Gizmodo, a design and technology blog, recently featured the LDS culture of emergency preparedness in an article about Mormons on Pinterest. Below is an excerpt.
Pinterest—the mason jar lobby’s most effective propaganda apparatus—is an aggressively wholesome social platform. It’s The Container Store of social networks, but past the arrangements of DIY barn-wedding souvenirs, there’s another Pinterest, one focused on surviving doom.
This is Mormon survivalist Pinterest. It’s grade-AAA Pinterest, a hodgepodge of pins that remind me of the 1998 film Deep Impact combined with legitimately useful canning tips mixed with a dollop of contempt for atheists who don’t own a storage cellar.
Emergency preparedness is important in Mormonism, more so than other religions. A history of getting abruptly chased across America probably plays a role, but whatever the cause, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints loves to be ready for bad shit to go down. The official LDS website encourages church members to keep a three-month food supply and develop comprehensive emergency plans. “Members of the Church have been counseled for many years to be prepared for adversity,” the site reads.
Mormons can shop at an official LDS Distribution Store offers a “Self Reliance” section that peddles emergency preparedness gear, as they brace for anything from flooding to international economic collapse.
