What is Black Lives Matter? - an overview

We know about George Floyd, but what does the Black Lives Matter movement actually stand for? We're doing this Dragnet style - "just the facts". We're not going into opinion on this blog post. There is enough of that on social media everywhere, anyway. 

Black Lives Matter is global, in the US, UK and Canada. They want to get rid of white supremacy and gain local power in order to intervene in the violence in black communities, either by the state or vigilantes. They want to improve opportunities for the black community and create a better black community. It was founded after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin's murderer in 2013. They reach out to the marginalized and will help you no matter your gender or immigrant status.  They want every black person to thrive in every way possible. Short answer, they fight racism toward the black community, and hope to make the world better for all people through this fight. They are for peace in the world.

Founded 

This organization was founded by three women. They are Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi. Khan-Cullors is also the Strategic Advisor. When George Zimmerman was acquitted of Trayvon Martin's murder these ladies created this movement. Part of the goal was to let in all genders, because most only let leadership fall to straight men, leaving women and any other genders out. This is why they reach out to all genders. This has continued for six years. 

Co-founders fo Black Lives Matter

What They Do 

The arts is a major way to reach people, thus they help and uplift emerging black artists. These arts are based on everything from 1960 and 1970 to Women's Rights. They have a series of art videos called The Provocateurs. If you go to the source website below and go to programs, then arts and culture you will find the link to it. 

Petitions, petitions, and more petitions are also their thing. Not to mention hashtags, phone calls, rallying, social media campaigns, and marches. They are your typical political movement, after all, so that is no surprise. 

Pictures:

World Economic Forum

Sources:

https://blacklivesmatter.com/

Women against feminism- why they didn't want it

Women against getting the vote actually existed out there. What? This topic may get a little deep, so bring your shovel and let's get started! *Please note anything in this blog is research, not personal beliefs.*

 

Anti-Suffragette Propaganda

First, we define feminism and the women's suffrage movement. Feminism is a movement that wants equality for women and men, in its most basic definition. Women's Suffrage was the movement that fought for the female right to vote. Now that we have that straight, we'll start with the oldest one. 

Women's Suffrage Movement

The women against voting did not want into politics, at all. Also, the belief that women and men had different roles was strong. Something known as "The Anti's Alphabet" explained some of why these women opposed the freedom we love so much. To sum this up, they had a duty to the home and children. Voting women challenged that, and challenged men who believed politics was no subject for women to speak of. Women were domestic, but men were public when it came to influence. Women cared for the community and the home. The Antis didn't see time for a new task. They suggested women couldn't do it all, at least not without neglecting a few tasks here and there. They feared divorce would result.

The feminine sphere was not to be involved in politics through voting, to be clear. The women who did want the vote were not the most popular, which explains why it did not come easily. The argument that certain sexes did certain duties was not going away, and most that fought for suffrage didn't contradict it, but the anti-suffragists depicted them as trying to be men. They made them look like a threat to men. While some may have felt they were just that without the influence of the Anti-suffragists, these Antis didn't help the cause. 

She who wanted the vote, who wanted into an "unnatural" role was considered manly or a hybrid, according to the article "Elimination of Sex", written in 1912. They were not talking about the physical act of sex, but instead the roles of each sex being mixed up and messed up in society. If you read it now, it sounds ridiculous and laughable, but then? It made sense (if raised in that period of time). We live in a far more free society than ever before, as women, and so, we would be seen as hybrids, which is what Antis were trying to avoid. They stated the influence of women could do many things without the vote.

The idea of family balance is at play. The roles women and men play are embedded into that, and thus women wanting to step anywhere near the sphere of men were seen in a bad light, especially because politics and military were connected. Men were military, not women, so Antis were keenly aware that social balance was being upset. Men being the head of the home was in danger, allegedly. 

British Anti-Suffragette Badge

Also, most of these women were of the privileged class and, most likely, liked their cushy, simple lives. The benefits of those doing well under the current system outweighed any urge they had to vote. They wanted to stay in the lines society had drawn in the sand and continue their philanthropy. Not to put these ladies in too bad of a light, but they had status and wanted to keep it, especially the influence that came with it. They liked their feminine sphere. These women got comfortable there.

Feminism

Where do I begin? Feminism gets complicated, quickly, and the Webster definition I referenced isn't anywhere close to what people consider it. The connotation of it is that these women hate men, but it isn't true in most cases. Yes, there are extreme groups out there that say one sex is inferior to the other (men or women). I won't deny that. I took a gender class in college and we dove into this topic with lots of research. Put simply, this blog is not long enough to go into the history of feminism, so I'm sticking with the dictionary definition today. It is a heated subject, so I'm going to repeat the disclaimer from the top. *This is research, not my personal opinion.* This is about the perspective of those against feminism.

Women against sexual equality do exist, undeniably. It has to do with reproduction and control of lady parts, along with equal responsibility for sexual actions. There have been points made about men using condoms (not guaranteed to work) and women having the pill, and then men being made responsible when the condom wasn't good enough (assuming the woman didn't take her pill). It was then pointed out that women bear the consequences, and if a man is forced into responsibility or willing to take the responsibility, risks his life working. This, oddly enough, puts women in the driver's seat because she can opt to not take birth control, then blame the man. Then the whole abortion vs prolife issue comes up. 

We can't talk about reproduction without the "Me Too" movement and rape. These women highlight that there are also male victims of rape, but that feminist movements bury any mention of these, thus making it a female problem, and men are almost always the culprits. Men are then considered animalistic and predatory when it isn't true of all men. They say that male perspectives are overlooked, so they don't report their rapes because it can't be proven or they won't be believed. I will also add that male suicide rates are higher, but ignored. This leaves opening for women to abuse men, much like the case of Johnny Depp. The claim that female abusers create rapists comes from one of my sources, a blog of an Antifeminist. This perspective makes women the monster, not men.

It seems to me that the perspective I read puts women as the monsters of society for blaming and abusing men, and puts no responsibility on men. She claims women are silencing men using the claim women are victims, and she is claiming "mansplaining" is a way to shame men for talking about issues. Men, in her perspective, are treated like animals who always have sex on the brain because women threw the label on them and silenced them. She presents her own sex as the enemy. 

Conclusions and My personal Opinion

All of the above is research, but this paragraph is not. Reading the blog of an anti-feminist woman was not the most fun thing I've done this week. It blew my mind to read the tone of the blogs, the tone that declared women were the enemy and men were the victims-coming from a woman. I don't think our society needs to be The Battle of the Sexes. We all have equal responsibility to treat people well and listen to their perspectives. The only thing that I agreed with on the blogs I referenced was that men are overlooked on suicide rates and as rape victims. That is true and can be proven. However, I think that no matter your sex you should treat everyone you meet with kindness and God's grace. We, as humans, have the incredible potential to be evil or good. Be kind. 

Pictures:

Bored  Panda

The British Suffragette Movement - Wordpress

BBC

Sources:

https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/10/22/450221328/american-women-who-were-anti-suffragetteshttps://womenagainstfeminism.com/ 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-women-led-antisuffrage-campaigns-against-themselves

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1903/09/why-women-do-not-wish-the-suffrage/306616/

https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/1912/womens_suffrage/interest

Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes is known the world over for being an excellent detective with an equally cunning nemesis, Professor Moriarty. He was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This quirky, genius detective has not been forgotten. From The Great Mouse Detective to Sherlock, we know his name well. 

The Great Mouse Detective

Who is Sherlock? If you don't know, he is a detective with exceptional logic skills, a mind palace, and a sidekick known as Watson, Dr. John Watson. Dr. Watson is a war veteran with a cane and mustache, as well as a medical doctor. Professor Moriarty is a perpetual criminal problem for this pair who has his hand in most of the crime in England. *Spoiler Alert Coming!* There is a famous scene where the pair both fall to their deaths fighting each other, and then both of them come back to life. Why? Because of the public outcry against killing Sherlock off and financial problems for Doyle. 

The Author 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh Scotland in the year 1859, May 22nd. His father was an alcoholic and his mother read him books and told him stories so well it somewhat obscured real life. He shared his mother's talent at telling stories. Upon returning from his education he helped sign his troubled father into an asylum. From here he went into medical training. Much like Holmes, whom he created, he was exceptional at logic, diagnosis, observation, and deduction. Once his works started to be published he learned he could make money off of them. 

When offered a medical position on a whaling ship, he accepted the adventure. That experience inspired Captain of the Pole Star.  He was no stranger to travel. He also experienced Africa (though he wasn't as thrilled with it). He returned to England as quickly as possible to start his own, two-room, practice. He had one foot in writing and another in medical practice after that. This is where he was when he began writing Sherlock Holmes. 

The Beginning of Sherlock Holmes

He was doing well by the time The Sign of Four was out there for the world to see. He was known better in The United States, surprisingly, than in England. He had a good married and family life, thriving medical practice, and great success in writing. He was still restless. After trying Ophthalmology, and seeing not one person in the door, The Strand magazine picked up the Sherlock Holmes stories and he collaborated with an illustrator. That is when Holmes was made most famous. 

After almost dying of influenza, he gave up trying to juggle medical and literary, and stuck with literary so he could be his own master. In 1892 he became a father to Kingsley, and the man was overjoyed. Around this time he tried to kill off Sherlock Holmes, to his audience's shock. The Strand magazine subscriptions plummeted. He didn't consider Holmes his best work, as weird as it sounds, and Holmes overshadowed what he considered his best. 

Doyle threw himself into his favorite work, not noticing his wife's health, until she was diagnosed with Tuberculosis. He devoted himself to her and kept her alive well past the time they had predicted. He explored life beyond the afterlife by joining the Society for Psychical Research, something his current depression may have drawn him to. 

Since this blog is mostly about Sherlock and Doyle, let's skip forward. He gave the script rights to playwright William Gillette, told him to do whatever he wanted, and got a result that was anything but what was written in the pages of his stories. 

Sherlock's Return

He resurrected Holmes after he got a story idea based on the Devonshire Moors, realizing he already wrote the character he was trying to invent. Frustrated readers now got more of what they wanted in  The Hounds of  Baskervilles. Sherlock Holmes continued after that.

Curiously, he helped solve crimes, as himself, when George Edalji was convicted of slashing horses and cows, but had such poor eyesight he couldn't have done it. Doyle pointed this out to the Scotland Yard. He saved several people from injustice more than once. 

The Cottingley Fairies, what Doyle took for truth

I mentioned before, in a blog previous to this, that Doyle's second wife was a medium. She trance wrote, to be exact, and mostly because he got her into the occult after the toll the wars took on him. He was also into fairy lore. He found pictures that looked untampered, all of two fairies with a few teenage girls. His interest progressed into the occult after more of his family died. Press mocked and the clergy didn't like it, but he was undeterred. This point in his life was less fiction and more spiritualism writing. He did tours for spiritualism. He died of heart problems. His last word were to his wife.

This man is a fascinating subject, and the website I used has even more information, so feel free to look into my sources. I could write so much more, but it'd be an extra long blog. I hope you enjoyed it, Sherlock fans!

Pictures:

BBC

itunes-apple

Litquotes

Sources:

https://www.arthurconandoyle.com/

https://www.arthurconandoyle.com/biography.html

Fake psychics debunked-psych!

Shawn Spencer, a fake psychic using his power of observation to solve cases in the Santa Barbara police department, is faking being a psychic. (If you don't know the TV show Psych, that is the main plot.) .He is not the first, however, to do this. Let's talk about fake psychics and how they were exposed. 

Houdini (the illusionist) and Rose Mackenberg worked together to expose psychics, although you probably only heard about Houdini doing this. This pair exposed fake mediums who claimed to connect the living with the dead. Fake medium con artists conned money from the gullible, more than once. Houdini and Mackenberg would attend to "speak to their dead parents", but often proved the medium to be fake. Houdini even wrote a book on how things were faked. 

Houdini and Mackenberg

Mackenberg was a private investigator working for Houdini. She was a concrete-firm skeptic and very good at her job. She could "smell a rat before she smelled the incense". She had her wits about her and was quite good at disguise. She often claimed to be a grieving mother or widow. Her nickname was "the rev" because she was ordained (for a price) in so many spiritualist churches. She testified at several trials. She continued to expose the frauds after Houdini died, including their methods. She kept her apartment light because she was tired of dark rooms.

Houdini had turned to a psychic to reach his mother (in seriousness) and got a message that didn't match what his mother would have said (because his mother spoke broken English and the message was not in broken English). The medium was actually the wife of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. After that, he began exposing frauds all over the place. Houdini offered the equivalent of 150, 000 dollars today to people who could prove they were real mediums. No one came close and he exposed the famous frauds one by one. He was also backed by science. He discovered if there was a spiritual partner in the spirit world, they claimed to read your future, claim to read your mind, or say you have to believe for their magic to work they are a fraud. 

Current Day Fraud Investigations

There are real psychics out there, actual real ones, but how do you tell if you are visiting a fraud? It is easy to use gullible, desperate people in ways that are truly awful. It is easy to get money from that person in exchange for reaching their dead infant. (I, personally, don't suggest you see one for anything, real or fake.) Whatever you believe, it is more likely to be a real medium if they give you more specific information, like full names, details that can't be found by logical investigation, and information you never volunteered in any way. Fake ones will be extremely vague, with next to no specific insights. That's the most obvious sign. 

However, you will notice in the TV show Psych that Shawn Spencer is extremely observant and finds information, specific information that may make him look legitimate. He isn't, and we know that, but he does find specific names, places, and clues through his quick thinking and good memory. There is another thing that may give them away, and that is rapid-fire information, because surely something will get your attention and keep it. They don't go slowly. The less you think, the less the con works. Another thing? They want cash. You have a curse on you? You pay them for its' removal. On top of that, if they reported a crime and the scene was never found you know they are a fraud. If there is a track record of inaccurate information and failure you can be doubly sure that they are faking it. 

Faking a Seance 

With faking contact with the dead comes technique. How do you fake it? Diving into this is all theatrics and illusion. That was why Houdini was so good at spotting the fakes. 

You want to fake a ghost? Dress someone up, use a cardboard cutout, use a projector, etc....In the dark, with the gullible and desperate, you can get away with more. If you can get "ectoplasm" to come out ears, mouth, and nose you can in fact fake a seance, though I do not suggest it. If you can make objects move or break that is even better. Can you make the table shake? Also sounds you can play, messing with technology, and other high-tech programs you can create can easily make someone convinced of a haunting or seance. 

Hauntings can be faked with lots of things. Air pressure on doors, strings on doors, sounds through hidden speakers, projectors, and anything that will make things move with no explanation. Mirrors can be rigged (they often break afterwards). These are examples from Nancy Drew games and movies, but they are real ways to fake a haunting. Drugs in the air conditioner can make anyone convinced there is a ghost. Messing with electric lights is dangerous, but combined with other factors can cause someone to freak out. 

Ghost TV shows are another thing that can be debunked (or DBed), so let's just jump into that. People see what they want to see. They watch a ghost sighting video or TV show for scares, just like one watches a horror movie. It is the most gullible audience you can ever have. Horror theatre. Basically, it is overly easy to make a door slam off-camera, claim something touched you, and then claim to see something off-camera. Ghosts, if they do exist, don't show up on demand. Static and buzzing on EVP recording is hard to make words out of. You can suggest that they said anything, literally anything. EMF sensors can be disrupted by cell phone presence. Editing also makes it extremely easy to place a ghost in the scene you just filmed. 

A Friendly Warning

Do I think you should go to psychics? Heck to the no, but I do think there are some things we can't explain. I lived in a rental house that had lots of bad vibes and unexplained things. I am Christian and believe that most "real ghosts" may be demons. Please don't go looking for these things like they are fairies and can give you magical gifts. I do love my viewers, so please use your logical brains and be careful looking into the supernatural. It does exist, but there is no reason in the world for you to speak to the dead. 

Pictures:

Amazon.com

The New York Times

Wikipedia

TV Series Finale

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/06/obituaries/rose-mackenberg-overlooked.html

http://barrybradford.com/houdini-greatest-trick/

https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/telling-real-from-fake-psychics/

https://psmag.com/social-justice/science-scam-seance-75109

https://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/arizona/2017/10/02/ghost-hunting-shows-fake/705566001/

pressure points and massage - an overview

What can you do with pressure points? Can you make someone fall asleep with a massage or make someone immobile? Here's the scoop on what you can actually do to or for someone with pressure points. 

James Bond (Sean Connery) massaging with a mink glove.

Pressure points can relieve pain in so many ways, from headache to period pain to back pain. This is usually acupuncture, but can also be massage, and massage pressure points are the focus of this blog. I'm exploring what can be done, aside from pain relief, when it comes to massage. You can dive pretty deeply into this topic. This is simply an overview.

Relaxation

In so many movies and books you see it used as a way to put someone "in the mood" and it turns out that is not as much of a myth as you may think. The pressure points are for relaxation, not seduction, but can lead to it. (It is advised to massage for relaxing, not seduction.) This includes, legitimately, massaging scalp (head) and neck. It seems weird to massage your head, but it is proven to relax you. At the top of the head above the ears is the spot you will need to focus on. Feet, also, are connected with both relaxing and intimacy. Your calves, two fingers above the ankle are also good for this purpose, according to Chinese medicine. The one spot that doesn't surprise me is the stomach, just below the navel and close to the crotch (kind of a no-brainer, but the closer to the privates, the more intimate it is). 

Sleep

Lucy Liu in the movie Charlie's Angels

A nice, soothing massage can lead right into a better night's sleep, logically, but can you make someone fall asleep on purpose? We see a scene in Charlie's Angels (the one starring Lucy Liu) where a man is made to fall unconscious in less than a minute during a back-walking massage. I am not finding as much evidence in my research, so it may be a myth. The closest you get is towards the ball of the foot, said to induce sleep. There is also, allegedly, a place behind the ear that is reached with acupuncture. Still not sure if you can even do what Lucy Liu did.

Immobilizing 

In the NCIS TV show, we see Ziva David (Dah-veed) identify a bruise that is between the thumb and fingers as a pressure point that immobilized someone. She demonstrates it on McGee. I'm sure of this one not being a myth. There are points on the bicep, thigh, and brachial plexus that will numb or temporarily paralyze those limbs. Close to the place Ziva demonstrated on McGee is listed as a way for someone to loosen grip when you press hard. I'd be willing to bet that you could probably do what Ziva demonstrated. 

Ziva David, played by Cote De Pablo

Now that you know what you can do to someone with pressure points, you should probably do more research if you intend to use those skills. Pressure points are not an easy skill to use. Feel free to use my sources and find your own. 

Sources:

https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sex/pressure-points-for-sex#3

https://www.healthline.com/health/pressure-points-for-sleep

https://brightside.me/inspiration-health/9-self-defense-pressure-points-that-can-save-your-life-one-day-582360/

pictures:

gfycat

TV line

Spotern

Puritan courtship

Puritans, awkward or not, are extremely conservative. They had courtship rules that were a little weird because they didn't want to even get close to crossing lines. This is made fun of in Studio C's Awkward Puritan Roommate sketch (which is hilarious and the link to it will be at the end of this blog). What was Puritan Courtship actually like? Let's dive into that.

Awkward Puritan from Studio C 

In the general sense, it was more or less an arranged marriage with someone you were introduced to when you were kids. They let you play together, get to know each other, then sprung it on you that you should start courting each other. Men were expected to bring in land and women were expected to provide a dowry. A dowry is an inheritance of heirlooms, money, or furniture. Letter writing was in style during this time, so letters were commonly exchanged, too. 

What is a Puritan?

 Puritan culture itself was in the colonies, so a hard life to live. 17th and 18th century is the time we are focusing on. Death, illness, and natives were around. The "new" world was a rough place to be. Puritans began 16th century believing that the Church of England was too similar to Roman Catholic church practices. They didn't want the fancy ceremonies that were not written in the bible. Don't go thinking Puritans and pilgrims are the same, though. Puritans did not call the Church of England the false church. To make a long story short, they fragmented into Quakers, Baptists, and Antinomians. Their beliefs balanced helping others and self-discipline.

Self-discipline was a value they believed in, along with hard work. They liked life to be simple in their church, and not overly ceremonial, with no politics to muck things up. They accepted all, being humble in their lifestyles. If challenged, they believed God opposed them. Unfortunately, they persecuted more radical people (including "witches") when they did not fit. They drove radicals out. Also, any arts you enjoy and any pleasure activities were considered sinful, including sex. Joy and laughter were considered symptoms of sin. They wanted to be pure and a people apart from others. They believed in Calvinistic thought (basically, we are sinful and need religion in government).  All writing was for religion or self-examination. These were fire and brimstone preachers, to put it simply.

Courtship Itself

First of all, survival was more important than love in this time. Finding a husband/wife involved first finding a person who survived the winter. You have little ones, they help you work hard, and then you die. This process repeats itself with each child if they survive the harsh elements. 

Another thing about Puritan culture is patriarchy. Women are property of their fathers, then their husbands. "The laws of coverture" said women could own no property when married. Forget dating. It wasn't a thing that people did in this time period. Men arranged marriage and tried to marry wealth and property together. 

As settlements got bigger the above traditions became less so, and young people of the time were disobeying the rules because there was more space to do shady things without getting caught. Nothing new under the sun. Sex was happening on the sly, to put it simply. Some Puritans married because of pregnancy. It wasn't too upsetting that pregnancy happened, that is unless you didn't marry the father of the child. 30 to 40 percent were pregnant at their wedding, historians estimate (known because of wedding certificates and birth records combined).

The practice of putting a board in the middle of the bed was common for courtship.

Given that strange men were coming into settlements and couldn't be trusted to stay put and raise the child, parents did something called bundling (and no, I don't mean bundling auto and home insurance). If you wanted to snuggle up with so-and-so you suggest it to your strict parents. Your parents arrange for you to sleep beside her for one night, as long as you promise to keep your pants/panties on and stay on your side of the board. In some cases, bundling bags were sewn onto the bed. If the girl was pregnant soon after you could easily conclude the father of the child in one guess, making it impossible to avoid marriage. A man was held responsible every time that way. Also, a girl couldn't point to a boy in court and force a marriage, because here there were witnesses.

Crazy as this sounds, one handshake and you could be legally common-law married. No exaggeration. No authority or license needed, just shake hands, called Handfasting or Spousing. Unfortunately, this made it easy to marry someone anywhere and "get some" before jumping a ship to another country. Some men got caught and dragged back into their marriage by angry father-in-laws, but I'd bet that some men successfully left women destitute with this law. 

As promised, here are the links to the Studio C sketches involving the Awkward Puritan Roommate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc9HTPI1vDE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg9EAvG4WYk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Z4Ec2H6mA

Sources:

https://puritantimes.wordpress.com/courtship/rules-of-courtship/

https://theweek.com/articles/462497/5-courtship-rituals-from-colonial-america

https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/puritanism

https://nederland.k12.tx.us/view/3301.pdf

Pictures: 

The WikiHow

The Encyclopedia

Phil Cooke

Panic Shelters - Why?

Right now we see a lot of fear in our society, but there isn't anything new under the sun. In fact, people have built panic rooms out of fear. Does it sound ridiculous? Yes, but when people think a nuclear bomb is going to hit their country they do that. 

They started in Egypt, actually, ancient Egypt. The pyramids had secret rooms to protect the Pharoah's treasures from thieves. This may not be the best example, but it's the first example. What is a panic room? It's a room that someone can run into when things go terribly wrong, most likely locking themselves in with provisions for weeks or days of hiding. This is going farther than "stay home" - it is barricading yourself in your house. I don't suggest doing this for anything short of a nuclear attack. Let's not go overboard on Covid19 protection, please! 

What They Were Used For

A Priest Hole in England, used to 

protect Catholic priests from persecution

Feudal Lords hid in them during sieges, bootleggers used them for speakeasies, Priests avoided persecution in them, they hid slaves from their owners, you avoid tornados in them, and they sheltered people from nuclear war and bombs. They have a longer history than you may think. We go right to the 1950s in our minds, but they were much older. There are several other words for them, including Castle Keep, Priest's Hole, Speakeasy, Tornado Shelter, and Fallout Shelter. 

Believe it or not, you can still buy one, and it can be as fortified and cozy as you want it to be. You just have to be obscenely wealthy. Again, I repeat, don't buy one for the Corona Virus! We are not that bad off, I promise! It is not cheap to have one, either. Cool, yes, but not cheap. You are looking at thousands of dollars if you want one, depending on the size and how comfortable and fortified you want it to be. You can also attach two bookshelves to french doors and call it a secret room for much cheaper. ( I kind of want to do that, actually, just to have a hidden reading room, so not technically a panic room. )

Sometimes people build rooms just to protect their stuff. High-end collectors may have expensive and rare artwork, antiques, books, and coin collections that they are trying to protect from thieves, much like the oldest example of a panic room, an anti-theft room in a pyramid. These can be climate controlled for private collectors. This gets really expensive, really fast.

When They Were Most Advertised

There was a time when you could find ads for Panic Rooms and Fallout Shelters commonly. The 1950s, during the Cold War, was that time. Amongst the ridiculous paranoia of nuclear war, the Fallout Shelter ads appeared. People hoarded food and necessities in there, enough for weeks. You could pay $5000 for a shelter with a toilet and Geiger counter. (Crazy! But, still, let's look at our society of people afraid to stand beside each other and think about that for a second.)

A Fallout Shelter Handbook

The hysteria is another subject I want to mention. The 1950s was a time that included the Arms Race, offensive ads towards women, bomb threat drills in schools, cartoons that taught people to "Duck and Cover", and fear of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. I'd say this time period is not the best time to be anybody. Children had to wear dog tags and duck under desks for bomb drills. You want paranoia? Here it is! 

Parting Thoughts

I know we just explored many uses for panic rooms, but lately, our society has been using their homes for panic rooms. We "social distance", sometimes wear masks, and possibly some may wipe down groceries and credit cards, all this in the name of Covid19. We shut down our society for this. Can we compare this to the 1950s paranoia for one hot second? This may be an unpopular opinion, but fear is running our society. Depending on where you live and how old you are, you may or may not agree, but I think fear is more contagious than Corona Virus these days, that is unless you are in a nursing home or have weaker health. I understand that we do need to protect those around us responsibly, but I am beginning to see too much similarity between now and the society we just discussed. Be safe, yes, and we do need to protect our elders and those of weaker health, but let's all keep our heads and common sense. I love you all and want us to be a sane society. 

Sources:

https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/panic-room5.htm

https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/panic-room1.htm

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2003/02/the-ridiculous-history-of-cold-war-civil-defense.html

Pictures:

History

Amusing Planet

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