Diabetes, anarchy, and social collapse...

Hi everyone,

I'm not sure if this is the best place to discuss the following topic, but I couldn't think of anywhere else to put it...

We have all, I am sure, been following the situation with the riots and unrest over the last few weeks. Now, it has occurred to me recently that we are probably closer to a state of social collapse in this country than we have been for a long time. I should add that I don't think we're very close - in fact I think such a thing is exceedingly unlikely... But over the last few years some things have happened which many of us, I am sure, would never have dreamed could occur (the collapse and virtual nationalisation of the banking sector; the Tories winning (well, half winning) an election; Nick Clegg as Deputy PM :shock:; Woolies disappearing from the high street... I mean I could go on...).

So to get to my point - as if you hadn't guessed it already. If this country were to collapse into a state of anarchy, or something like it , what would become of us diabetics? Almost all of us rely, to a greater or lesser extent, on the state for our very existence. If it wasn't for the blessed NHS where would be? Where would we get the things we need - insulin, needles, medication, test strips, etc, etc, etc... Would the anarchists be supplying them to us, I wonder? From what I saw of their antics last Thursday it seems somewhat unlikely...

I remember watching a programme a few years ago about the 'detention' (not the right word) camps set up during the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the '90s. The one thing that really struck me was a survivor who stated that the 'first people to go' were the diabetics (since they had no access to supplies)...

I apologise for bringing this topic up. But, as I said, even though it's an extraordinarily unlikely outcome enough 'unlikely' things have happened over the last few years that we would be foolish to entirely dismiss it. Perhaps, in fact, it is time the diabetic community started thinking about how we might cope if such a situation did, in fact, arise.

Hope I haven't depressed anyone!

Regards,
Chris

Celtic.Piskie said:

Like the zombie apocolypse.

Click to expand...

Diabetic zombies, perhaps?

Thanks for the replies, guys. Nice to know that I'm not the only one to have considered this (thankfully exceedingly unlikely!) outcome.

But then again, imagine the following scenario: a bunch of terrorists launches an attack on one of the major nuclear installations, blowing it up and contaminating large swathes of the country in the process. As a result many people die or are displaced, and the government imposes an indefinite period of martial law. Now I suspect that is not so unlikely as social collapse brought about through political or economic factors. Still very unlikely, but not vanishingly so...

But surely the important thing for us to consider, as diabetics, is: would there be anything we could do? Would we necessarily have to just sit and wait for death? We are currently at the whim and mercy of the large, faceless corporations that manufacture our insulin, monitors, test strips, etc. Is it conceivable that we could liberate ourselves and find some way of ensuring the continued availability of at least our most basic supplies? Seems like a crazy idea, yes; but I do not think that it would actually be impossible (as Hannibal said: "We will either find a way, or make one"). Maybe some sort of cooperative society... perhaps working alongside the manufacturers and health professionals but with a mandate to take over from them in the event of some breakdown in social order. Oh, I don't know, just thinking aloud really... But what if that were to happen? How liberating would that be?

Chris

I wonder what the diabetics in Cairo are thinking right now?