Guest guest Posted September 10, 1999 Report Share Posted September 10, 1999 Women's Conference Hare Krsna dasi I thought this was an interesting article. Is this true of ISKCON also? Is it mostly women who are gathering supplies to feed prasadam to neighbors who may find themselve temporarily unable to purchase food come January 1? Is is only women who are gathering buckets and sawdust to use for toilets in case local sewage systems fail with new Y2K software, as it did when 4 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into the streets VAN NUYS, Calif., on June 16, 1999 -- http://www.channel2000.com/news/stories/news-990617-081237.html I'll be interested to hear your comments. Note: I'm sending a blind copy of this to varnasrama.development and apocalypse.1999? so that they can read it too. But since they are receiving a blind copy, they will not see comments from our private conference. If you want to make public comments, you can log onto either one of those (but don't include IWC). your servant, Hare Krsna dasi ********************************** Westergaard Year 2000: Y2K Prep Should not be an Underground Activity By Chuck Lanza September 10, 1999 This week's column is for men only. Not that it can be read by men only, but it is written for the benefit of men. Today's column evolved from last week's, almost entirely from the following paragraph: "When making life safety decisions, many people will easily be swayed by friends and relatives" was again demonstrated in the response to Hurricane Dennis. Several neighbors in coastal communities were taking the same actions, some to stay and some to go, based on reinforcement from the group. An interesting observation which is important to Y2K preparedness is when the women in the family unit said, "we're leaving," they left. This observation is further developed in a soon to be released survey, which states: "High Y2K Anxiety Types" which are described as "those who are worried about all types of problems and a lack of a good deal of confidence in those institutions being able to fix them" are "more often women rather than men." It appears for a successful preparedness campaign, our target audience should be women. Within a few days of publishing the column my mailbox was full of emails, mostly from women, expressing their opinions on why in emergency situations, women are action oriented. In addition, a startling concern was stated over and over, women in many cases are preparing for Y2K in secret. Secrecy was undertaken essentially for two reasons: 1) they were being told that Y2K was a hoax and they would look stupid or were being duped; and 2) their husbands or significant others instructed them not to spend any extra money or other resources on Y2K. It appears many women have been forced to prepare for Y2K underground. This week I had the opportunity to speak to Karen Anderson, who can be described as a women's advocate on Y2K. Karen is the publisher of the very popular Y2K newsletter on the Internet that goes a long way in creating a non-threatening source of excellent Y2K information. Her website is chock-full of valuable Y2K preparedness information including her recently released book, "Y2K For Women: How to Protect Your Home and Family in the Coming Crisis." As I said then and I repeat now, "Do not be fooled by the name Y2KWomen; it is actually a resource for everyone that has an additional emphasis for the special needs and concerns of women." Karen and I spoke earlier this year and I wrote about it in Y2KWomen: a Web Site for All. We discussed the dynamics of preparing and how women, for several reasons, are more apt to prepare for disasters then men: some of the reasons are being protective of the family, the emotional lift of being prepared, and for protecting of the home or "nesting." Men on the other hand are sometimes more concerned about looking fearful, spending money unnecessarily, and wasting time and effort on activities that will not result in a tangible product. Granted we made some overgeneralizations, but I think the gist of the discussion is clear, men think differently then women. Why would men and women view Y2K preparedness activities differently than weekend activities? Out of our conversation came an agreement that men, not all of us of course, would need a gentle reminder or, if you will, a call for tolerance of their wife or girlfriend's preparedness activities. Now men, don't go off the deep-end and think I've gone over to the other camp, I haven't. But Y2K is a real threat, not just to the infrastructure of the community, but to the family structure. Y2K preparedness, in some families, has pitted husbands against wives; at the same time we are asking the community to work together to prepare and we need to reinforce the need for the family unit to prepare together. Men, we have all experienced difficulty sleeping when there is a heavy burden on our minds; women are expressing to me the same discomfort with Y2K. Sometimes they are uneasy expressing it to you as they are being ridiculed and belittled. I'm asking for a little understanding of the fears of others. Maybe we will all look back after the new millennium and laugh, but today these fears are real. Let people prepare in earnest and peace. This is the first time I am closing with a request. If you are stifling someone's preparedness activities, please rethink your position as a little support could relieve a great deal of tension. Thank you. This week I will be attending the second in a series of conferences sponsored by Team Florida 2000, Governor Jeb Bush's Y2K council. At the conference, the latest survey of Y2K related issues relating to the State will be released. I have a draft copy of the survey and will be presenting many of the insightful results in next week's column. If I had not sworn on a stack of bibles not to use the survey in a column until after its release, I would have been adding it here. The information as I stated above is insightful and will go a long way in assisting emergency managers and public officials in preparing successful Y2K information programs. It is worth waiting for. Stay tuned! Browse Global-Local Y2K for previous editions of the column and read about my Y2K preparedness video, Global Problems with Local Solutions on my web site. A free preparedness brochure is available on the site. http://www.wbn.com/y2ktimebomb/GL/CL/gl9936.htm [if you go to this Website, you'll find the links for the other Websites, including Karen Anderson's.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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