Is it the media scaremongering or is it that too many people are just plain stupid?

[Omegstrat6]

We've seen it before with the great panic buying of toilet roll at the start of the pandemic and then later reports of shortages of fuel in a couple of petrol stations sparking idiotic buying of fuel. Now we have reports in the media of a couple of individual supermarket branches selling out of bottled water and the next thing you know is that it's spread countrywide. WTF!

Apparently all this started because of fears of a drought. Ok, so certain regions have a hose pipe ban but that doesn't mean that you can't get water out of your tap! Bottled water is also considerably dearer than tap water and it has nothing to do with people buying it because they are hot because supermarkets didn't have the problem over the recent heatwave. Am I missing something?

[Leicesterbaggie]

Too many people are just plain stupid!

[baggieal]

The media are wrecking consumer spending and the housing market has cooled now. Many are running scared!

[mickd1961]

The media are wrecking consumer spending and the housing market has cooled now. Many are running scared!

The media are the biggest problem.

All the doom no getting becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

We’re so good at shooting ourselves in the foot.

[WBA1955]

Daily Express is the worst, scorching summers and polar vortexes.
I stopped buying papers and watching the news years ago.
Ignorance is bliss.

[mickd1961]

Daily Express is the worst, scorching summers and polar vortexes.
I stopped buying papers and watching the news years ago.
Ignorance is bliss.

At least buying The Bugle you get the miserable headlines from history.

[westcountryvillain]

The latter Omega, when the fuel crisis happened there were people filling their tanks with their motors sat on the drive for weeks - the problem was only in 8 BP stations - EIGHT.

There's been an impending winter crisis in the NHS every year for the last fif**** and the Express without fail will forewarn of extreme wintry conditions with blizzards etc, every single year.

[Omegstrat6]

I tend to think that it is the latter too as far too many people are either stupid or selfish and then this leads to others getting panicked into jumping on the bandwagon and following suit which then only exacerbates the situation.

That said, I also feel that the media have some responsibility too. The original stories may be newsworthy but surely they should know the likely consequences of putting them out there without further comment. Might be nice to think that people could be trusted to react sensibly but that sadly isn't the case. Perhaps the media, in taking the decision to put these stories out in the first place should then take some form of ownership/responsibility in how they frame it-eg "it is Only 8 forecourts and there is no fuel shortage so no need to panic" or " it is Only two branches and an announcement of a drought will not have any impact on normal domestic water supply"?

[Dubbag]

I think the main point is this. Fresh water supplies are dwindling faster then anticipated by by global computer modelling.
From The Yangtze River, to the Colorado River, to the Danube, to the many great rivers around the world, they are all under serious pressure for what ever reason. Be it industrial or climatic the demand on fresh drinking waters will be causing concerns globally.

[Omegstrat6]

Don't doubt that Dubs and fresh drinking water will likely become an issue medium-long term, particularly in drier areas of the globe as the climate changes. Just saying that, in this particular instance, panic buying bottled water is both nonsensical and selfish as simply no need to do so.