Um, never? There seems to be some conflation of real regional disasters, of which there have been plenty, and hypothetical apocalyptic events, of which there have been none, so far.

Nonetheless, the latter seems to occupy the thinking and planning of many preparedness-minded folks at least as much as the former. Moreover, there seem to be many popular misconceptions in circulation about what and how things will happen, especially with respect to government actions, in the type of disasters we do have some experience with, such as hurricanes, earthquakes and floods.

I have been to many or most of these regional disasters over the years, and I am pleased to report that neighbor-helping-neighbor seems to be the near-universal rule. Yes, some strange things did go down post-Katrina in NO, LA, but strange things are always going down there, hurricane or not.

In the event a truly nationwide or global apocalypse does occur, all bets are off, and Mad Max rules may well then go into effect. But short of that, we can usually expect most people to display the traditional American values of common decency, kindness, resourcefulness and concern for one another in times of adversity.