Thats a good point (societal resilience, helping yourself, helping your neighbor, et al) and thanks for pointing that out.

I think the point is made by the silent majority of Americans b/c they believe one of two things;

1. Believe that rugged individualism and protection of the family is a personal choice, one not wildly popular with most people. Therefore the preparations they make are done quietly but done nevertheless. Keeping a low profile, which is what most of us on here prefer to do.

2. Right, wrong or indifferent people have a mistrust of the ability or capability of the government to do what is in their (the individuals) best interest. Not even to mention conspiracy theorists. Therefore they might see any attempt at the government to officially try to wrap their arms around 'societal resilience' could be horribly counter-productive to the benefits of the message, sort of killing the message because of the messenger.

Be that as it may, I think that organizations like the Red Cross, Ready.gov PSA's, even nightly news that focus on disaster and terror situations of all kinds, put the kernel of truth into personal self sufficiency. If someone wishes to ignore those signs, its not a defect, merely a different paradigm.