Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog,
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” ~ George Orwell
I was recently doing some research about the aftermath of some natural disasters that took place here in America. I was shocked to find that the articles I was looking for – ones that I had read in the past – were pretty hard to find, but articles refuting the sought-for pieces were rampant. Not just one event, but every single crisis aftermath that I looked up, had articles that were written after the fact stating in no uncertain terms that the hunger, chaos, and unrest never happened.
Apparently we, the preparedness community, are all wrong when it comes to the belief that after a disaster, chaos erupts and civic disorder is the rule of the day.
According to “experts” it never happens.
Panic? What panic?
According to newspaper articles written after Superstorm Sandy devastated the East Coast and after Hurricane Katrina caused countless billions in damage in New Orleans, people were calm, benevolent and peaceful. Heck, they were all standing around singing Kumbayah around a campfire, sharing their canned goods, calming frightened puppies, and helping the elderly.
Apparently studies prove that the fear of anarchy, lawlessness, and chaos is nothing but the “disaster myth”. Reams of examples exist of the goodness and warmth of society as a whole after disaster strikes. All the stories you read at the time were just that – stories, according to the mainstream media:
Yet there are a few examples stubbornly fixed in the popular imagination of people reacting to a natural disaster by becoming primal and vicious. Remember the gangs “marauding” through New Orleans, raping and even cannibalizing people in the Super-Dome after Hurricane Katrina? It turns out they didn’t exist. Years of journalistic investigations showed them to be racist fantasies. They didn’t happen. Yes, there was some “looting” — which consisted of starving people breaking into closed and abandoned shops for food. Of course human beings can behave atrociously – but the aftermath of a disaster seems to be the time when it is least likely. (source)
The Disaster Myth
The Disaster Myth is a narrative created by the establishment and delivered by their stoolies in the mainstream media. The Disaster Myth points fingers at many of the things that are commonly believed to be true by the preparedness community. Included in this narrative:
- People do not panic after a disaster – instead, they pull together.
- The official government response is always speedy and appropriate.
- You will be taken care of if you simply comply peacefully with authorities.
- There is little increase in post-disaster crime.
Looting? Only hungry people getting food from unmanned stores. Who wouldn’t do that?
Beatings and assaults? Didn’t happen. Disturbed people made these stories up for attention.
Gang rapes? No way. You watch too much Law and Order: SVU.
Murder, mayhem, and gangs of youth on the streets? Silly readers – we just made that up.
However, these statements all stand in direct opposition to the stories we hear from news sources duringthe crisis.
Remember this?
We heard terrible stories from eyewitnesses who suffered from hunger, thirst, and unsanitary condition in the Superdome after Katrina. We heard about citizens being robbed of their 2nd Amendment rights by police after the crisis, and we heard about gang rapes, looting, and mayhem.
Fast forward to Sandy where people were defecating in the hallways of their high rise apartments and digging through garbage to find food just a few days after the storm. As for the official response, who can forget the FEMA shelter that closed because of inclement weather? Of course, the weather was inclement – it was a freaking weather-related disaster!
Here’s how bad it got.
Mac Slavo of SHTFplan wrote of the unrest, discomfort, and mayhem after Superstorm Sandy ransacked the East Coast:
For tens of thousands of east coast residents that worst case scenario is now playing out in real-time. No longer are images of starving people waiting for government handouts restricted to just the third-world.
In the midst of crisis, once civilized societies will very rapidly descend into chaos when essential infrastructure systems collapse.
Though the National Guard was deployed before the storm even hit, there is simply no way for the government to coordinate a response requiring millions of servings of food, water and medical supplies
Many east coast residents who failed to evacuate or prepare reserve supplies ahead of the storm are being forced to fend for themselves.
Frustration and anger have taken hold, as residents have no means of acquiring food or gas and thousands of trucks across the region remain stuck in limbo.
Limited electricity has made it possible for some to share their experiences:
Via Twitter:
- I was in chaos tonite tryin to get groceries…lines for shuttle buses, only to get to the no food left & closing early (link)
- I’m not sure what has shocked me more, all the communities around me destroyed, or the 5 hour lines for gas and food. (link)
- Haven’t slept or ate well in a few days. Hope things start getting better around here soon (link no longer available)
- These days a lot of people are impatient because they’re used to fast things. Fast food, fast internet, fast lines and fast shipping etc. (link)
- Glad Obama is off to Vegas after his 90 minute visit. Gas lines are miles long.. Running out of food and water. Great Job (link)
- Went to the Grocery store and lines were crazy but nail salon was empty so I’ve got a new gel manicure and some Korean junk food (link)
- So f*cking devastated right now. Smell burning houses. People fighting for food. Pitch darkness. I may spend the night in rockaway to help (link)
At the time of the event, even the mainstream reported on the affluent East Side residents dumpster diving in search of food. Was this NBC report, complete with video, a work of salacious fiction?
As far as civil unrest is concerned, the “Twittersphere” was jammed with people planning looting spreesin the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Those who were already of criminal leanings saw the disaster as a great opportunity. In the great North American Edit, however, these tweets are said to be part of the myth – apparently they were just kids playing around. Some reports pooh-poohed the very idea that looters had run amok.
This article from Prison Planet refutes all of the refuting and says that the civil unrest DID occur and that it generally does, given evidence from past events.
Legends from the past? Every single extreme weather event in recent years in the United States has been followed by looting.
As MSNBC reported at the time, looting during Hurricane Katrina was so prevalent that it “took place in full view of police and National Guard troops.”
Residents described the scenes as being like “downtown Baghdad” as looters filled garbage cans full of stolen goods and floated them down flooded streets.
As Forbes’ Erik Kain points out, “looting and rioting…occur after most natural disasters,” including after Hurricane Irene as well as Hurricane Isaac.
Looters also targeted victims of the Colorado wildfires earlier this year.
But again and again, we’re told that none of it happened.
Here’s a sampling of articles and studies supporting the Disaster Myth Narrative:
- http://ann.sagepub.com
- http://voices.yahoo.com
- http://articles.washingtonpost.com
- http://www.slate.com
- http://www.minnpost.com
- http://nextcity.org
- http://dspace.udel.edu
Does this sound familiar?
This revision of inconvenient history will sound quite familiar to anyone who has read George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984 (which was not meant to be an instruction manual, by the way.)
In the novel, the main character, Winston Smith, worked for the Ministry of Truth, which was actually a department of propaganda whose job it was to rewrite any faction of history that did not make the government look omniscient.
In George Orwell‘s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Ministry of Truth is Oceania‘s propaganda ministry. It is responsible for any necessary falsification of historical events. The word truth in the title Ministry of Truth should warn, by definition, that the “minister” will self-serve its own “truth”; the title implies the willful fooling of posterity using “historical” archives to show “in fact” what “really” happened. As well as administering truth, the ministry spreads a new language amongst the populace called Newspeak, in which, for example, truth is understood to mean statements like 2 + 2 = 5 when the situation warrants.
The Ministry of Truth is involved with news media, entertainment, the fine arts and educational books. Its purpose is to rewrite history to change the facts to fit Party doctrine for propaganda effect. For example, if Big Brother makes a prediction that turns out to be wrong, the employees of the Ministry of Truth go back and rewrite the prediction so that any prediction Big Brother previously made is accurate. This is the “how” of the Ministry of Truth’s existence. Within the novel, Orwell elaborates that the deeper reason for its existence is to maintain the illusion that the Party is absolute. It cannot ever seem to change its mind (if, for instance, they perform one of their constant changes regarding enemies during war) or make a mistake (firing an official or making a grossly misjudged supply prediction), for that would imply weakness and to maintain power the Party must seem eternally right and strong. (source)
But….WHY????
So why the vast effort to expunge tales of mayhem and to make it seem like our own national disasters really weren’t that bad? Why does the government and the media want us to think everything is just fine?
I can think of no other reason than their own irrelevance.
Remember when the Cajun Navy began rescuing people from floods and they ran into all sorts of legal issues? The did a better and more efficient job than officials and the people “in charge” just wouldn’t have it.
If you don’t NEED them, then there is no leverage to force you into compliance. You don’t NEED to go to Camp FEMA in order to have 3 squares a day. You don’t NEED to give up your guns in order to have a roof over your head and government-supplied security. You don’t NEED to get some kind of chip implanted in your arm to be scanned in order to receive “benefits” like medical care, food, and even money.
Self-sufficiency means freedom. When you can feed yourself, clothe yourself, shelter yourself, and protect yourself, you are far less likely to need to cede your freedoms in order to stay alive. And in a nation governed by those who are frantically trying to withdraw our constitutional rights, this just won’t do. They need leverage.
So the establishment has created a narrative that tells us what we are doing is silly and unnecessary.
They are rewriting history (and not just about disasters) even though we only lived that history in the past decade. Even though we know the truth of the matter because we watched it live, they are changing the facts to make us doubt our own perceptions.
To give credit where it’s due, the current head of FEMA seems to be doing things a little differently. But don’t expect the media and Congress to follow suit.
But we know the civil unrest is really occurring.
If this civil unrest is not occurring, why is the National Guard called to keep the peace? Why are state police riding around on tanks wearing body armor? Why were the guns of law-abiding citizens taken away in the aftermath of Katrina?
My family and I have opted to be prepared with food, water, a self-defense strategy, and home security. We believe that when bad things happen, worse things often follow before order is restored. We won’t be lining up to get an MRE and a bottle of water to share amongst us. We won’t require a cot at Camp FEMA. We won’t need to give up our firearms in order to get our next meal.
Which reality are you going to believe?
Are you going to believe the one that you witnessed or the perverted rewrite that the mainstream media is trying to push upon you?
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Word. The myth keepers want America to remain the selfless bastion of goodness it has always been; regardless of the level of chaos we find ourselves in. But the cold, ugly truth is we are a generally good people because we have been blessed with abundantly good times. Sure, we love to share the load when we have a rich bounty to share from, but remove a few levels of comfort and the real face of America will come out. It’s not just “them,” you yourself will also put on a new face when calamity strikes and surviving from one day to the next becomes your only priority.
Here during the depression, Americans did pull together, because we were a lot more self reliant and able to work together in times of empty store shelves, but that was then; this is now. 50% of us are on a government handouts, which is not a bad thing until the hand out dries up; that’s when the fun begins.
So prepare and as the days grow darker, look for like minded individuals, for I believe the spirit of our grand parents of the ‘30’s will live on in the prepper communities. I only feel sorry now for the unprepared, but that will turn to grim determination to survive when times turn dicey.
“So prepare and as the days grow darker, look for likeminded individuals.”
Yea buddy Not Sure!
In the beginning stages of getting together with two friends/neighbors from church. Forming what I’m calling a ‘Christian Mutual Support Group’. Hope to expand it to more like minded families after we get our three cord strand wrapped tightly together.
Coming together in mutual support with others who see the same storm(s) coming, are preparing as well…a tribe you share values with, can trust, and are also ready to make a stand will be critical.
Not Sure,
“I only feel sorry now for the unprepared, but that will turn to grim determination to survive when times turn dicey.”
Inexpensive stashes of Ramon Noodles and Bags of beans could go a long way…if that grim determination comes knocking. An added angle to the dangle of this…What If?
Intriguing video, better to plan for the possibility now then be on the other side of the door not sure what to do.
This disaster porn must describe cities, not deplorable America. I worked in the backwoods of PA to restore telecommunications to the most rural parts of the state after Sandy. Telecom buildings had been underwater. There is no cell phone service in these places. Houses had literally washed down creeks and streams taking out bridges as they went.
In the aftermath was there looting, gang rapes, or any of the atrocities described? Nope. But there was plenty of churches open to provide meals, warmth, a place to stay, and community to the people devastated by the storms. Communities of men worked together to clear trees and debris from the roads to make them passable. In the end, official government did very little to help.
After 3 days we were able to get things cleaned up enough to bring in some experts on service restorals to get things functioning again. He was amazed at the community. He had worked most every hurricane in the southeast and said that in those places (I assume cities) at best people would sit at the end of their driveway waiting for the government to do something. Up here in deplorable country, we took care of ourselves and each other.
“In the aftermath was there looting, gang rapes, or any of the atrocities described? Nope. But there was plenty of churches open to provide meals, warmth, a place to stay, and community to the people devastated by the storms. Communities of men worked together to clear trees and debris from the roads to make them passable. In the end, government did very little to help.”
Dirty Steve,
Great post/above paragraph!
Encouraged me even more to be a spark plug for getting ready in my 100 member rural country church.
I was born in 49 and had roots and relatives in Mt. Carmel PA…through the 50’s to the 80’s until the young left and spread across the country and the originals (Irish coal miners and Italian ahhhh….let’s call them entrepreneurs) went home to their reward or judgement. Had lots who went both directions on both sides.
I laughed out loud at your last two sentences! I spent too much of my miss-spent past/career in cities and yuppie burbs…you don’t have to be a snake to be a well-armed ‘Copperhead’ or the wrong American to thread on.
Avoid crowds and avoid blacks as if your life depended on it.
Because it does.
(((WHO))) wants you to be unprepared???
80% of people are okay or at least frozen in a real disaster. The 20% looking to profit/ loot will always be around to take advantage of any disaster. It really does not help when normies during Storm Sandy could not figure out how to put food in a cooler on the deck rather than let it rot in the fridge. I may not understand living in an apartment but shitting in a hallway or pissing in a corner seems contra-indicative to healthy environment. It’s a 5 gallon bucket and it will save you from pissing and shitting your home.
I’m not a big fan on dumping a “chamber pot”/ sanitation bucket in a storm sewers. But shitting/pissing in stairwell seems unsanitary.
Cities and Metropolitan think they are the Lords of all creation. No cities will can survive if the don’t have clean food and water. Those products come from the Rural/Red counties.
I could not do it, but it might be an interesting exercise to see how rural areas support cities and what could happen if all rural support stops supporting cities.
Not sure , America was 90% white and mostly Christian+ the laws against crime were no bullshit laws .The chain gang was not a pleasure place . Blacks knew they would be punished . My grandparents survived the Great Depression. They told me the stories of what America was like back then.
Avoid crowds and avoid blacks like the plague seems to be good advice.
Free speech ,you obviously haven’t done your homework when it comes to Jews. If you had you wouldn’t sound so foolish to someone like me. They hate you . They hate Western Civilization . There is a reason Jews have been kicked out of 109 nations throughout history. There is a reason Hitler and later Stalin turned on Jews. There are reasons why people the world over despise the vile bastards.Do your homework.
Google “learned helplessness” to understand the condition of most city dwellers. Taught to live only in the short-term, maintain no food stocks (due to small living spaces), live in constant debt, not allowed to own firearms, can’t fend for themselves in most ways, and that achievement is measure by “likes”…God help this country. I’m part of the near-city crowd, and it astounds me when I learn that my neighbors have no stored food, no stored water, no firearms, no shelter-in-place or alternatively, an escape plan. But then, I’m from an older generation that didn’t have an unquestioning semi-religious belief that the government would come to save me if bad things started happening.
Regardless of ((whoever/whatever group/ethnicity)) may or may not be a causative factor, or the abandonment of whatever sect we used to follow, or the fact that violent earthquakes have rattled the flat earth free of its wobbly orbit . . . WE as a culture are more selfish, self-centered, self-serving, ignorant, and downright foolish in a way that would have our ancestors rattling their heads free from their own shoulders. Blame public education, the ten planks of communism that made it a goal (and the federal reserve, too, by baalzebub), television PROGRAMMING, or even the brain-softening waves broadcast by radio stations for the last hundred and however many years; blame operation paper-clip and the subsequent fluoridation of the water that is giving everybody cancer and shrinking our sex-organs, brains, and, mostly, our pineal glands; blame the aluminum in the vaccines and EVERY OTHER GD THING, the gradual poisoning of our food supply with metals, fluoride, pesticides, and whatever strain of E-coli, listeria, or salmonella that they are experimenting with this week; or blame the chem-trails, the hologram moon, NASA’s inability to replicate its missions to said hologram, the Chinese for the MSG, and the Russians for being the nosy, imperialist jackboots that the focking ((media-ites)) talking heads have been trying to convince us that they are; blame the porn, the present generation of cucks and sluts, their useless parents, their useless grandparents, the domestic pickup trucks or import cars, hairless cats and pygmy-toy-tea-cup-keychain micro dogs, the i-pod, the i-pad, i-phone, i-robot, or i-fuk-robot, the “i-break-wind-in-your-general-direction” Frenchie yellow vests or the globalist slavemasters who lick their chops at the thought of all the blood in the streets, or blame the BOOK, which forewarns us that these days of chaos and darkness are coming, or STOP BLAMING . . . and accept that those days are now; they MUST BE, or else we are NOT having this discussion about REALITY and WHAT ACTUALLY FUCKING HAPPENS as opposed to the FICTION that THEY ARE TRYING TO SELL US AS TRUTH.
ACCEPT where we are: awake, with eyes to see and ears to hear. FORESIGHT. USE IT. And understand – as awful as it sounds – you are “ruled” by people who will, by way of deceit and trickery, as did the serpent in the garden, devour you, your food, your freedoms, your hands, your feet, your faith, your families, and, afterwards, dance on your mass graves – so realize – if THIS is how IT is . . . floods, fires, famine, and pandemics may not be such a bad idea.
end of rant/drop the mic