So I have been thinking some about the douchebag that shot the Pittsburgh Police officers last weekend. Part of the story has me a little worried. The issue here is that the guy didn't just have guns - a pistol, a long gun, and a semi-automatic rifle - but that he also had a store of food and the like because he was preparing for a hostile invasion of the United States.
Now, I will just stipulate from the top: loony. In addition to a hostile invasion he was also afraid that the Obama government would take away his guns and that the world was run by a Zionist Conspiracy. So, loony, but...
Does being loony make you want to prepare for such things, or does preparing for such things make you loony?
I guess the nature of the thing you are preparing for might make a difference, but I worry that if the truth is more in the latter than the former that the actual reasons might not matter, it might simply be the preparation. I suppose there have been people like this often through the history of the US. There were people with fallout shelters in the 50s. We had more fallout shelters and "survivalists" in the 70s and 80s. All of these people are labeled "fringy" by the mainstream. But I think it is interesting that many of these people come to the same behavioral conclusion from different ideological roots. You've got your religious crazies and your anti-government crazies, and your anti-technology crazies.
Many, many starting points all with one finish line: loony.
This is all just fine and dandy as an academic conversation, but for me it seems like it might be something we should look at more closely. The reasoning being that I believe it's a fairly short, slippery slope from functioning, rational human being to loony and I believe that if preparing for the worst causes people to become loony then we might be at a very important national juncture right now. I come to this conclusion through thoughts in my own allegedly not loony mind.
The thoughts go like this: not too long ago it seemed like it might be a good idea to have some cash on hand. Interest rates were crap anyway; under your mattress pays just a little bit less than a savings account, and what with the news and all the banks seeming to be in trouble it just seemed like a good notion. I mean, even federally insured accounts are probably inaccessible for some finite period of time after a bank problem. You don't get to stop everything and wait for the FDIC to sort things out, and so maybe having some cash around isn't too loony.
From there it isn't too far to the idea that cash isn't what you're going to need if there's a problem. I mean a single bank problem might be solvable with cash, but a multiple bank failure is going to be a problem of a totally different kind. What with all the TV news talking about how all the banks are in difficulty and that it isn't just a domestic problem but an international one you have to start to wonder: well if I can't get to my money how is the guy that runs the grocery or the gas station going to get to his money. And without that cash in play how will they restock stores and without things to buy in the stores what good will that cash I decided to hang onto be?
So it's not so much cash I should be laying it, it's stuff: several weeks of food and fuel. Swell. I've gone from concerned bank customer to 50s bomb shelter material pretty quickly. How far from there to survivalist? I think probably not too far.
Once you have this stuff, well, if you prepared when other people didn't, well, then you're going to have to be in position to keep other people from taking your stuff, yes? Might be a good idea to have a few guns around and some ammo. Maybe a something like a pistol, a long gun, and a semi-automatic rifle - probably a shotgun too.
Here to think a minute ago my chief concern was cashing a check, and now I really am wondering does preparing make you loony, or is it just loony people who prepare - or does it even matter? It does seem a little counter intuitive though that the most healthy course might be just to do nothing and hope for the best.
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2 comments:
Perhaps you should listen to this episode of This American Life:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1289
It tells the story of how the FDIC goes about taking over and fixing a failed bank... explaining that, in fact, they are *very* good at it and that it usually happens over the weekend with zero impact on your deposits. (unless you happen to be so rich and stupid that you have more than $250k in a single bank, I guess)
Anyway... that might ease your mind about cashing that check, and then maybe you can avoid the slippery slope altogether. We have enough loons already!
and then there are news stories about California banks where people had to wait 6 weeks. My government confidence is not all that high these days.
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