# Americans - how common is this outlook?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-common-is-this-outlook/666599>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 19, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-common-is-this-outlook/666599 "2013-08-19T00:00:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-common-is-this-outlook/666599/81 "2013-08-21T22:21:05Z")

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My husband is a retired Emergency Manager for a small city, among other things. They try to make plans for the protection of their citizens in case of a wide variety of possible disasters.

I don’t think I have much fear left in me at my age and what I’ve dealt with in my life. But I’m glad that we follow the government guidelines for safety and sustenance. And we keep a little space open for neighbors whom we know won’t be able to do so for themselves.

Different people have different levels of fear based on previous experiences and how well they have emotionally managed them. Sometimes what they think they fear isn’t even what created the fear level in the first place.

On the other hand there are people who have lead very safe lives and aren’t very aware of the possibilities of how fast safety and sustenance can break down in an emergency.

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-common-is-this-outlook/666599/82 "2013-08-24T09:30:30Z")

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It’s far more common to believe that there will be some sort of apocalypse, but that they will be supernaturally removed from it and not have to deal with it.

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-common-is-this-outlook/666599/83 "2013-08-24T14:23:00Z")

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> [@Cubsfan](#):
>
> Probably somewhere around 0.000001%. And I doubt they’ve spent millions.

That is exactly 3. Probably more like a million (WAG). And most of the tea partiers believe it, just haven’t done much about it.

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