Ziji Publishing, in the UK, ran a survey to herald the introduction of a new novel about yet another apocalypse, in which they asked what people would do if they learned an asteroid was on a collision course with earth and they had an hour to live.
Spend the hour with loved ones, in person, or on the phone? (54%)
Accept the inevitable, and drink a glass of champagne? (13%)
Have sex? (9%)
Pray? (3%)
Eat junk (or fatty) food? (2%)
Start looting? (2%)
A wonderful example of how the question will affect the answer (in particular, the 2% who chose the last option). And of how unreliable self-report is (and the unreliability of Reuters, whence came my numbers -- they only add up to 83%. I guess the remaining 17% were too depressed by the news that they couldn't even answer).
3 comments:
If the Bush government announced that we had just an hour to live because an asteroid was about to hit the earth, I'd blog a response that denied it was happening. Somewhere in that post would be the phrase "Worst.President.Evah." This just illustrates your point about being led by the survey questions because this was not a possible response.
In any case, then my family would interrupt me. Or I would be stuck in traffic while trying to get home to family. That could happen as well.
I responded to this earlier, but it doesn't seem to have posted.
Most everyone I love is more than an hour apart from me all the time -- even the people I live with. But, I'd try to contact everyone -- skype, or yahoo im or phone or email.
If James and Alec were here, I'd want to go for a walk on the beach or in the woods with Sheba and maybe Gomez, if we could figure out how to take him.
Failing all that, I'd read Georgette Heyer. Maybe Patrick O'Brian because the timeless, eternal quality of sailing forever with Jack and Stephen on the sea is a little like looking at the stars. I might take my Dunnett books off the shelf and put them close to me, but I couldn't read much in an hour.
People I love first, then books.
Take Molly and Will out for ice-cream. And loot the ice cream store.
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