What do you think would happen in America in a FULL MEDIA BLACKOUT?

[Sugar Smack]

For one day. Maybe two:

You'd have no use of the internet, cell phones would be cut off, as would television and radio. You couldn't talk on the phone (land line). You could send "snail mail".

Say it happens tomorrow, without any warning. What would you do? What do you think would happen?

[bridgit]

1. we will all take up knitting...

[Sugar Smack]

3. Aw, GEEZE. We could knit tissue-box cozies for those in need!

:P :rofl: :loveya:

[Mme. Defarge]

5. Knitting what,

précisément? Shrouds, perhaps?

[Sugar Smack]

8. Tea-box cozies, of course. Or tissue box cozies.

;) Or stairway bannister cozies, if we felt ambitious.

[ljm2002]

10. Yikes!

(given your username...)

[Mme. Defarge]

13. Sacré bleu !

[Warpy]

18. Hit the streets

I'm sure all my neighbors would be out and kvetching.

However, this is really farfetched. Instead of a media blackout, they'll just keep reporting on Britney's flameout, on damsels in distress, on sports stars run amok, and how sunspots have fried the net.

Some folks might even buy it.

The net would be back in record time. Corporations can't function without it.

[Sugar Smack]

23. See, I was thinking of that too. Corporations couldn't function without the net.

I know it's farfetched, but what if it actually happened? For even two days? What if this country all of the sudden failed to be communicable by long distance? Just for a little while? I think of people developing and telling stories from one generation to another, and these are generations.

If, for a little while, people couldn't communicate their greatest or smallest need, what happens after?

[Cha]

28. And Christian voters=

Value voters.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2374032

[Warpy]

20. We should do that anyway

because there's nothing as warm as a hand knit, bulky sweater.

Those things mass produced out of plastic don't come close.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Except for the internet, I probly wouldn't notice.

Probly just go out in my shop & get started on the boat I'm setting up to build this winter.

Then I'd start to get the shakes from DU deprivation.

[Sugar Smack]

7. But even if you tried, and kept trying,

as accustomed to you (we) are of how everything seems to run smoothly...how would you take it? Would you be really fed up for a while and then go back to living or would it CHEW your brains out? I don't know. I'd have to read some more Thoreau.

[Jackpine Radical]

42. I dunno. I spent a couple of winters in a northwoods cabin

without running water, heating with a wood stove. I was trying to reglue my head after Vietnam. No TV, no phone, etc. I did have electricity and a radio.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

4. It would give me a chance to catch up on my sleep

and my reading. :shrug:

[Sugar Smack]

9. Make some tea.

Sit by the window and look at birds. You know, you're inspiring me.

[alittlelark]

6. People - neighbors, would have to actually TALK to one another.

Within 5 days of a total media blackout I would predict that MANY people would see the way this country works in a more realistic light.

[Sugar Smack]

11. Hey! I remember I had full media blackout when I was in FL with Joani.

I swam, got a nice tan, read, and had a few healthy meals.

That was the LIFE.

[Lilith Velkor]

12. That's why it'll never happen.

If the powers that be are really up to something sinister, a celebrity media circus will appear to ensure that nobody notices.

[Sugar Smack]

16. Hey, though, how would that happen, hon?

Would it strike a few days before zero and warn others? I suppose I think there'd be no warning. No chance to get used to the highly unusual happening. No chance to acclimate.

[Lilith Velkor]

26. I'm not sure what you mean.

By "that" and "it" are you referring to a media blackout, or a celebrity-scandal media bombardment?

If it's the former, I honestly don't see it happening unless my hometown gets nuked. My family and I would be busy acclimating to death from radiation in that case.

If it's the latter, that would be a simple matter of black ops setting up someone famous.

[Sugar Smack]

30. "That" and "It" would be some kind of happenstance to which no one was immune.

Like it wouldn't even matter to anyone about Britney's kids or anything. It would be a blanket effect on our own civilization, one that was impenetrable even for a few days.

We wouldn't even be able to speak with each other, unless it was in person or through snail mail.

I've been accused of being "out there", but I'm only asking people to use their imaginations. :D

[Lilith Velkor]

35. DC going kablooey would definitely do it.

A lot of B*shies hauled ass out of here after the '06 elections, because they actually believe their own bullshit and as you know, they were bloviating at the time about how the terrists would attack us instantly if the Dems won.

They were also shitting their collective drawers about how the Dems were gonna raise taxes before they were even sworn in.

Pretty funny, in a totally not-funny way, now that a year has passed. Wouldn't you say?

[Rosemary2205]

14. Been there done that -- now we have "The Patriot Act"

[Sugar Smack]

19. What would you do?

Would you rely on postage, or drive to another person's house to play telephone by ear? I think that's what I'd do.

[MiniMe]

15. We wouldn't have to hear anything more about Brittney or Natalie Holloway

or Paris Hilton. There could be an upside to it. Also, no more tapes from Osama.

[Sugar Smack]

17. YOU.

:spank: :rofl: No more KFC commercials.

[TahitiNut]

21. I've done that. I call it "vacation."

:shrug: I've done it for 15-16 days, even. I talked to the fishes. (... and other human beings, of course.)

[Sugar Smack]

24. LOL. Me, too.

But me, I'd be hungry for news of some kind. I've always loved your attitude, TN, but you'd have to throw me in the bin. Maybe I'll learn to cook a red snapper steak some time. :)

[Mojorabbit]

22. Did that for weeks after a hurricane

It was actually nice. I missed the net but everything slowed down, neighbors got together and barbequed stuff that was going to go bad in the freezer and talked, we played cards by oil lamps.
Other than sweltering without AC I did not miss most of it at all.

[Sugar Smack]

25. I love that kind of living, but I'm weak for news.

WEAK. I LOVE the outdoors, and the one-on-one companionship that comes with basic, very basic living. But if I were cut off, somehow, I'm not sure how I'd deal with it. Also, knowing that really necessary needs were at stake, up to and icl. almanacs, farm reports, the rest of the world, and gas prices.

[Sugar Smack]

27. Also, I'd want to see how my dad's faring, instantly.

:D

[magellan]

29. Here too

After a day or two of settling into the knowledge that we could do nothing it was nice -- except, as you note, for the lack of a/c.

[orleans]

31. no DU? at first i thought we'd all come here--that all the leftist sites

would probably crash from the traffic

can't we come here? please? in your example, just don't cut out the internet.

otherwise...i guess we'd just go crazy!

[Sugar Smack]

32. If you pmmed me your number first..

oh, wait...SHIT.

[Donnachaidh]

33. there are these really NEAT portable thingies called BOOKS

You know, the thingies with the pages in them? And some of them have actual *gasp* pictures (these are for the folks who get cramps in their lips from reading too fast). They don't require electricity to run, unless of course you are reading at night. And they don't make distracting noises. But they can be pretty interesting to look at.

Some might have to take breaks from reading to *rest* the brain cells that aren't used to being used for reading - but you can build them up with a little work. Hell, I had an ancestor that could read a 1,000 page book in a weekend! WOW! Talk about stamina! :sarcasm:

[Sugar Smack]

36. Oh, I hear ya.

Who else I work with does? Maybe 3 or 4 people.

My intention was to ask people who are used to getting their information quickly and without interpretation. People who trust the sites they visit without any sort of spin take the truth's place.

[TheBaldyMan]

34. It has already happened Jan 2000- present

[Sugar Smack]

37. Aaack, it seems that way!!

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

[Richard D]

38. Well . . .

. . . there would probably be total panic. I'm assuming no communication device would work, including radio. No way for cops or fire department to communicate with each other. No way to report violations of law, etc. If no warning or explanation people would think that the worst has happened. Rumors would spread like wildfire. I wouldn't be surprised if there were riots on a mass scale. Paranoia would be rampant.

Sounds like a plot of a sci-fi book.

[Sugar Smack]

39. I'm thinking the same, too.

It doesn't have to be real.:D

[denem]

40. Sex!

The same as in a power blackout.

[Speck Tater]

41. I'd catch up on my reading. nt.

[KG]

43. i'd really miss talking to mon petit chaton.

:hi:

[sniffa]

44. will reality shows be affected?

if not, America is safe.

:loveya:

[Warren DeMontague]

45. No one will know what happened with Lindsay's rehab or Britney's custody fight.

Other than that, no difference.

[Flabbergasted]

46. I would go about my routine like most Americans. It could possibly lead to riots.