Sunday, January 22, 2006

Rebel Against Authority and Survive Terrorist Attack?

Check this out: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.06/start.html?pg=3 It describes who got out of the World Trade Centers on Sept. 11th.... and why... they ignored authorities who advised waiting for rescue and avoiding elevators.

It is sobering for "good boys" and "good girls" who always did what our parents and teachers said without question. It seems that on September 11th at least, having too much respect for authority worked against you and increased your chance of being killed. It is also a lesson in how the speed of information travel can alter the rules in an emergency. For example, those who got out by ingoring authorities often had gotten more recent and better information by cell phone, text message, or instant message. Armed with this, many of the survivors made their own decision to get out of the building immediately rather than wait.

So... what do we “good boys” and “good girls” do now?

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