One thing for sure about the Y2K problem -- it definitely spawns the most diverse reactions.

There are so many differences in opinions and reactions that Y2K could be used as the basis for some psychological study on the range of human reactions to big social issues.

People's opinions about what we should expect to happen range from an "inconvenience" to a "catastrophe".

Among the people who see serious consequences coming, there are the individual (and nuclear family) survivalists; and then there are the community activists who see standing together as the only possible way we can come out of the future economic and social disaster.

Y2K has been thought of as both a message from God and as a suspiciously convenient fulfillment of prophecy. Some even think it's a hoax.

A few people don't seem to be able to apply the idea of a snowball (or ripple) effect to any failures in our power grid, banking system, or distribution chain. Others automatically start seeing the worst possible widespread effects of any system shut-downs or disruptions.

There are pessimists and optimists, and although most of us are right in the middle, a few have been very quick to recognize and seize the many economic opportunities in the Y2K problem.

Because of personal beliefs or problems of their own, some people are just plain not interested in the whole thing. On the opposite end of the scale are those who seem to live for crisis, who quickly jump on the excitement bandwagon almost with glee.

Finally, a certain segment of the population will get angry at some previously identified group of conspirators like secret government agencies, international power cartels, big business, big brother, or whatever.

All this polarization actually seems more like a typical spread of the range of all human reactions -- not really unusual at all.

Written by Georgia L. Bell. Copyright Georgia L. Bell, 1999. Permission to reprint this article -- uncut, unaltered, and in its entirety only -- is granted only if all information in this notice, including link to New Millennium Three Year Celebration Website and copyright notice, is included as it is written. First published on The New Millennium Three Year Celebration on the WWW. -- http://www.site901.com/ -- mailto: jeorjia@otn.net.

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