> Buoys, ComRods, and Master Baters:
>
> I was once again pleasured the other eve as I was driving home
> looking for something interesting to listen to on the radio: a
> christian radio program with guests discussing what to do about
> Y2K. Now, what was fascinating to me was the attempt to turn
> this into a millenial disaster on the order of the second coming
> of christ.
Fascinating, yes. But what else do you expect? It's made to order!
> There are some who are apparently heading for the
> hills, uzzis (sp?) and ammo in hand, canned goods, short wave,
> bows and arrows, and their coleman gas stoves. They're getting
> ready for all hell to break loose while they wait for the Rapture
> to lift them into the Kingdom of God.
And when it all doesn't happen? I can hear it now. "Wait till next millenium!"
> And, I guess and in the
> meantime they're going to protect Life, Liberty and the Pursuit
> of Happiness. So is Y2K *that* bad?
Nope. But since when do millennial hysterics need ANYTHING to hang their hats on?
> I've heard conflicting accounts. What's the scoop.
I heard one quite apt comment on the radio recently. That the Y2K story is the first opportunity people have had to hang all their varied fears and misgivings about computer technology onto a mainstream news story. So it serves as a symbolic receptical for stuff that's very important to people -- mostly about loss of control, the illegibility of the modern world, etc -- but that never gets discussed in mainstream media.
The millennialists you tuned into just take that one step beyond, that's all. But of course, that one step beyond throws everything into vivid relief.
> Should I start stocking up? If I
> get a new 'fuser, what should I look for?
A tape recorder, I'd say. Sample those guys and sample them good!
-- Paul Rosenberg Reason and Democracy rad at gte.net
"Let's put the information BACK into the information age!"