OK, I just got into it a bit with an aquantance of mine who is a true "End of the World as We Know It" survivalist. He's got 4,000 gallons of diesel stored in his basement, has enough ammo in the house to supply a whole army division, and has stored weapons and food all over the place in the woods around his house. He's hard-core!
So, the conversation goes like this:

Him: You're not really "prepared" for when it's "go" time, Marty!

Me: What, exactly, is "go" time to you?

Him: When things in the cities collapse and everyone panics and heads to the country! You Gotta Be Ready To Shoot First and Defend Your Property! That's "Go Time" baby! (with glee in his eyes he says this)

Me: I see. "they" will see danger and panic and flee - like they did this summer in the big blackouts in the east? Or on September 11th? or when Chicago Flood in the 90's? Or when 3 Mile Island melted down? Or when they had SARS in Hong Kong?

Him: That's small-time compared to a nuke in DC!!! (Smiles again)

Me: Look a small nuke IN the capital building would leave MOST of DC intact.

and so forth...

My question/point - is the "Mad Max" vision of the future what's so alluring for these folks or is it something else? All my experience in emergencies is that many people go TOWARD the danger to help if they can. What am I missng here? Haven't the "triggers" that "should" set off the population into a mass panic happened more than a few times in the last 20 years? I vividly remember the Y2K scare and how funny it seemed to me to be scared, becasue I knew there were large amounts of money to be lost if the computers conked out. I also know those with money do what it takes to protect it, so I knew Y2K would be a non-event. It's the same with a mass-casualty incident. I'm a firefighter, my brother is a cop, and we're both surrounded by literally millions of people who can and do help in emergencies. I just don't get this "end of the world as we know it" stuff.

Can someone get me into their heads a bit?