One of the more interesting programmes I’ve watched on my iPad recently is National Geographic’s “Doomsday Preppers”. The term “preppers” refers to people with survivalist beliefs, that the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI) is near due to risks of nuclear war, over-population, collapse of US and global economy, massive earthquake (California), shifts in magnetic poles bringing earthquakes and massive weather changes, flu pandemic, terrorism etc. These people prepare for the contingency that things fall apart in the societies where we live, with the social fabric torn beyond recognition and where breakdown of society leads to anarchy, chaos and violence. It is not unthinkable for us in Singapore as we have lived through SARS in 2003, H1N1 pandemic in recent years as well as seen 9-11 terrorism attack in 2001 as well as potential terrorism threats from Jemaah Islamiyah internally. Partly because of these threats, some of ... Read the full article →