You maniacs! You blew it all up! Oh, damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!

Charlton Heston's death this weekend reminded me of the final scene in Planet of the Apes, which seems very apropos to this post.

I was somewhat relieved to read this article in the Times yesterday about the rise of a new type of Survivalism, which they say "is not just for survivalists anymore."

I've been talking about this with friends for the last 6 months. I got a lot of ribbing and I did feel like I was being paranoid, so I'm glad to see that other seemingly normal progressive types have the same idea.

It just hit me after seeing the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans. Between Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke", "Douglas Brinkley's The Great Deluge" and first-hand accounts from my friends who lived through it, I realized that total societal breakdown was possible, and in fact, had occurred. A good friend and a typical musician type of guy bought a shotgun to protect his home and girlfriend from roving gangs. He was afraid for his life. People, that shit WAS REAL. It actually happened here in America. Friends said, well, that's New Orleans, that type of thing wouldn't happen in Portland. I'm not so sure.

Then I read Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" and really started to freak out. I started talking about buying a gun and stocking the basement with supplies. Mrs. Best put her foot down on the whole firearms angle, and of course I realize how totally ludicrous it is for to me to talk about owning a gun. I'm not exactly a man's man type of guy. But, I did grow up with guns, my dad collected them. I never went hunting or anything, but I did have an air rifle that I used for target practice.

Is it really that absurd to think that society could break down at some point in the future? Between terrorism and dirty bombs, peak oil, global warming and starvation, natural disasters and another Republican presidency, anything is possible. I would like to be prepared. I was thinking, maybe if every time I went grocery shopping I bought a few extra cans of food or a gallon of water I could start a stockpile without really making a big deal of it.

I just realized that I am Legend is in my Netflix queue. Maybe I should cancel that one...