Do you know why the "preppers" are losing their shit?

Because this wasn't the apocalypse they were promised. They were promised a wasteland; a sudden destruction of everything; with bodies littering the streets and a massive power vacuum, which they would get to fill.

They were told, but Orson Scott Card, and Dean Ing, and David Brin, and Vernor Vinge, and... that the world would be a shambles, gov't would disappear and they would be the New World Order.

They had food to make it to... sometime, and the guns to become the new Feudal Masters. They talk about the "return to the old days" and "Rustic Democracy" but they imagined themselves running the show.

They, you see, would be defending "The Valley" against "The Outisde", and the outside was all those effete (or not-white) folks from the cities.

This isn't what they paid for.

It's not supposed to be everyone working together to try and make sure it doesn't all fall apart; they were promised sudden death and holy fire; a nuclear blast or a heavenly rapture; followed by the war of all against all.

But the world doesn't work that way. It never has. Lucifer's Hammer (for all the flaws in it's dramatic arc; which are many; and could be reduced by erasing the casually racist framing) got this right.

Even in the midst of an actual Götterdamerung; while the skies are falling; folks are linking up, helping their neighbors; and even the strangers passing through.

Preppers don't believe in that. They cut themselves off from society when they started their bunkers; their personal lifeboat; with a list of whom they were willing to save; and the rest can die.

This pandemic... it shames them. It shows them (though I doubt they realise it) their view of humanity is stunted, and warped. They want the End Times they were promised.

And, like toddlers who don't get their birthday party at Chucky Cheese, they are throwing tantrums; trying to get what they think they deserve.

As I would like to be able to engage with the parts of twitter I use/enjoy/interact with... I'm going to be muting this thread... because just the first tweet has done this in less than 24 hours.