The Bunker Mentality

I think there must be a correlation between mass communication and fear, something like, "As the number of internet connections and cell phone hook-ups increases so do the number of irrational fears". There are more than enough anxieties and irrational fears out there today, far more than ever, and I think out instantaneous and persistent communication is why.  The bombardment of information we receive also makes us fear that what happens in the remote will also happen to us. Just think of all the crazy fears so many have that some "terrorist" will act out against us. For the worrisome among us it almost seems that there is no safe place for us anymore. Fact is, never in human history have humans been more safe (except in their worried minds) from violence.

But in the U.S. and much of the west the bunker is now a new rage. Underground bunkers are being built everywhere as many survivalists face heightened concerns of a terrorist attack, economic meltdown and for some, even solar flares or meteor showers or a natural disaster of some sort. Gee, don't they know that the probability of being harmed by any of those things is far less than of being injured by a fall in their own shower? I guess not, since the media today and all those crazy social meeting sites keep telling them to watch out for the boogie man. But then, the bunker is a type of false security blanket.

One prominent bunker manufacturer in the U.S builds them in the form of huge tubes about half the size of a basketball court (with sofas a master bedroom and a big TV included) that fit right below the backyard lawn. Don't ask the cost, it's not cheap. At least in the 1950's cold war scares of nuclear holocaust the feared ones would save themselves in a more economic way. Boarding up windows and filling a closet with canned goods for the day when the bombs would hit, ironically, may make more sense than today's bunker strategy of taking out a second mortgage for a huge tube in the backyard.

Nonetheless, the fact that so many live with irrational in fear today is the sad story to the bunker craze.  For many, the information age has brought an irrational fear component as well. Today, news can live in social media for a long time. It's a different period in communication today, which may make it appear to some people (especially those who rarely think for themselves) that even though the probability of their harm from the outside is far less, they believe threats have increased.

As soon as unpredictability increases, and the individual feels a lack of control,  anxiety and irrational fears of harm become more a possibility in their minds. The probability of something bad, as in "terrorism" happening is so very low today.  But this is the nature of irrational fear: It gets in our heads that something bad could happen. It's an insidious fear that seeps into our mindset.

On the other hand there is one thing you should fear. It's the constant bombardment of you via my rants here. Haha You may have a legitimate reason to build a bunker to hide from that.