There are times, in my life and when speaking to other preppers, there is a sense of frustration. They want so badly to awaken the sheeple. They are at a loss. In all honesty, sometimes I am too. It is very difficult to fight past normalcy bias. Normalcy bias can and has resulted in unnecessary and additional deaths during extreme crisis situations. We, as a nation and as citizens of the world, are being faced with the grand-daddy of all economic collapse scenarios. I need not go into all the nasty details. If you read this blog with any regularity, or even are a new reader, just review my past posts. People are literally experiencing overload. They know on an instinctive level that something is not right. This is where the normalcy bias kicks in. Normalcy bias is also known as the "sheep effect". Studies have shown that in natural disasters, like hurricanes, that more than 70% of people check with others before deciding to evacuate. This causes significant issues with planning for disasters. The normalcy bias also causes people to drastically underestimate the effects of the disaster. Therefore, they think that everything will be all right, while information from the radio, television, or neighbors gives them reason to believe there is a risk. This creates a cognitive dissonance that they then must work to eliminate. Some manage to eliminate it by refusing to believe new warnings coming in and refusing to evacuate (maintaining the normalcy bias), while others eliminate the dissonance by escaping the danger. The lack of preparation for disasters often leads to inadequate shelter, supplies, and evacuation plans. Even when all these things are in place, individuals with a normalcy bias often refuse to leave their homes. This is what we are fighting. All I can tell you is do not give up. Eventually you will get them to reject their reality and substitute your awakened reality. Do not lose heart. Got preps? Pray for the best prepare for the worst.
Falc, You can lead a horse to water, show him how good the waters are, But if they don't drink you might have to shoot them because they will want your preps. I use multiple social media streams to try to wake up friends, acquittance's, and followers to the trouble that is brewing. Seems like shouting in the wilderness, alas, if they don't want to be saved, I'm not going to worry about it. I will squawk until the intertube goes dark. I will carry on. And so will you and yours.
I know sometimes it is right infront of people and Im constanly trying to point it out to friends and family. I think some times they are just scared to think about it, you know kind of like out of site out of mind.
The main reason that the sheeple refuse to wake up and see the light is because they are simply too comfortable to have to deal with any kind of change that will disturb their little cocoon that surrounds their individual lives, even when it is too late.
I am simply saying that this is a real and dangerous mindset for people. We, as the "awakened" cannot give up, no matter how difficult it is. I agree with Visu, you can lead a horse to water, but cannot make them drink. I am fully prepared to defend my preps, but let me be clear, my family and friends do NOT know I have preps. We do not talk about specifics, other than the words "being prepared, just in case" until I see that the light has turned on, as it were. There was a recent study in the Journal of Nature, Psychology that showed in clinical tests some people who are die-hard optimists, actually have a dysfunction in their frontal lobes. Under MRI scans their brain function was observed as they were given very bad news, worse than they expected. Their frontal lobe activity dropped off, and it is now felt that some people are physically incapable of shifting their perception to a different, more pragmatic, outlook. These folks are essentially brain damaged. Perhaps we should give it the old college try and just give up.
I call it "the ostrich syndrome". And I'm sure you all know the old saying - There's none so blind as those who won't see". Regarding the horse to water - unfortunately, when TSHTF, they may all be led to water but they'll have nothing to purify it with!
