By juco, Flickr Creative Commons
Earlier this week one of my favorite shows from our local NPR station did a show on “Bunkers.” I wanted to call in and rant, but I knew my thoughts were far too disorganized to not sound like a complete loon. I’ve been thinking about it for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that ridiculous show, Doomsday Preppers. I watched an episode of it a few weeks back — I’m not even sure if I finished it — and quickly came to the conclusion that one of the men featured in the show — a member of the NYPD — was clearly suffering from PTSD and needed a therapist.
And today…I started thinking about Ashley Judd.
Stay with me…
You may have noticed that I refuse to buy into the culture of fear, even on a smaller scale. So you can imagine how nutty I find the idea of living in fear of a super volcano, zombies, or even a bad storm. In some ways, it’s no different than people who spend their lives worrying about every morsel that goes into their mouth or new health trend because they think they can beat the great clock that we all have to answer to. In the end, no one gets out alive, so you might as well have some fun along the way.
But pretty much everything in America is about selling stuff… and now I’m back to Ashley Judd…and my favorite internet post EVER.
Judd has been on an awesome media blitz against “body snark.”Jezebel posted a story called “Your Vagina Isn’t Just Too Big, Too Floppy, and Too Hairy—It’s Also Too Brown.” While these two things might seem unrelated, they both make the basic point that the media makes women feel bad about themselves in order to sell more crap — hair gel, bikini waxes, shoes, Spanx…whatever. Of course, even very strong sales of face moisturizer can’t carry an economy… which is why we have to scare men too.
One trip to your local Home Depot will prove that no amount of advertising will convince more than 30% of men that they need to be better groomed. So why not scare them into buying guns, the club, or…even better…an underground bunker?
In fact, I’m starting to think AMC is in on it. Between the terror of The Walking Dead and the glorification of the ad business in Mad Men, I think the execs over there are trying to brainwash us all into buying a zombie shelter.
Writer. Editor. Storyteller. 
I remember a few years back we had about 4 months of mini, small and medium earthquakes. We got rolled up in it and bought earthquake insurance and put together an earthquake survival kit, which sits in the closet now collecting dust. We have more flashlights than we need too – ha! A little ironic at times what you get roped into buying based mainly out of fear. Have a Great Weekend!
My grandmother bought a generator after we lost power last fall. It was the second time within a few months… but I can’t remember ever losing power for more than a few hours before that. I still think it was nuts.
Theresa, I love your work–still want to interview you for a blog post. Interested?
Sure — and thanks. You can send me an email through the “Freelance” page