I've been thinking over "the end of the world as we know it" senario's that have croped up in this forum, especially when your faced with the option of bugging in or out.
Those senario's always seem to predict mass rioting, civil diorder and general mayhem from the citizens of the city your in. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I cannot think of one incident in my limited knowledge of history where this has happened.
In World War 2 when the city of Stalingrad was laid seige to, I don't recall reading about mass riots and internal feud. Sure a lot of pain and suffering and dispair was there, even reports of canabalism, but gangs of "Mad Max" types rampaging through the city....no... People coped as best they could and made the best of what was available. Any rioting, rape and pillage is generally done by external forces invading a city - the Bosnian conflict and the awful consequences for the muslim population when the Serbs took control is an example that springs to mind- and where could the muslims run to?
In a modern day senario, the horrors of modern warfare would far outstrip the limited effects of looting by its own citizens.
So whats my point?....I'm not entirely sure my self, but the idea of bugging out whilst might sound good in theory, might mean your jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.
I know this is probably a rehash of what has been said a thousand times in a thousand ways, but has our faith in our fellow human beings really fallen so low we fell we have to cater for such eventualities?
Doesn't history provide us with enough examples of "pulling together" in a crisis to make those terrible senario's highly unlikely? ( the London blitz, 9/11, even the earthquake in Bam are all examples of people helping one another).
Anyway, sorry if its a bit off topic, I just feel maybe we think a bit too negatively in these troubled times. Please feel free to correct any historical earrors or ommissions!
Martin