Posted on 09/12/2012 1:54:34 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Years ago when I was in junior high school, I had a shop teacher who would occasionally get exasperated with one of us and ask the question, “What makes a man be that way?” It’s a question I find myself asking many times.
So what is it that keeps so many people from prepping? And how can it be overcome?
To talk about that on DestinySurvival Radio yesterday was clinical psychologist Dr. Steven Futrell. He was on the show a few weeks ago and you can read about that interview here. Yesterday Steven and I dissected two broad topics–normalcy bias and situational awareness.
Normalcy bias is the idea that people believe nothing bad will happen because it hasn’t happened before. It’s also known as analysis paralysis, incredulity response or the ostrich effect. Of course, that last one refers to someone behaving like an ostrich who puts its head in the sand.
Many people can’t get their head around the idea that things could get bad. Many simply refuse to accept the truth. It doesn’t help when the media bombards us with the idea that we’re in economic recovery, even though they say it may be a slow one. It’s easier and more comfortable to believe that kind of message.
Is there a way to move people beyond this and into prepping? Does FEMA’s National Preparedness Message this month help? After all, authority carries a lot of sway with each of us. And maybe it takes a nudge from officials before people get it.
Nonetheless, even disasters like earthquakes, wildfires, Hurricane Katrina and more recently Isaac don’t seem to move people. It’s a real problem.
It’s compounded by the fact that you and I have a credibility problem with friends and family members. They’re prone to think we’re extremists or even nuts. Is there a way around this? Will asking probing questions motivate people to think? What about giving prepping related gifts?
Situational awareness is the opposite side of the coin. It means paying attention to your environment and those around you. And you don’t have to be on a survival camping trek in the wilderness to put this into practice.
It’s a good idea to anticipate possible problems and get mentally ready for them. Doing thought experiments can help. For example, ask yourself what you’d do if you were mugged? How would you handle it if you lost your job?
But how do we determine what threats are real and which ones aren’t likely? Be objective. Ask yourself a few questions.
For example, how likely is it that you’ll be hit by a meteorite today? How relevant to your prepping are the events in today’s news? Should you be frightened or persuaded by what so-called authorities are telling us?
Understand it’s not possible to prepare for absolutely everything. But we don’t have to become overwhelmed. Focus. Prioritize. Don’t try to do everything all at once. Take baby steps with your prepping endeavors.
Steven and I wrapped up our chat by talking about the typical reactions to the “fight or flight” response. Besides fight or flight, we may freeze up or surrender.
I raised the idea of how odd it was that no one disarmed the shooter at the Batman movie in Colorado earlier this summer. Was everyone so panicked they could only surrender in resignation? Was this a bad case of normalcy bias where such an event was incomprehensible? Wasn’t that a situation when someone should have put himself at risk to save the lives of others?
Hear my entire discussion with Dr. Futrell by listening to DestinySurvival Radio for September 6, 2012.
By the way, I talked about two contests near the beginning of my show yesterday. One is the Be Sun Savvy contest, which I’ll write more about here tomorrow. The second contest is one in which I’m giving away my review copy of The Pulse, by Scott B. Williams. Listen to the show for details.
DestinySurvival Radio will be a “best of” show next week on the 13th. You can hear any show of your choice by going here.
What do you think? Have you had to overcome normalcy bias? Have you helped a friend or loved one overcome it? What worked? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
btw I downloaded your pic and looked for metadata using Photoshop- nothing showed up at all, maybe Photobucket strips it out?
If we had a culture that valued looking forward, aka, “preparing for a rainy day”, prepping is what everyone would do who is not mentally ill or socially warpped in some way. We are now an instant gratification culture. The ghetto won.
Also, the survival industry has cried “Wolf!” too many times to scare up customers and elitists ridicule people who prepare in response to the chicken little survival industry. They’ve misled and made fear asses of a lot of people, ruining their reputations with family and friends. They have broken up marriages.
Be normal. Prepare for a rainy day. Ignore the fear porn industry. They ARE manipulating people’s emotions for the money.
Beats me; first time I’ve ever used PB. And first time I’ve ever heard about metadata in pics, DB. You’re light years ahead of me.
I’m still wondering if the old/ancient digital cameras were even capable of encoding pics w/ metadata? I just don’t know. If PB is stripping-out the info, I wonder what they’re doing with it? Hmmmm...
There was an article last week on yahoo about the entire retail sector trying to ween customers off of the sales addiction. The loss leader structure doesn’t work well in the modern internet world, so low prices on some items no longer drive sales up on others, which was the whole purpose of sale items in the first place. So prices won’t be going up so much as no longer temporarily dipping.
Metadata editing tools:
A bunch here. Any suggestions? I’ll have to check them out and see if I can find one for dummies, like me.
I have an old Kodak Easyshare. For metadata it encodes camera type and almost all the camera settings (shutter speed, aperture, and so on), zoom setting, and camera body serial number, plus other less obvious stuff.
Some “modern” cameras also encode GPS data, though if you are shooting in a shielded building or under heavy overcast, the last GPS reading will be used.
Not all “old” cameras use serial numbers in metadata.
http://www.amok.am/en/freeware/amok_exif_sorter/ is one program that sorts, http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-view-the-exif-data-of-a-photograph.htm is a viewer online, http://support.google.com/picasa/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=19612 is another.
It’s a good idea to check what you post online in pictures! I also routinely remove license plates, clothing emblems, and the like that gives traceability to the picture. Wouldn’t do to show of my Barrett or my M60 with my license plate visible on my truck!
I find metadata useful when doing technical photography, where I might want a folder of all the shots I took at ASA400, 1/60th, and f11. I can sort pix by metadata, with a tool I got online that sorts by exif data (which is basically what metadata is).
Thanks for the warning, DB. I also have some very choice firearms, including a Barrett, and never have posted any of my personal Class III units online, either. Just mfgrs’ pics of them, glass, mags etc, but not my actuals.
The wiki article has some good freeware ones that delete exif metadata.
You lucky dawg. I wish I had enough room in my basement for that.
Thanks, DB; I’m working my way thru the links on that search. Lots to learn about metadata etc.
Hah! See, I’m not the only one!
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