GI makes sense but are doing nothing): 5% DGIs: 94%

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), September 20, 1999.


Family 0% 0 for 4 Friends 50% 2 for 4 Neighbors 10% just guessing Religious 40% Community 15%

The local Methodist Church is stocking food. Saw a semi being unloaded. The Pensacola Catholic Church put out a phamplet on Y2K. None of my family are doing anything. They live a 1000 miles away. My wifes' family live in the Philippines so they won't be affected. Where they are only 5% of the people have electricity. Half of my friends GI. One bought a place in Idaho and will move there in Dec. Plans to move back here when its over. Hard to tell about the community but stocking items sell quicker now then a month ago. I have seen supplies in some neighbors garages but can't tell how many are GI. We are almost ready.

-- Mr. Pinochle (pinochledd@aol.com), September 20, 1999.


That's easy to answer! 0 neighors, 2 relativea (sister and niece).

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), September 20, 1999.

No one I know personally is prepping (if they are prepping, they don't talk about it--well neither do I). I have no family in the area. My married daughter, in a distant, colder clime is doing nothing. My church is doing nothing. The things that I do will help me and a few unprepared friends for a few days assuming the sewars don't backup. That's it. I am in no position to move to NW Arkansas or wherever.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 20, 1999.


Father and Mother yes, extensive preps, middling location.

Brother-in-Law and Sister, some, good location and he's an outdoorsman so he'll do well.

Brother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law some, bad location.

Brother and Sister-in-Law none, bad location.

Close Friends, some, good location.

Aquaintances, one of 10, extensive, good location.

Neighbors, none, good location.

Business Partner, none, middling location.

Gave out Ed's book to 10 friends, aquaintances and neighbors only one response.

-- LM (latemarch@usa.net), September 20, 1999.


Family(immediate)=100% Friends = 50% Neighbors = 10% Local town = 10% Locale - rural

-- Neil G.Lewis (pnglewis1@yahoo.com), September 20, 1999.

Family - around 70% (a couple of distant family members are in difficult financial straits.) This should improve to 100% by the first of the year.

Friends - around 70%

Neighbors, Community, & Church - 20-25% or better (estimated)

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), September 20, 1999.


Brother-in-law and mother-in-law are close to being GI, but have done zip yet except for some research. Mormon cousin is about a 4.0, but all blood relatives are DGI/DWGI. No neighbors have done anything I am aware of.

Interestingly enough, owners of a scientific company with which I am familiar (>80 employees, most with science degrees) are quite GI, but VERY secretive. They were convinced Y2K would be >5.5 back in Feb. 1999. Two of their managers (1 scientist, 1 engineer) are ~3.5's, but about 70/30 of their remaining employees are DGIs/DWGIs. Parish: zip. Community: <.01% that I have indications of (mostly indirect); GIs increasingly secretive. Closest to GI I usually encounter is "I'm used to farm life because I grew up on one", "I have a gun and I know how to hunt", etc. I have encountered a former Army Ranger combat veteran (is a 5) who plans quite honestly to turn looter if Y2K goes over an 8. (I hope he dies the first night of disorder, so the amount of evil he does will be limited, but that's another story.) I have also met someone on the fire dept. in a small town between the Twin Cities and Duluth who indicated that his whole dept. was figuring on at least a 4.

In general, unless I meet local people thru Y2K-oriented activities/communications, the likelihood of them being GI is <1 in 80, and the probability of them having bought even 100 lbs. of dry food (that they wouldn't otherwise have, but for concern for Y2K) is much less.

my website: www.y2ksafeminnesota.com

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), September 20, 1999.


Thanks to all of you for the responses. I was curious to see if the ones here would be similar to last weeks thread on the prep forum. They are to some degree. The one that matters... hardly anyone knows an even moderate number of folks that are really preparing.

We are all Y2K aware folks on this Forum, regardless of if we are thinking a 1 or 10, a BITR or TEOTWAWKI. So for us to be sitting here with 102 days left and reading these reponses tells me that my personal (and Madmonks too) experiences are in no way indicative. But it's the only peice of the puzzle I got to see first-hand before asking the question.

So this is very troubling, if it is indicative at all, and the only vague hope that can be held out is for the possibility that there are many more folks getting ready quietly than we can discern. Seems like quite a long shot.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@com.net), September 20, 1999.


close family -50% Friends 80% church- non event 1% (us) community- very secretive, one guy has built a compound local- Ozark mountains, Arkansas

A lot of folks here farm and live off the land as a normal routine. I think this area will be in good shape.

-- doctor of bulldozers (dozerdoc@yahoo.com), September 20, 1999.


`Rob, My stats aren't any better than anyone else's. I have a couple of family members who are prepping, but most DGI.

I attended a Y2k meeting sponsored by my bank (a local bank) in which reps from the electric and gas companies were present. The gist of the whole thing (I got there late, and missed over half of it, so this is just what I heard) was: leave your money in the bank. Don't panic. Don't prepare.

Everyone should have contingency plans, EXCEPT you and me. Interesting concept. I asked how much the two utilities had spent on y2k remediation and got 8 mil and 32 mil. The were calling it a non- event. The banks rep stated that overall something like 500 billion has been spent on y2k nationwide. I allowed that 500 billion was a long way from a non-event. They agreed, but felt that there would only be minor problems. They weren't going to do anything different.

People seemed to buy it. "Remember the great toilet paper shortage in the 70s?"

There was a reasonably good turnout for a small town. More's the pity.

sadly,

gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), September 20, 1999.


I can count all the GIs I know personally ON ONE HAND (not including the thumb)!

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), September 20, 1999.

Have 2 friends preparing, 0 relatives except one sister and mom, who are reluctantly doing some preps at my constant urging. I don't know why anyone would find these figures surprising, considering how brain dead the general public is. Just tonight Brian Williams closed his newscast with the following survey results. Nationwide 54% of the American public could not name the Democratic Presidential Candidate. Stop and let that soak in for a minute. Over half the population of the country do not know who in the hell Al Gore is. He's only been the vice president for nearly the entire decade. Y2 who?

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), September 20, 1999.

Nikoli: You are right. It is not surprising, it is reality. Sadly. Most people remain asleep. They will most likely continue this way.

There are 270 million people in this country. Given the fact that the vast majority outnumber the GIs, how are those that prepare going to survive much longer than those that don't. Stuff will run out eventually, for one thing. Is it a matter of sooner rather than later? Perhaps. The choice seems obvious, even if futile.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@com.net), September 20, 1999.


My sister and husband are prepared. The rest of the family and in-laws are pretty much a lost cause. Friends and neighbors don't want to talk about it, but I suspect some are just keeping a low profile. My boss, for example, an apparent DGI, just bought a 20 kw propane generator for the greenhouses. We also heat with wood in the greenhouses and get the wood for free (several years worth) from a local tree cutter.

I stopped at the grocery store after work today and found some great bargains--12pak vegetables @ 0.32 a can, 48 roll TP @ 0.19 a roll, 4# sugar for 1.00, 2# rice for 0.90 (cheaper than the 20# sack) and many other odds and ends.

I went in for yogurt and came out with a heapin' cartful.

As I was loading my cart full of vegetables, a woman standing there complained that she couldn't mix and match (the paks were shrink wrapped ). I said, at that price you could buy one of each kind and be money ahead in the long run. She looked at me like I was nuts. But what would I do with all that? she asked.

What indeed....

I'm going back for more tomorrow.

-- Sam Mcgee (weissacre@gwtc.net), September 21, 1999.


"0" tuff across the board.

-- && (&&@&&.com), September 21, 1999.

As for my family, I'm hangin' out at my mother's farm, and we spent the last few weeks wrappin' up canning, get last-minute stuff.

My mother's been trying to get my brother to prepare, but he thinks we're nuts. When my mother babysat last week, she looked around, and didn't find lots of food in the house...lots of new electronic stuff, though.

As for friends and co-workers, just a few. One place I'm contracted out to, I sit next to a network admin/wiring dude who didn't talk much...until he overheard me talking to my mother on the phone about splitting more wood for the stove. He asked me how I split my wood, and he started talking about gravity splitters, which led to a discussion about generators vs. stoves...found out he had both, LOL. Now we talk quietly about it, but the rest of the folks in the IT Center just laugh.

As for neighbors, we have a small but tight nit group, except for a couple of elderly couples on the other side of the road. No one has moved in or out of the area for decades as well. We know and help each other out, swapping/bartering things.

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), September 21, 1999.


Just my family gets it, and mom/dad don't REALLY GI. They still buy the three months theory. They don't want me to stockpile any more food (I have about 4 mos. and don't intend to stop). Aunts/uncles are lost causes, but unfortunately, they know we are preparing.

I wish people wouldn't be so thick headed.

Tim

-- Tim the Y2K nut (tmiley@yakko.cs.wmich.edu), September 21, 1999.


Family of 4...i GI so they are prepared! Extended family 11 of 17 Friends...only 2 that i know of Neighbors...none really prepping but many can enough from gardens to last them til spring, and most have working fireplaces. Church...zip Community...3 serious families that i know of

-- kitten (kitten@vcn.net), September 22, 1999.

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