If you happened to tune into the National Geographic channel tonight, you would have seen the first two episodes of a fascinating and troubling ten-part series called “Doomsday Preppers” – in which the viewer is introduced to a variety of Americans with one things in common: they all sincerely believe that some sort of doomsday is all but inevitable, and they are bound and determined to be prepared for it. Some of these doomsday preppers fear a cataclysmic earthquake while others are convinced that the Planet Earth is overdue to see its poles reverse position, which would create havoc all over the globe. Some are prepping for a global financial meltdown while others are gearing up for nuclear war. Still others are certain that our country will be the target of an attack with an EMP (an electronic-magnetic pulse) which will totally disable our power grid and communication system. Essentially, each of these preppers is fixated on a potential catastrophe and chosen to devote untold time, energy and money towards preparing for that particular potential disaster. In effect, these people have spent a lot of time thinking about the unthinkable.
I was sent preview DVD’s of the first three episodes of the series, and I found myself absolutely transfixed by what I saw. I was troubled, too, and even a little bit irritated …. but mostly I was fascinated by these people who are so fearful about doomsday that they are willing to build their entire lives around preparing for a disaster which of course (we all hope) might not ever come. We meet a couple from rural Texas who have stockpiled more than 50,000 lbs. of food as well as weapons with which to defend themselves and their property if necessary. . . and on a regular basis they practice their elaborate evacuation plan, which is in place in case they’re forced to flee. Another doomsday prepper is a single woman who has stuffed every spare inch of her small studio apartment with food and other emergency supplies- and because she most fears a disastrous oil crisis, she has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that she will be able to get herself from her apartment (in downtown Houston) to her emergency evacuation vehicle (hidden in an undisclosed location eleven miles away) on foot. Yet another prepper lives on a small Tennessee farm which is equipped with a state-of-the-art ham radio system which he believes will end up serving as a major communication hub for the U.S. in the event that a EMP attack destroys our phone system, internet access, and anything else dependent on satellite technology.
As I watched these preppers, part of me was absolutely astonished at how methodical they were. They have left no stone unturned in their quest for preparedness- and there was something almost breathtaking about their passion. But after watching several profiles, it became clear that none of these preppers appeared to have anything else in their lives. Not once did you see someone reading a book or listening to music. You never see anyone throwing a football, taking violin lessons, or even playing a game. Their lives appear completely submerged in their quest for preparedness… and to me, that’s the problem with all this. And yesterday morning, when I got to interview a doomsday prepper named Tim Ralston, I asked him about the possibility that he and his fellow preppers might possibly be giving up all of the joys of today out of fear for a tomorrow that might not even come. (In twenty years of doing the morning show, this may be the single most confrontational question I’ve ever asked a guest.) And his answer essentially was that when it comes to figuring out who’s being foolish, Time Will Tell.
In the meantime, I have to confess that a tiny part of me does think from time to time about what life might be like if some sort of disaster were to suddenly strike. Every time I happen to go down the grocery store aisle with the bottled water, I think about buying three huge cases and storing them in our basement. . . just in case. I occasionally think about FEMA’s recommendations for an emergency preparedness kit- although thinking about it is all I’ve done about it. I really only find myself galvanized to action when there is something very real in the air. Kathy will tell you with some amusement of how nervous I get before huge blizzards and will often stock up with supplies as though I expect to be stranded for a week. And of course there is the infamous incident many years ago when I went to the grocery store in the eve of the first Gulf War and walked out with more than ninety dollars worth of groceries – four times more than I had ever spent in single visit to the grocery store. (This was back in my bachelor days.) What freaked me out was fear that President George H.W. Bush might be assassinated (there were rumors that such a plot was afoot), which in turn could have triggered some serious unrest and disruption. So what was I doing in response? Buying a five-pound box of elbow macaroni and a mountain of other groceries- – – when in fact I didn’t have a clue about what made sense to have on hand in the unlikely event that there were riots in the streets. One of the best things about being married to someone as down to earth and practical as Kathy is that she’s around to talk me out of my fearful foolishness. I sure wish she had been around back then to talk me down from my panicky place on the ledge, certain that life as I knew it was about to end.
So, are these doomsday preppers dumb? No. I think in many cases they are doing what they’re doing as a mean to fight back certain demons or to assert a much needed sense of order in their lives. . . or both. Many of the doomsday preppers were in the military, and one of the most wildly fervent happened to be in Saigon as it fell in the final hours of the Viet Nam War – and he seems completely haunted to this day by the utter chaos he witnessed in those horrible days. I can well understand how someone with that in their past might actually find some measure of reassurance – and perhaps even inner peace, oddly enough – in doomsday preparation. And maybe they are wisely taking a cue from the industrious squirrels who store nuts for the winter. But for me, it’s a case of missing out on all that Today has to offer…. and that’s a loss that cannot be weighed.
pictured above: This is just a tiny fraction of the enormous food reserves – more than 50,000 pounds worth – stored by Paul and Gloria Range. “Doomsday Preppers” airs on Tuesday evenings on the National Geographic channel. By the way, each episode also includes an interesting moment in which each doomsday prepper is briefly evaluated by an expert in the field who typically gives them one or two suggestions of what they might do differently. Each episode also includes something of a scientific disclaimer in which the viewers are reassured that the “doomsday” in question is, as far as science is concerned, is highly unlikely to occur. But that doesn’t seem to matter in the least to these doomsday preppers.