Salon.com > doomsday preppers

What’s a “prepper”?

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:38:00 +0000

In an interview with local NBC affiliate WHDH 7 in New Hampshire this weekend, Marsha Lanza recalled that the last time she saw her sister Nancy, the conversation turned to disaster preparedness.

“Last time we visited with her in person we talked about prepping and, you know, are you ready for what can happen down the line when the economy collapses."

Since then, subsequent reports have suggested Nancy Lanza — the mother and first victim of Newtown, Conn., shooter Adam Lanza — may have been part of a survivalist movement known as "preppers." And while it may prove impossible to confirm her affiliation in this loosely organized network of gun enthusiasts, back-to-the-land types and the generically cautious, the tragedy at Sandy Hook has invited increased scrutiny.

Newtown and Guangshan county: A tale of two massacres

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:47:00 +0000

News watchers were quick to point out the two coinciding school attacks that happened Friday, in China and the U.S.: Hours before Adam Lanza began his carnage in Newtown, knife-wielding Min Yingjun went on a rampage in a central China village school. Lanza killed 28 people, including himself. Min didn’t manage to kill anyone, though he left one child with a fractured skull, and several others had to be treated for “cut off fingers and ears,” according to state news media Xinhua.

It’s probably one of the few occasions when some Americans might prefer China’s more heavy-handed rules, where private gun ownership is rare, and even sales of certain knives require permits.

But while American news media has been ablaze with stories on Newtown, Chinese mainstream media have downplayed coverage of their own domestic tragedy.

Online magazine TeaLeafNation noted that state-run China Central Television led the December 14 broadcast with news of the Newtown massacre, despite CCTV’s tradition of reporting domestic news before international news. Notes the piece: “Incredibly, days after the occurrence of the Guangshan knife attack, reporters still do not know the names of the children attacked.”

“Revolution”: The apocalyptic zeitgeist

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:11:00 +0000

Even before Sandy took out a chunk of power on the East Coast, the top-rated new network series of the season was a show whose central concern was the total loss of electricity. For “Revolution,” society doesn’t operate without electricity — and not just those delivered in wires, but the sparks in automobiles and generators as well. Society breaks down, militias spring up and the rest of your life is roaming round in bands looking for family, redemption or both. Fifteen years later, when we pick up the story, the world’s monuments are engulfed in advanced greenery, as people have for some reasons neglected their gardening hand tools, but they have advanced skills in bows and arrows and swashbuckling swordfighting.

What in “Revolution” was speaking to TV viewers even before the hurricane hit? It can’t be just because it follows the biggest overall hit of the season, “The Voice,” whose fans are just too exhausted after the two-hour episodes to change the channel. More likely, it builds on the irrational fear of total global meltdown that feeds the success of everything from “The Hunger Games” and “The Walking Dead” to “Doomsday Preppers.”