www.DoomandBloom.net
I had the opportunity recently to see the National Geographic Channel docudrama “American Blackout”. In this program, the entire country is hit by a total blackout, putting Americans in the position of being off the grid for a period of time. This is apparently the result of the actions of Ukrainian cyber-terrorists. You, the viewer, follow a number of people who (inexplicably) have some of the longest lasting camcorder and cell phone batteries in existence.
I followed the program hashtag on twitter during the program and found that most folks found it scarey, but very few mentioned that it would change their way of thinking regarding disasters. To those people, I would simply say that there are a lot of possible scenarios that involve man-made or natural calamities that no one is immune to. Tornadoes, Hurricanes, floods, wildfires (all of which we’ve experienced somewhere in the country this year), earthquakes are just some of the natural events. Economic Collapse, nuclear meltdowns, targeted electromagnetic pulses, civil unrest, and pandemics are just some of the man-made catastrophes. Sure, the likelihood of your experiencing any one disaster is rather small, but what is the chance that you will never experience, to some degree, sometime in your lifetime? Your children’s lifetimes?
The victims portrayed in American blackout were mostly middle-class Americans whose DNA clearly didn’t contain the preparedness gene. These people, over a few days, went from being amused by the loss of power, to vaguely concerned, to rightfully terrified by the predicament they were in. Government efforts to help were well-intentioned, but had little effect in relieving the misery. Soon, people were taking drastic measures to obtain food and water, with limited success.
