Backsliding, and other things
Jan. 9th, 2003 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
electriclandNo morning pages or yoga, but I slept for a change so it was all worth it. Thanks, Be Good Tanyas, you make great lullabies! (Window open helped too, although I think I've finally killed one of my African violets in the process.)
Caught the tail end of an interview with a survivalist who lives north of Toronto. He said something about how we haven't had a war on North American soil in recent history so most people don't believe it can happen here (apropos of what I'm not sure, I missed that part).
I tend to disapprove of survivalism as of most extreme reactions to things. I think it's extremely paranoid and also very pessimistic. I was wondering, though, is it an exclusively North American phenomenon? Or are there also Europeans and Asians out there stashing away canned food and radiation suits in bunkers? They certainly have cults, so I don't see why not. Would research this but, oh yeah, I'm at work...
Was also reminded of a minor event in my childhood... it was at Kestrel Manor school so I would've been 7 or 8, our headmistress was telling us about World War II and how Hitler wanted to eradicate everyone except people with blond hair and blue eyes. (I was one of about three blue-eyed blondes in the entire class... everyone looked at us, I remember feeling uncomfortable and vaguely guilty.) She repeated that just so we could be sure. Then she read us a passage about the effects of an atomic bomb. Then everyone went out to play. I felt sick, so I stayed in. Maybe some people never get over that intense, sick, terrified feeling. Maybe that's what drives them to do everything they think is necessary to protect themselves. If so, I understand it... but it's a child's reaction, I think, to a feeling of helplessness. Or maybe just one appropriate reaction among many, what do I know?
Caught the tail end of an interview with a survivalist who lives north of Toronto. He said something about how we haven't had a war on North American soil in recent history so most people don't believe it can happen here (apropos of what I'm not sure, I missed that part).
I tend to disapprove of survivalism as of most extreme reactions to things. I think it's extremely paranoid and also very pessimistic. I was wondering, though, is it an exclusively North American phenomenon? Or are there also Europeans and Asians out there stashing away canned food and radiation suits in bunkers? They certainly have cults, so I don't see why not. Would research this but, oh yeah, I'm at work...
Was also reminded of a minor event in my childhood... it was at Kestrel Manor school so I would've been 7 or 8, our headmistress was telling us about World War II and how Hitler wanted to eradicate everyone except people with blond hair and blue eyes. (I was one of about three blue-eyed blondes in the entire class... everyone looked at us, I remember feeling uncomfortable and vaguely guilty.) She repeated that just so we could be sure. Then she read us a passage about the effects of an atomic bomb. Then everyone went out to play. I felt sick, so I stayed in. Maybe some people never get over that intense, sick, terrified feeling. Maybe that's what drives them to do everything they think is necessary to protect themselves. If so, I understand it... but it's a child's reaction, I think, to a feeling of helplessness. Or maybe just one appropriate reaction among many, what do I know?
