COVID-19 Preppers

Needless to say there's a lot of frustrations on social media right now regarding Coronavirus. Not about the virus itself per say--at this point, most of us have not been personally touched by COVID-19. Mainly the frustrations are coming from those who are annoyed by the "alarmists" who are "stockpiling supplies" and "spreading fear" (to pull a couple quotes from twitter). 

So I'd like to offer another, less popular perspective on the matter (or an explanation, if you will).

Most stockpilers aren't alarmists, nor are they panicking/scared of the virus. 

So why are they piling up on supplies then?

I'm not a prepper, but I do have enough food/water for about three months if there's ever a disaster, so I feel like I can weigh in on this with two main reasons:

1. When thousands of people are suddenly stockpiling, you're often forced to do the same to ensure you have basic necessities--not for an emergency, but for next week. Take the toilet paper shortage earlier this week. Clint and I woke up to media reports that there were shortages on toilet paper. A friend/colleague of mine sent her husband to our local Costco for TP, and there was none to be found. Upon learning this, Clint immediately placed a bulk order from Amazon. Not because we were scared, or panicking, or alarmists, but because we want to be able to wipe our asses next Tuesday. Did we add to the toilet paper shortage in that moment? Yes. Do I care? Not really. Because unless I can convince thousands of people to slow their roll and quit stockpiling, I'm stuck doing the same, given that my priority is to take care of my family (and their booties). But the irony here is--it wasn't actually preppers that compounded the problem. It was the media. By advertising TP shortages to the masses, guess how people responded? By buying more toilet paper. And this is happening on social media all day long; fear mongering posts and tweets about mass-buying hysteria when in reality these posts themselves are inciting (or at least aggravating) the act.
2. The second reason people are stockpiling is because situations like this remind people to take stock of what they have and prepare for the worst. This doesn't make them alarmists. They simply aren't sheep who assume that the government will always have their backs. For example, anytime we experience a small tremor here in California, it reminds me that I should be prepared for a larger earthquake, which may lead to me buying an extra case of bottled water that month to store in my cellar. This is not me trembling in fear that another earthquake is about to strike. It's simple awareness, and common sense. COVID-19 is now spreading its spiny fingers through the U.S. and we now have 45 active cases in my state (as of yesterday), but honestly, I don't know anyone in real life whose panicking about it. However, some of us are using this as an opportunity to take inventory. Think of COVID-19 as a yellow flag. A talking point. Are we prepared for a pandemic? Are we prepared for an economy collapse? Most of us aren't worried about these things, but COVID reminds us that we shouldn't sit around, guilelessly floating in our bubbles of ignorance, either. It's a good time to have those conversations, and to get ready for an event that might happen five years down the road, ten, twenty, now, or never. (Somewhat related: I just finished reading a book about the Yellow Fever in 1793, and you better believe the people living in Philadelphia at the time desperately wished they had considered these things.)

So keyboard warriors can keep railing out on social media about how preppers are making the situation worse, but really it accomplishes nothing. You'll never be able to talk thousands of people into not preparing to take care of themselves and their loved ones in an impending (albeit perceived) event. And frankly, you might be making the situation worse by leading others to believe that preppers are about to clean out store shelves. That incites panic--not a few folks quietly buying some emergency supplies. So either grab a few extra Top Ramens and canned veggies yourself during your next grocery store run, or get over it. Let them do them, and you do you.

Life is Short. Have an Affair.

This is the logo of an up-and-rising website that is putting a new twist on so-called "dating services." Clint and I saw an interesting commercial on television for a company called "Ashley Madison Agency," and he got curious as to what exactly this agency was. So we looked it up online, and it turns out that this agency is an online dating service for married people. According to the company's description, Ashley Madison is "the world's #1 married dating service specifically for ATTACHED men and women who are looking to have an extra-marital affair." It is basically a "match.com" designed specifically for those who are looking to cheat on their spouse. It cost $250 to sign up for Ashley Madison's services, but they do guarantee that you will have a satisfying extra-marital affair within three months or your money back. And the website currently has over four million members. Staggering.

That being said, what...the...hell? I guess I'm completely naive, because I had no idea that such blatantly immoral sites actually existed. Can we possibly come up with any more creative ways to desanctify marriage? But it's honestly not surprising...just look at the time we're living in. The liberals "gray area" has become like the Blob, oozing into every crevice of our value systems, slowly spreading and growing with each ounce of morality it gobbles up.

Recognized for your Potential

I love this! Great closing thoughts:

“Let the boo-birds say what they will, I'm thrilled that President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for what the committee said was not so much what he has done, but what they hope he will do.

“Talk about giving hope to all of us — no longer do we have to actually accomplish stuff, but simply convince others that we hope to accomplish stuff. I think we ought to universally celebrate the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize for potential deeds.

“Since I'm a musician, I'd like to go ahead and get my Grammy now — and I'm on TV, so I want an Emmy as well….

“Heck, go ahead and give me a Tony Award — I haven't been in a Broadway play, but I did see Jersey Boys a few weeks ago and knew all the songs… that's potential.

"And hey, you might even ask your boss for a big ol' raise even if you're a slacker at work, because deep inside of you, there's all kinds of potential, and it would be a lot more fun to go ahead and get the paycheck now.

"To all my Republican friends who have said really tacky things about President Obama not having accomplished enough for the Nobel Peace Prize, I say, put a lid on it. Quit your bellyaching and take the sour grapes out of your mouth, and instead, take in a deep breath of unbridled hope that you too will be recognized for what you might do someday."

--Mike Huckabee (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,564462,00.html)

Nobel Peace Prize

I intended to mention this days ago, but as you know, Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. I have nothing fresh or new to add to the commentary concerning this that I’m sure is already out there, but I just have to say a few words any way. In the past, the Nobel Peace prize was awarded to people who actually did something concrete toward attaining world peace. I mean, even when Al Gore won the prize for his efforts in global warming, at least that was something somewhat tangible. Yet the Nobel is being given to Obama for something that he is aspiring to do, but hasn’t actually done. So he is promoting world peace—tell me what beauty pageant queen hasn’t advocated for the same thing? What’s worse is that Obama was elected for the Nobel only two weeks after he was sworn into office. At that point of his presidency, the only thing Obama had accomplished was to talk a good talk.

Basically a bunch of European elitist are the ones who decided to give Obama the Nobel, and why wouldn’t they? They love the new watered-down, “neutered” America that Obama is promoting. Also, by giving him the Nobel, it would now be oxymoronic for Obama to send those 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, although I do agree with O’Riley that winning the Nobel will probably not sway Obama’s decision one way or another regarding the Afghanistan issue. He already has the award now…it’s not like the Nobel Peace Prize committee is going to take it back if Obama decides not to play nice. But regardless, it seems to me that awarding Obama with the Nobel peace prize has a lot less to do with actual merit and a lot more to do with the clever strategizing and promotion of a weaker, more diluted America by certain stakeholders.

The one thing I will say to Obama’s credit, however, is that he never asked for this award, and he was extremely humble in his acceptance of it. Us Obama antipathizers (yes, I made that word up—can’t help it if there are holes in the English language) almost wish he had been more arrogant in accepting the Nobel, because it would have made it so much easier for us to target our criticism and contempt over this decision at Obama himself. But Obama actually showed a lot of class and what seemed to be genuine surprise in his acceptance of the award, forcing us to target our criticism toward the unknown entities around the globe who made this idiotic decision instead. Good job there, Obama.