The end of the world is nigh! [View All]

Every day I see at least a dozen posts on the imminent collapse of civilization as we know it. The collapse of the dollar. Peak Oil. Global warming. WWIII prompted by the nuking of Iran. Bird Flu.

Take your pick.

So what's everyone doing about it? Working against it, obviously. Trying to shore up stuttering American democracy so someone with a little sense can get in there and try to fix something before it's too late.

Sure. Okay. And what else?

Are all these doomsayers just a LITTLE hyperbolic? Is it not as bad as they're saying? Maybe we'll get some technology off the ground that will counter Peak Oil? Is the avian flu not really a threat? Maybe there's a way for a Democratic President and Congress to SAVE the dollar? Perhaps we can stop WWIII by convincing enough people to stand up to the Bush Cabal?

Or maybe not. Some folks seem positively gleeful at the prospect of the collapse of everything. I gotta ask. Are these people stock-piling weapons and food, or are they miraculously expecting the good nature of their (probably Republican) neighbors to keep them from harm if the excrement should hit the oscillating air circulation device?

If I believed that we were on the brink of imminent collapse, I'd be working to get out of the line of fire, and probably stockpiling any kind of equipment that might come in handy. I doubt I'd be pounding the keyboard ferociously trumpeting the oncoming destruction of everything we know.

I'm just trying to figure all of this out. What steps is anyone taking to protect themselves and their families from the onset of the Long Night? Other than rushing around screaming "the sky is falling, the sky is falling!?"

I don't mean to be sarcastic here. Honestly. If we're seriously looking at big trouble ahead, what the hell is anyone doing to ensure their survival after the coming catastrophe? Whichever catastrophe it happens to be? Are they teaching their kids wilderness survival skills? Moving to the country away from the cities? Buying horses?

Or is just about every liberal who believes all of this stuff is coming planning on panicking with the rest of the world (or at least the U.S.) and grabbing whatever they can get their mitts on before heading for the hills with their families in tow?

I get the political and social stuff. Do everything you can to stave off the disaster. Educate and inform. Sure. But what about the practical side of everything?

I'm curious. Seriously.

I'd like to know what everyone thinks they're going to do if and when the shit hits the fan.