Why did some people go crazy, hoarding food and guns, moving to remote areas, etc.?
• A fool and his money are soon parted. • Certain personality types are inclined to apocalyptic thinking. These are often authoritarian personalities characterized by: • Superstition and Stereotypy: The belief in mystical determinants of the individual’s fate; the disposition to think in rigid categories. • Projectivity: The disposition to believe that wild and dangerous things go on in the world; the projection outwards of unconscious emotional impulses. • Some degenerate forms of Christianity seem to incubate apocalyptic thinking, despite the clear scriptural warning that no one knows the day or the hour. It is hard to tell whether membership in these sects simply correlates highly with having an authoritarian personality, or whether some other principle is involved. But it is certain that: “Thou art as foolish Christian creatures as I would desires.” (Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV Scene I. “desires” is not a misprint.) Though these Christian survivalists may argue
