Romanticizing Disaster

last night i was farting around on daily kos when i found a thread about the potential devastation of pandemic bird flu. another commenter posted a link to a YouTube video depicting the armageddon scenario of total breakdown of civil society. the short follows the struggles of a family of three hunkered down in their booby-trapped home. they are attacked by two former family friends who are desperate and starving.

another commenter reported that the FluWiki (sorry, don't know which one they were talking about) had to ban discussions of ammunition because it prevented people from actually having meaningful discussions about other ways to prepare for a disastrous pandemic. first, it's both sad and disgusting that the first thing that comes to mind for so many people is the necessity of deadly force for protection. i'm not so naive to think that in the event of total civil breakdown weapons wouldn't come in handy or even be necessary for personal security. however, they are useful only if one knows how to use them effectively and safely.

it's just depressing that acquiring guns is the first and primary order of business for so many. they don't make plans to discuss cooperative preparation with their neighbors. instead, they automatically see their neighbors as potential enemies and start making plans to shoot hungry people. so, now, i not only have to worry about losing my own life or losing friends and family. i also have to worry about a bunch of armed-to-the-teeth, trigger-happy yahoos who've never had a gun safety class running around and creating their own personal version of Mad Max. it almost makes me hope that i get the flu and die instead of having to try and survive in that kind of world.

out of curiosity, i went to various flu wikis on the net and read a few threads of the paranoic variety. some people are just terrified. however, i get the distinct impression that no small number of people who think like this are not afraid, but excited at the prospect of a pandemic that destroys civil society. my roommate tara postulated that some people are excited because they think the world needs a good pandemic to cure the problem of overpopulation. they romanticize the idea of disaster and cannot conceptualize themselves as one of the desperate and hungry, nor do they consider what happens when they run out of ammunition or if they are attacked by people who have the advantage of greater numbers and firepower. not everyone owns a gun shop or has access to one nearby.