“Haven’t we been living here in peace for over eighty years?” Presenter Hans van der Steeg’s voice-over sounded over sunny images of Dutch canals. He walked through the city past unsuspecting cyclists, thinking about the disturbing appeal that NATO CEO Rob Bauer made to citizens during a press conference in mid-January: make sure you have the right things at home – water, a radio, a battery-powered flashlight. – in case war suddenly breaks out.
Van der Steeg found it difficult to believe that these preparations were really necessary here, in the safe Netherlands – and yet the call did not sit well with him. As the view of the canals gave way to images of an underground nuclear bunker in Rijswijk, Van der Steeg announced the issue of the week: “Preparing for a possible war, is that an absolute necessity or pure fear mongering?”
The makers of This is the issue (EO) had again found an issue that promised a somewhat relaxed Tuesday evening. Other channels offered little relief: at Sophie & Jeroen (BNNVARA) writer and Russia expert Jelle Brandt Corsius came to talk about his travels to the Ukrainian front, at On 1 (EO) joined former army commander Mart de Kruif to discuss the latest developments surrounding Russian militias, and in We’re all going to die (PowNed), for the sixth week in a row, Valerio Zeno had come up with a way for humanity to come to a horrible end (why doesn’t anyone stop that man?).
With hanging legs then back to This is the issue, because a lesson in doomsday prepping suddenly no longer seemed like an unnecessary luxury. But after the first frightening scenes from the Rijswijk bunker – which was built during the Cold War in preparation for a Russian attack – the episode took an unexpected turn: none of the interviewees, from survival experts to professors, seemed to take a really gloomy view of things .
Probability calculation
For example, Van der Steeg bought a well-stocked survival backpack for two hundred euros in a prep shop (“Let those Russians come!”), only to be told by crisis protection lecturer Menno van Duin that he would probably never need that thing. Van Duin supported this view with a very clear example of probability calculation. “In terms of statistics, the chance is extremely small that something will happen that makes you suddenly think: gosh, it’s so useful that I have that bag,” said the lecturer. Music to the ears for the survival backpack-less viewer who would rather spend those two hundred euros elsewhere.
An emergency supply, for example, although you will still have quite a bit of money left over – unless you approach it as thoroughly as prepper Anneke Blom, who has an oversized pantry at home (renamed ‘the prep bunker’ by her husband) full of packs. almond milk, chocolate sprinkles, soup, and… “I immediately noticed that champagne bottle,” said Van der Steeg. “When do you uncork it?” “I think it’s very good that you guilty pleasures when things break out,” Blom suggested. “That you can eat and drink and do things that make you happy.”
After the unexpected cheerfulness of the episode, it felt wise for this viewer to grab the official list for an emergency kit and make a small inventory: what was already in the house? Not much, as it turned out. The score was particularly poor in the category “food with a long shelf life”. Two cans of chickpeas and one box of chocolates. There were no bottled water either. Two Club-Mates and – really – a bottle of champagne. At least the guilty pleasures were all right.