Bunker Bunk

“They return to an unremarkable home in a neighborhood that could be anywhere. There are no trap doors, underground bunkers, or stashes of gold. But there is a gun safe in the garage, long-lasting emergency provisions on a designated shelf in the pantry, and Ring cameras installed inside and outside the house. The kids have their own LifeWater straws to filter freshwater, and their parents watch the news carefully for signs of growing instability in global affairs, of interrupted trade relations, of the return of Jesus Christ.” Bunkerised society – why prepping for end times is so American. “Bunkerisation posits that far from being at the fringes of US society, prepping is at the core of an American mythology of yeoman frontierspeople, from the Boy Scouts of America to the contemporary homestead movement. Bunkerisation as a process also plugs into the broader US phenomenon of mass consumption as Americans are asked to purchase their way to safety.” (Who am I to judge? I’m still only about halfway through my pandemic toilet paper stockpile.)

+ About four-in-ten U.S. adults believe humanity is ‘living in the end times.’ (Relax, we have like six weeks before that starts…)