It's a big, bad world
November 14, 2002 1:05 PM   Subscribe

It’s a big bad world out there, and some entrepreneurs are investing in your survival. Brick-and-mortar or online, stores sell everything from gas masks for kids to MRE’s. But some people just like to collect hazmat suits, and some want to make gas masks more aesthetically pleasing. I think I want to go to this fashion show.
posted by readymade (11 comments total)
 
what a sadly paranoid country we live in.
posted by xmutex at 1:13 PM on November 14, 2002


Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean They aren't after you.
posted by blogRot at 1:20 PM on November 14, 2002


Is there an option to donate some of these to Iraqi civilians, or would that be violating trade sanctions?
posted by iamck at 1:20 PM on November 14, 2002


errr... you as in a generic you. Not directed at xmutex.
posted by blogRot at 1:22 PM on November 14, 2002


Isn't this another "Look what I found on Google" threads?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 1:50 PM on November 14, 2002


Great post, readymade. It subtly blends fun and fashion with fear. Thanks!

Steve: Google is your friend. And ours. It's called research and consideration for users.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:49 PM on November 14, 2002


Steve_at_Linwood: No, it isn't. But you have managed to be the person I feared in posting this, which is why I never do. But thanks for the vote of confidence.

If the history of my post needs be written, it comes from a Halloween idea, where I was looking for gas masks. I thought the masquerade site alone was enough for MeFi, but because I also found through many days of combing the internet the bizarre Hazmat collection, they seemed to be perfectly married. Along with our present fears of chemical attack, biological warfare, terrorism, and all things war-related, it seemed rather appropriate. Thanks for taking the fun out, though.
posted by readymade at 9:10 PM on November 14, 2002


readymade, I think the post is fascinating - love the hazmat suits and gas mask fashion show sites. I guess it's a testimony to the creative yet quirky human spirit that some can find an element of radical chic even our worst nightmares.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:59 PM on November 14, 2002


Good post, readymade. After all the talk there's been on Metafilter about those tasty MREs, I actually thought about buying some. Might be just the ticket for me, while I work at home and my wife is away on long trips. The food I buy at the local supermarket requires more preparation before I can eat it, and it's no fun cooking only for yourself. Also, normal food doesn't have anything close the the shelf life of MREs (8 years!).
posted by Triplanetary at 10:39 PM on November 14, 2002


Also, normal food doesn't have anything close the the shelf life of MREs (8 years!).

True, and since no one is going to point it out, the main reason the economy went into the toilet is all the Art Bell listeners who went, frothing at the mouth, out to buy a year's supply of food during his Y2K cash cow advertising blitz. The millenium rolled around, everyone was still here--even those rusted out old nuclear reactors in the Ukraine--and from Coast to Coast came theY2K Year's Supply Of Food & Hand Cranked Radios yard sales. 9/11 was no help, since it gave Mr. Bell a new advertising scam and hence here we are. What's wrong with the economy? In three words: Blame Art Bell.

Since my dad came home from WW II with enough ordnance for two Wermacht divisions, I had the distinct pleasure of playing with gas masks and field telephones--but no survival rations outside of the occasional can of vienna sausage!--in my childhood. This just takes me back. Nice post, readymade--very nice. Ignore all pouty butt critiques to the contrary.
posted by y2karl at 9:58 AM on November 15, 2002


I remember an old olive drab can of bomb shelter crackers in my parents basement when I was a kid. Post-Atomic Cheese Nips or something. I always wanted to try them, but my dad--who kept them mostly as a joke--never let me.

You know, the gas masks remind me of King Mob's headgear in The Invisibles. They look like just the thing if you can't decide whether to attend a protest rally or a fetish ball.
posted by octobersurprise at 12:03 PM on November 15, 2002


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