ST Alpha - "I know they are on the nutty side, but what makes a doomsday prepper more knowledgeable than the experts about an upcoming disaster?" (Reading a Post)

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I know they are on the nutty side, but what makes a doomsday prepper more knowledgeable than the experts about an upcoming disaster?

Posted by ceregon Mar 14 '12, 11:59

I have only watched a couple of episodes, but several had people freaking out about a polar shift and the catastrophic devastation it would cause.

I only have an associate's degree in geography and I'm pretty sure that can't happen unless all the land masses are together again in one big continent. I talked to two geography professors and one disaster prep expert (does disaster planning for the county) and not only is a polar shift pretty much impossible, but it's not even on the list of disasters that places prepare for.

So what makes these people know that it's going to happen soon? Do they just think they know more than experts in the field?

Responses:

I meant to post a comment about this show the other night. Watched it, these people are nuts. -- nm - MDH Mar 14, 12:17 1
- It's like a train wreck in slow motion. I can't stop watching. It's fascinating on so many levels. -- nm - ceregon Mar 14, 12:24
The polar shift is a real thing. -- (link) - mara Mar 14, 12:13 25
- not just magnetic poles -- (link) - znufrii Mar 14, 12:39
- Don't bring up facts to him, he has a degree!!! -- nm - Spawn - The Blood Feud God Mar 14, 12:30 21
  - the magnetic poles move around a bit, but they aren't going to flip and cause unprecedented disasters -- nm - ceregon Mar 14, 12:36 20
    - National Geographic: "Earth's magnetic field has flipped many times over the last billion years, according to the geologic record." -- (link) - mara Mar 14, 12:39 3
      - " It's fairly common knowledge that the Earth's magnetic field periodically reverses its polarity." -- (link) - mara Mar 14, 12:41 2
        
        "over a period of hundreds of thousands of years" It's not going to just happen and wreak havoc. -- nm - ceregon Mar 14, 12:44 1
        
        actually, i don't think that's quite what that quote means, everywhere else says "Most reversals are estimated to take between 1,000 and 10,000 years" -- nm - Andie Mar 14, 12:50
    - no, the thing is, the can and have in the past. -- nm - Andie Mar 14, 12:37 15
      - Yeah, trying to understand what the confusion is here. -- nm - Spawn - The Blood Feud God Mar 14, 12:38 14
        
        They don't cause extinction level events when it happens - ceregon Mar 14, 12:40 11
        
        Read the sentence directly beforethe one you quote. -- nm - mara Mar 14, 12:43 1
        
        Solar radiation could be a problem. But moving to higher ground (like the preppers advocate) wouldn't help. - ceregon Mar 14, 12:49
        
        "I talked to two geography professors and one disaster prep expert... and not only is a polar shift pretty much impossible..." -- nm - Spawn - The Blood Feud God Mar 14, 12:43 3
        
        Magnetic sure. But that doesn't merit prepping. -- nm - ceregon Mar 14, 12:47 2
        
        what everyone is attempting to explain is the part where you said that it happening is impossible, is in fact not impossible and a known phenomenon. -- nm - TFox Mar 14, 13:06
        
        You're arguing A&B (now) while we're only saying A is realistic. - Will Hunting Mar 14, 12:48
        
        i missed where this thread was talking about extinction i guess. -- nm - Andie Mar 14, 12:43 4
        
        where its in the context of doomsday preppers -- nm - ceregon Mar 14, 12:44 3
        
        They are not necessarily prepping for there to be no people left. More like no society. -- nm - Spawn - The Blood Feud God Mar 14, 12:47
        
        okay. but you can't pretend that this conversation now is about whether a polar shift is possible. -- nm - Andie Mar 14, 12:46 1
        
        er, that this ISN'T about... -- nm - Andie Mar 14, 12:46
        
        i know. it's not that much of a secret actually. -- nm - Andie Mar 14, 12:40 1
        
        Sade's manager has been suppressing it for years. -- nm - Max Mar 14, 13:08
- It's called geomagnetic reversal. -- (link) - mara Mar 14, 12:26
- we already have scattered 'north' areas on the southern hemisphere -- nm - peglegpete Mar 14, 12:14
the bomb that destroys all electronics probably will never happen since it will destroy all worldwide economies. other disasters are more probable - peglegpete Mar 14, 12:09 4
- the Koran says that earning interest is usery, imagine of a wave of nuke powered jihad that believes in gold money and using daughters as down payment -- nm - zeitgeist Mar 14, 12:12 3
  - really? I have to read it someday :) -- nm - peglegpete Mar 14, 12:13
  - doesn't the Bible say that as well? -- nm - Beaker Mar 14, 12:13 1
    - yeah but we're enlightened so we ignore those parts and just remember the ones that we like, you know kill homos and stuff - zeitgeist Mar 14, 12:21
if the world shreds apart like in 2012 then it won't make much difference if you are up top or in your tin can underground -- nm - zeitgeist Mar 14, 12:05 1
- they thought of that and insulated the bunker with packing peanuts! -- nm - Beaker Mar 14, 12:06
they're a bunch of complete nutjobs who will grab onto any and every doomsday scenario they can to justify their actions - znufrii Mar 14, 12:02
They get inside information from the voices in their heads. -- nm - pmb Mar 14, 12:02
They're talking about magnetic poles, not a moving of landmasses. - Reagen Mar 14, 12:01
A show called Doomsday Prepper ought to be based on sound logic and reason! -- nm - con_carne Mar 14, 12:01
They have money to blow, and they're paranoid. - Strongbad Mar 14, 12:01 3
- that's the Doomsday Bunker dude. You know he has a fvcking wicked bunker somewhere though -- nm - Beaker Mar 14, 12:02 2
  - The part where the SWAT team assaults the door is pretty awesome. -- nm - Strongbad Mar 14, 12:03 1
    - puppy dog head tilt? like in RL a swat team would use nato rounds and hand guns? the senario is supposed to replicate a mad max gang trying to storm - zeitgeist Mar 14, 12:10
You're giving this way too much thought. Re-read the 3rd through 8th words of your post. -- nm - Will Hunting Mar 14, 12:00 4
- I know. But these people are spending huge amounts of money, so they can't be complete idiots. They own houses, can spend $300k on a bunker, etc. -- nm - ceregon Mar 14, 12:02 3
  - They sold their inherited farm to developers, instead of investing it, they are blowing it and in a year or two will be scrambling for odd jobs to get - zeitgeist Mar 14, 12:16
  - Paris Hilton is rich as hell and would be hard-pressed to spell the word rich without help. -- nm - Will Hunting Mar 14, 12:06
  - what makes you think have a sh!t-ton of money is mutually exclusive with being a complete idiot? -- nm - znufrii Mar 14, 12:03
reason and logic need not apply -- nm - Epiphany Mar 14, 12:00
a special kind of crazy -- nm - Beaker Mar 14, 12:00

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I know they are on the nutty side, but what makes a doomsday prepper more knowledgeable than the experts about an upcoming disaster?

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