Gaslighting

We are all panic buying.

The supermarkets, the government, the press are all agreed. We are panic buying.

Faced with a lengthy lock-down, imposed and reinforced by the government, people are thinking ahead and trying to make sure that they and their families have provisions for the future.

Isn't this what the wise virgins did ? Or the meaning of Potiphar's dream about the fat cows and thin cows ?

Making provision for the future is what people are usually expected to do, if they want to be seen as responsible. Now, in the face of very real shortages, and with little confidence in the government's ability to shape the future, making that provision is seen as panic buying.

What's the other side of the story ? There are always two-sides, but only one grabs the megaphone.

The stores depend on just-in-time deliveries. This works fine when deliveries are carefully calculated to match the rhythms of normal life and the pulse of shopping activity. But in the current global pandemic, shopping habits changed more quickly that the supermarkets' algorithms. Result ? The supply chains failed because the supermarkets were slow to act, and did not spot the intensity of the impact of the virus.

Since Wuhan, the potential impact has been pretty clear, but the supply chains did not react.

It's a cardinal rule. When something goes wrong, find someone to blame. And of course, it is they public who are blame. They are not being suitably cautious and fore-sighted. They are panic buying.

Gaslighting.