BURIED AWAY IN ACADEMIA.........A 1998 ANALYSIS OF WHAT THE STRUCTURE OF THE Y2K .......FUD .........MOVEMENT WAS:
http://www.publiceye.org/tooclose/apoc5.htm
Y2K and Millennial Pinball: - 1
See Also:
Dances with Devils
Apocalyptic Millennialism
Y2K Millennial Pinball Chart
Y2K and Millennial Expectation
- Catholic Hard Right
Christian Right/Patriot/Militia Confluence with Survivalism
Y2K and Millennial Pinball:
How Y2K Shapes Survivalism in the US Christian
Right,
Patriot and Armed Militia
Movements, and Far Right
by Chip Berlet
A paper for the December 6-8, 1998 conference of
the
Center for Millennial Studies at
Boston University
This is a work in progress,
converting a verbal outline presentation into a text
article.
Some sections are
unfinished
Presented 12/8/98
Revised 1/26/99
Survive!
The Prime Commandment!-- "Barefoot" Bob Hardison, Freeman
http://www.nidlink.com/~bobhard/survive2.html"...New Age Prophets, Fundamentalist Christians and Agnostic Computer Geeks actually agree on something! That 11:59PM, December 31, 1999 is a point beyond which mankind will lose control of its destiny and become completely dependent on the unknown. That's all the convincing we will do. This site is designed for those who are already taking the Y2K issue very seriously."
-- The Y2K Storm Watch
http://y2kstormwatch.com/
Biblical and secular apocalyptic expectation is increasing with the approach of the calendar year 2000; and it is combining with fears that the Y2K computer bug will result in widespread societal chaos--which in turn leads people toward survivalism
Survivalist preparation keyed to the year 2000 and especially the Y2K bug is happening not only in the Patriot and armed militia movements, but also in the more moderate Christian Right and the more zealous Far Right. Within each of these political sectors are distinct subcultures with a variety of expectations, strategies, and methodologies
This paper extends the work of Philip Lamy in his book: Millennium Rage: Survivalists, White Supremacists, and the Doomsday Prophecy.1 The confluence discussed here was predicted by Charles Cameron in his essay "Apocalyptic: a hidden dimension to the Y2K problem."2 In the course of research I swapped information with Mark Potok at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). See the excellent article in the Fall 1998 (#92) issue of SPLCs Intelligence Report.3 What Lamy and Cameron predicted is indeed coming true. To a certain extent, my research has proved the obvious, but the research demonstrates that what seemed obvious to many of us also turned out to be true, which is not always the case, so the effort was worthwhile. To investigate this phenomenon I read books and magazines, reviewed direct mail, attended workshops, viewed vidoeotapes, and surfed websites
Y2K and Millennial Expectation
Fear that the Y2K computer bug will cause societal chaos clearly is generating apocalyptic expectation. It is also clear that Y2K fears are focusing and funneling the activity of groups and individuals with pre-existing apocalyptic belief systems
As Charles Cameron explained:
People who are inclined to think in "apocalyptic" terms will "read" coverage of the computer 2000 problem as another "sign of the times" -- further proof of whatever millennial expectations and anxieties they may harbor.4
In some cases the apocalyptic interpretation of Y2K overlapped with Christian Biblical millennial expectation, and in some cases the narratives are secular
What Y2K provides in this milieu is date-setting with plausible deniability. With Y2K independently setting a date, persons with pre-existing apocalyptic expectation could point to the approaching date as corroboration of their beliefs, argue that accelerated expectation and preparation was appropriate, and yet have a backdoor to ease through in case nothing major happens
The common thread was survivalism. You may believe that in 2000 a New World Order will be imposed and ruled by Satan, or that an economic collapse will be caused by Jews, or that secret elites are hiding the fact that Y2K will trigger a nuclear meltdown. No matter what the feared outcomes or the suspected villains, you can find common ground with other survivalists in practical discussions about what water filter has the best combination of protection and flow rate. A good example of this is the Preparedness Expo '98," where survivalism, Y2K fears, and "right-wing propaganda" merge in an event described by Karen Olsson, in the The Texas Observer as "Fear and Flatulence in Mesquite."5
Once in the survivalist stewpot, persons with a wide variety of beliefs cross reference each other in print, on tape, and on the web, and also cross recruit each other
The process works like a millennial pinball machine
A person with a pre-existing apocalyptic worldview enters at the top with an ideological outlook in which are already embedded theories about possible outcomes, and a list of suspected villains
Feared Outcomes
The feared outcomes are part of an apocalyptic narrative cobbled together from stories, texts, ideas, and metaphors in the society. There are an infinite number of feared outcomes, and this list merely highlights some with popular followings today
Suspected Villains
These suspected villains are scapegoats--demonized by narratives about how they are conspiring against the common good. There are an infinite number of suspected villains, and this list merely highlights some with popular followings today
Y2K Funnel
Carrying this package of feared outcomes and suspected villains a person approaches the calendar year 2000 date event horizon. At these point the fears are funneled and focused by the Y2K bug
Y2K Furnace
Since the Y2K bug sets a date, it heats up expectation
Refractory Effect
Accelerated by the heat of the Y2K furnace, persons heading into the survivalist stewpot pass through a refractory lens that splits people into a rainbow of methodological strategies
Survivalist Stewpot
Once in the survivalist stewpot, people interact with each other by engaging in dialogs and recruitment attempts
Methodological Outcomes
A person will adopt methodological strategies after processing their beliefs about what outcomes they fear are possible, who they suspect are the villains manipulating world events, and how much chaos they expect when the expected apocalyptic event happens
This model of millennial pinball works for any date around which there is speculation concerning possible apocalyptic meaning. The funnel and furnace effect are triggered when a person crosses the calendar date event horizon
Survivalism is a methodological response to fears of a potential disaster. It can reflect sensible precautions in anticipation of hurricanes or floods, or reflect apocalyptic fears. Given the uncertainty around Y2K, some preparation seems prudent
Survivalism, however, often overlaps with conspiracist worldviews, which are prevalent not only in the patriot/militia movement and the far right, but the Christian Right as well. It is not accurate to assume all survivalists share a specific ideological viewpoint, or that they automatically pose a threat to civil order. Most survivalists are taking defensive precautions. Yet the potential for confrontation exists
There is a large and vibrant survivalist subculture in the US, with both educational and commercial components. A ad in a November 1998 issue of the ultra-conservative Human Events offers preparedness supplies from the American Family Institute which offers "the highest quality dehydrated food storage products."6 The ad asks:
Are You Prepared?
Experts Agree:
The most important preparation anyone can do for the upcoming crises is to obtain a reserve supply of Food and Water!
In each corner of the ad are boxes listing possible crises:
Y2k Millennium Bug
Natural Disasters
Economic Crisis
Terrorism/War
Patriot movement websites often link to suppliers of survivalist gear. Sam Andy is a supplier of emergency preparedness items with several distributors. One Sam Andy website bills itself as: "The complete food storage, family food reserve system and leading supplier of nitrogen packed dehydrated food."
http://foody2k.freeservers.com/index.htm
The site warns that "In emergencies, water is the most important item in survival." Accordingly, item number 001 in the Sam Andy catalog is a lightweight, rust-proof, plastic 30-gallon water storage drum that "looks like a steel drum...to store your life-saving water" priced at $69.95
http://foody2k.freeservers.com/water.htm
"Food, heat, lighting, a radio, First Aid and personal needs are your next priorities," explains the text
In the summer of 1998, an article by Miguel Helft in the San Jose Mercury News was among the first to publicly discuss concrete survivalist preparations tied to fears of the Y2K problem.7 One person, Peter Huss, was described as follows:
The 31-year-old computer systems administrator at a small university in northern Michigan is stockpiling food, water, medicine and other basic necessities and readying a family cabin for himself, his wife and his year-old baby. He plans to take his money out of the banking system by August. And he is honing his construction, gardening and landscaping skillsHuss is among a growing number of Americans -- including some tech-savvy Silicon Valley workers -- who have been persuaded by dire predictions that economic collapse and societal chaos are fast approaching
Web rings are related collections of web sites linked together using a common link method. By clicking on the standardized link (text or graphic) the web surfer can jump from site to site in order, jump around the collection, or visit the centralized list of sites that are members of the web ring. The "Personal Y2K Preparedness" web ring lists 163 sites and the "Survival and Preparedness" ring lists 226 sites
-- Anonymous, January 07, 2001