I'm sure all of you must sometimes wonder whether YOU're the ones that are delusional sometimes. It seems to me almost a sure sign of the times that we have so little coverage from 'legitimate' news sources. You've all covered this in one way or another in the past so forgive my digression. I talked to my boss (a WAY GI) the other day who's also afro-american. I am caucasian--she told me that one of her friends used to say 'when the white folks SAY it, it's already been done.' Sounds reasonable to me. The 'white folks are saying 3-7 days'---hmmmmmm. When we have coverage of every infinitesimal detail of the monica lewinsky scandal--the blue gap dress, etc, etc. --coverage of george michael's exposing himself, coverage of hugh grant soliciting a prostitute--and it BLANKETS the news again and again--it seems EXTREMELY ominous to me that so little thought/coverage/air-time is being given to the Y2K issue. I'm more amused by conspiracy theorists than most, but c'mon folks! When the IG of the State Dept. talks doom and gloom, when Yardeni (a usual bull) talks gloom and doom, when it's PROVEN that the NERC is LYING about their compliance, the DOD is LYING about their compliance, the World Bank is bracing for the shock---c'mon!!!!! Another REALLY shocking thing to me (but not shocking, if you're following all this)is that Willam Cohen could write a rather forceful piece on bio/chemical terrorism and NOT ONE of the major news media pick it up! I know that Ed Y. is sure that we're in the end-game stage of everything--maybe we can't change minds--but let me tell you--I ran off some really CHOICE materials this past week and gave them to a GI co-worker who was stocking up stuff with a DWGI husband. He read the stuff and told her last week he'd seen a good deal on cans of tuna! Don't doubt that you can make a difference--even at this late date. Thanks for all your hard work, and mea culpa again for any typos, mispellings, etc.

The daughter of a journalist and an English teacher!

-- Sally Dalloway (aeronwy@hotmail.com), August 18, 1999

Answers

Actually, Sally, if I'm not mistaken about the Cohen piece you're referring to, it was printed in the Washington Post. (Of course, it's no longer there, I just checked.)

Other than that, you got it about right...

(although I don't quite understand the significance of the afro- american remark. Also, the press' obsession with covering sex scandals and avoiding Y2K makes perfect sense if you think about it...)

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 18, 1999.

you echo my sentiments--share the word on Y2K. my conversion rate is pretty high (several this week alone) because i give them written things and then follow up with a talk. i expect close to last minute converts as well who GI once they see a few "scary" events.

what kind of people are we if we don't share the word and just stock up ourselves? i would hate to have to account for my burying my "talents" (you know the parable of the master, the servant, and the talents--one guy just buried them) when sharing them could save people's lives.

sally, it is strange indeed that americans are so GI these days? was it always that way you history buffs?

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), August 18, 1999.

oh forgive me--so DGI.

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), August 18, 1999.

"what kind of people are we if we don't share the word and just stock up ourselves?"

We're the kind of people who don't want neighbors showing up at our doorsteps demanding our food after they adamantly refused to prepare themselves despite repeated warnings -- That's the kind of people we are.

I work with college professors. If any one of them "gets it," then he/she is keeping his/her mouth very shut about it. More likely they're just too intelligent to worry about a simple little computer bug. But the dumb little secretary (me), with no letters after her name, is preparing.

What kind of person does that make me...?

-- I tell them but (no@one.listens), August 18, 1999.

pshannon,

That's why we often make an archive copy here...

OT?: William S. Cohen, Secretary of Defense: Preparing For A Grave New World (USIA)

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 0018ov

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), August 18, 1999.

Don't make the fatal mistake of telling people about Y2K and how prepared you are. It could be fatal!!! Its a little like telling people they should take their money out of the bank, and then mention to them that is exactly what you did, removed all 124,000 dollars from you account and hid it in you mattress. LOL

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), August 18, 1999.

Cohen's essay was reprinted in full on the front page of the Sunday Opinions section of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat two weeks ago. This paper has had good continuing press on y2k. There is usually one a day, last week 3 articles with the word y2k in the title, plus the MCI Worldcom story, all in one day.

-- seraphima (seraphima@aol.com), August 18, 1999.

I tell them,"Whatkind of persondoes that make me?" *Smart*. I have cousin who is a professor, now in administration, and she gets a kick out of her counsin who only has two and a half years of college stocking up.

"I'll just come to your house," she laughs.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), August 18, 1999.

Sorry, I forgot to proof my post before submitting. Yikes!!

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), August 18, 1999.

When people say, "I'll just come to your house," I tell them that's why we bought the guns.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), August 18, 1999.

I'll have to agree - we're in the endgame. Don't initiate any conversations about Y2K at all - only discuss Y2K if the other party seriously brings it up first themselves.

"They won't prepare, but they will remember."

-- Jim (x@x.x), August 18, 1999.

I've had several people in the last two weeks approach me about Y2K. I've been a GI for over 18 months and started telling people about it then. After about a month of put downs, I figured this would be the way it's going to be from here on out so I have kept my mouth shut. Now, all of sudden they seem to be coming out of the wood work wanting information and asking if I am stocking up. I act like THEY are crazy and go about my business. The shoe is on the other foot now.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), August 18, 1999.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

When we have coverage of every infinitesimal detail of the monica lewinsky scandal--the blue gap dress, etc, etc...

I have had this exact thought. There's another new KIA commercial in which someone is responding to reporters in a press conference. One of the reporters asks him who is responsible for all the hype and he says something close to this in a tone reminiscent of Dana Carvy's "SATAN?????": "Geee, I don't know... the PRESS?????" The weird thing about it is that the traditional press is so far from covering it at all. The only place I ever see it on TV is in the KIA commercials.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), August 18, 1999.

I must agree with the "secret preparation" mindset. In fall of '98 I was having open discussions with anyone who wanted to talk about Y2K. Now I never bring it up, and I change the subject when others initiate it. I don't want them coming to me for help in the 11th hour. I can barely afford to prepare my family, and I can't be enlisted to save 10 other families that never took me seriously in the first place. I am helping my immediate family and a few extended family members, some without their knowledge because I want to provide for them in spite of their ignorance. Like the cliche phrase goes, I can always give it to a food bank if nothing happens, or use it myself.

-- Sam (sam67@home.com), August 18, 1999.

People (for the most part) didn't prepare before the last Bay Area earthquake, and probably didn't prepare for the recent one in Turkey. But some people will listen long enough to see that some preparations make sense. If nothing else, they may use Y2K as an excuse to get some new camping gear that they've been wanting!

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), August 18, 1999.

There's a compromise solution. Talk to people who don't live close to you.

If it's just a BITR, I don't think there will be roving bands of food-raiders, and if it turns out to be food riot city, there's not much of a chance of anyone even trying to make it to another city or even across town, to get to your stores.

I've talked to scads of people, who don't live close to me (I'm talking other than internet connections) about the problem. Sometimes even with success.

I've done the job of helping someone else's neighbor become GI. I sure hope someone else is working on mine.

-- Bokonon (bok0non@my-Deja.com), August 18, 1999.

People love to talk. Hell, WE love to talk. Here we are, blabbing.

Imagine telling people about y2k in October 1997, when it was fresh and exciting (to me). I didn't tell too many then before it was clear that this was not your usual "So what have YOU been up to lately?" family topic.

It's been buttoned ever since (except with friends here -- and every lurker in the world!) Heh!?

We were just early. First and foolish. If things come down fast, maybe we'll be wiser for it as others go through the same stages.

A fool and his tuna...

-- jor-el (jor-el@krypton.uni), August 19, 1999.

Bokonon:

That's exactly what I've been doing, talking to people who live too far away to show up at my house. This past weekend I had my best success... at a convention I started talking about Y2K to a woman who got it immediately. Very gratifying to finally convince someone. Her husband was skeptical, but he then mentioned a recent conversation he had with a programmer who said her bosses were lying about their progress. On their way home they stopped at a store to begin preps.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), August 19, 1999.