Disaster Panic and Dangerous Humans

For a little while, I was buying into the concepts and images that are commonly shown about chaos during times/events of disaster. After some due diligence, I am starting to change my mind at least marginally on the following concepts:

• During an emergency, people will generally be "out for number 1"
• During emergency situations, most people will panic and become dangerous
• During disasters, most people will loot goods and harm other people

I am very much a newcomer to the survivalist scene. Information is plentiful online on survivalist topics, and I joined several survival-themed forums in order to glean information and engage in discussion about survival methods, tools, planning, etc.

In most of the forums I joined, an overwhelming number of discussion threads are dedicated to human to human dangers and violence immediately following natural and man-made disasters. After reading a great deal in these threads, I started thinking, "I'll never be even two-percent prepared for this kind of chaos and violence, no matter how much time I dedicate to survival preparations!"

This way of thinking, of course, caused further internal panic and no small touch of fear about surviving emergencies and disasters.

Then I took a step backward, realizing that much of what I was reading was emotionally-charged opinion on various topics all related to survival. In the forums, the general mood and air is one of PANIC, for the most part. After this realization hit, I had to decide, "Do I want to be part of this panic, do I want to succumb to this panic and end up not feeling as if I can prepare sufficiently? Or, do I want to do my best to prepare, within my means, and have at least something to go on in the event of near-future emergency or disaster?"

For a few days, I was working under the first option... sort of succumbing to panic so that I could do very little to actually take action and do preparing activities. Then I realized that, in real life, I have been IN a number of pretty bad situations, even emergencies - but the bulk of people around at the time didn't panic. Sure, in every crowd there are people who don't know what to do but I don't recall a time when bystanders just started getting out of control, violent, etc. In my region, we don't have a lot of guns and weapons, so nobody went nuts and started panicking and shooting anyone. Not a single person mentioned, asked for, or suggested a firearm should be present for reasons of safety, control, or otherwise. Most people stood by nervously, wondering what to do... very concerned about the people who were hurt, involved in altercations, etc. Some bystanders cried and shook along the side-lines, and a number of people jumped immediately to action if they were told to do something, so long as these orders were issued with confidence.

Maybe the most dangerous humans are the ones who aren't in any kind of survival situation, who are thinking about worst case scenarios and using some of their leisure time to post about violence, mayhem, chaos and all-or-nothing tactics in the forums.

This morning, I started to think upon what I know about media, propaganda, entertainment, etc., (basically a great deal of what we call news from major media sources is actually only propaganda) and now I wonder wholeheartedly if the reason many survivalists seem to truly believe that human to human dangers during and after a disaster are going to be the worst form of danger - is because this is what we see from mainstream media news.

How deeply are people actually thinking on the matter of survivalist methods, planning, etc? I have to conclude that much of what I am seeing in electronic correspondence and online discussion threads is fear based and reaction based commenting. I'm not saying preparing and looking out for people who are temporarily not using critical thinking skills in a disaster isn't important. I think what I'm getting at is - WE NEED TO CALM THE HECK DOWN HERE!

I know that if half of what is said in forums is true - no amount of planning by me or anyone else is going to matter during survival conditions because ultimately, the people who have prepared by getting themselves some big guns and automatic weapons - are basically going to go nuts and kill us all.

In the same way of thinking, if the above is true, storing food for ourselves is going to be of no use - storing anything and prepping anything is going to just give violent, gun-slinging people a cache of items to take away.

This might end up being the case, it's true - if we keep allowing discussion threads such as are in existence as the bulk of survivalist tips in the current forums online. If these words, discussions and such are our only options, the only discussions and information being spread around, then we truly WILL BE in serious trouble when SHTF. If people are panicky, they've got to go through the steps of calming down before they can think critically about certain situations. If they are in reaction mode most of the time, with just tidbits and violence, all-out-for-ourselves information as the only stuff that comes to mind in any emergency...yes, then surely we are all hooped!

Luckily, from what I know about sociology and history, past emergencies and even a few serious emergencies I have experienced myself, human psychology goes lower functioning than all the violent-related things I see as mainstay conversation on survival forums... what actually happens when people are very frightened and confused is - THEY SHUT DOWN. In my estimation, few people are taking THIS into account. Consequently, people who are SHUT DOWN are really quite non-violent... they're frozen. If given firm instructions from a confident source, they will often follow along. THIS is going to be a benefit in emergency situations for at least a few moments.

I wish people posting lists and large chunks of "instructional" and "warning" content in forums would think about how "panic" and the human psyche really works! Yes, some people freak out - and even so, many who freak out, harm themselves much more than harming other people. This has been something I have seen on a consistent basis from working and being around a "trauma" field/profession, being around homeless (and desperate!), addicted people. My best defense possible is to just stay away from gun-toting survivalists who are all prepping for violence...because if these people "lose it," their back-up plans all involve 'shot-to-kill' prompts. People are actually trying to train themselves to kill or be killed. I'm really sure that in my region, this kind of scenario is going to be limited (because firearms are very restricted where I'm at) and I'm thankful for this.

I suppose in all this, I am also saying that I feel the most dangerous people right at this time are the people who believe in violence as the only panic reaction during times of stress and disaster. Most appear to be willing to fight violence with violence, so I'll have to stay a hop, skip and big jump away from those types.

As well, for most of the day (better part of 5 hours straight), I've been reading up on research papers about real cases of disaster - which say that MOST PEOPLE DO NOT become violent at all in disaster situations even when threatened by other human beings who are being violent. Most people freeze up - and are easily prompted by firm, confident conversation.

So... this tells me that most people are going to enter into a state of not knowing what to do, experience overload leading to numbing and stillness. These people can actually be worked with and are very unlikely to be a danger to anyone. Some will literally even FALL RIGHT ASLEEP (it's called emotional/stimulus overload leading to dissociation).

I'm ready to believe now - that in order to avoid disaster panic and dangerous humans in the event of an emergency or disaster - I'll need to stay away from people who are going to act upon FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERRORS (making wrong conclusions based on interpretations of situations that are missing pieces of data) in their survival planning.

Suggestion: think very critically about whether you're reading survival tips or survival hype - the latter might be just as dangerous as real survival dangers during an emergency or disaster situation!

moi~