* * * 19990829 Sunday

Anecdotal encouragement ...

I attended a family graduation party, yesterday. As an IT professional and advocate of public Y2K awareness full disclosure, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of awareness and shocked by an attitude held by others attending the party.

Background: Most attendees were in "blue collar" or "pink collar" work. Most were of mid 30's to late fifties age.

Actions some have taken:

1. Most were GI's ... unsure what the full Y2K repercussiions will be.

2. Some folks with closed wells--common in these parts of southeast michigan--have prudently unearthed the "closed" wells... just in case.

3. Food, medicines and heating preps are done or soon-to-be!

Attitudes:

About one third of those I chatted with are actually hoping Y2K will act as a government "purge" from what they perceive to be an ever-evolving tyranny! This was shocking to me. I didn't anticipate this level of awareness by folks in this social strata to the potential ramifications from a Y2K collapse. The clamor and yearning for a return to Constitutional basics was a common theme, too.

Some folks indicated that Y2K exposes the government "stench" (i.e., underground bunkers [e.g., NYC] to cover government/politicians a**e* WT-Y2K-SHTF.) An uneasy feeling of "abandonment" and mealy mouthing explanations by government of the citizenry in the face of potentially extended Y2K disruptions of the infrastructure.

The acrimony and enthusiasm was thick.

There's hope for the republic yet!

Anyone else experiencing this genre of reaction?

Regards, Bob Mangus

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-- Robert Mangus (rmangus1@yahoo.com), August 29, 1999

Answers

Hi Robert, good to see you posting. We don't get out much, but have noticed people beginning to express more dismay with the plethora of rules, regulations, and authoritarian BS they encounter. Some Y2K semi-GIs seem to almost welcome a change-the-direction event. It's been a subtle change, and hard for us to gauge as we don't meet that many people. But there definitely is more fatalism and less mockery. Those who mock are instantly defensive and cuttingly snide. They have gotten some practice ;^)

Thanks for your interesting post, and congratulations for waking up more weeples.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 29, 1999.

Robert-

Pretty much the same attitudes/age group here in rural northwest Missouri.Local agriculture economy going down the drain-people becoming aware they're being screwed by "the system".Lots of retired farmers that know that a pig's ass is ham and still remember how to make it into same at home. I feel fortunate to be where I am right now.

What's "pink collar"?

-- Sam (Gunmkr52@aol.com), August 29, 1999.

I haven't noticed any more 'anti-government' sentiment than normal but I *HAVE* noticed a drastic increase in people's concern about Y2K. In the past two weeks at least five people who could care less about Y2K three months ago have suddenly become GIs and have asked me what they should be doing to prepare. These are the same folks that dismissed Y2K as a 'hoax' and didn't bother reading the articles I've been passing out over the past year.

Methinks the herd is beginning to move...

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), August 29, 1999.

While I am a computer consultant and therefore not techinically "blue or pink collar", I have found that the more educated and the higher professionally someone is the more they are a DWGI. Most of the people I know that are preparing are not professional people.

-- Beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), August 29, 1999.

Beckie, this absolutely fits in with what I have read in terms of poll responses. Obviously, you can read into this what you want. Personally, I think the upper echelon, blinded by their comfy lifestyles and 401k plans, simply will not believe that the world could ever be otherwise. People who have had to scratch for a living have known rocky times, and have no illusions as to what Y2K could bring.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), August 29, 1999.

* * * 19990829 Sunday

"pink collar" = female desk jobs

Could be "white collar" -- but the male office worker doesn't get it. There's something about Y2K striking a maternal (?) chord with the female gender of the species!

The male office worker DWGI.

Regards, Bob Mangus

* * *

-- Robert Mangus (rmangus1@yahoo.com), August 29, 1999.

Yes, I am noticing more interest, more GIs finishing preps, more waiverers finishing preps, more relatives GI, more neighborhood activism and interest.

This Waco revelation really shook me and my husband... it seems so in keeping with what I now know the goverment has done to suppress y2k knowledge, but somehow we just kind of bought the line that Waco was about crazy extremists.........heck, the crazy extremists turned out to be the FBI, the liars.

-- seraphima (seraphima@aol.com), August 29, 1999.

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

Pink Collar, AKA Velvet Ghetto. Female counterpart to blue collar. Mostly desk jobs such as secretarial & low level clerks. Also retail, teaching and child care.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), August 30, 1999.