While it is true that Jericho is an interesting concept, it's clear tha the liberal typewriter monkeys in Hollywood don't know what they're talking
about when it comes to a problem like this. The situation, as depticted, is far too mild. The view after the bomb is almost rosey.
The fact of the matter is that even those of us who lived through the first Cold War are not as prepared for this sort of thing as we could be. Those
of us who did live through the first nuclear terror can remember the preperations that were so common. If the fine folks of Jericho had been so
blessed, they would have a different perspective than they are depicted with.
The first season ends nine weeks after the boom. In spite of the realities associated with such a harsh happening, the people of Jericho suffer from
few privations. While we have seen local stocks of junk food run out, we have NOT seen complications due to depleted precription meds or even a lack
of toilet paper.
For that matter, the locals don't seem to have any trouble bringing in their own crops. As good as all this may sound, it's just not real. It's
unrealistic. The veneer of civilization is very thin, even in the best of times. Fights betweeen the haves and have-nots should be much more common.
A mechanized agro-town would not transition well in to serf-like working conditions.
The average American would face an empty house in just three weeks. No toothpaste, toilet paper, prescription meds, canned goods, or batterie3s.
Those who normally shop once a week in peace-time conditions would fair even worse. Anyone who need diapers would be doomed. Baby formula? Not
gonna happen.
That doesn't mean to say that we can't get along without those things. The transition from pre-nuke to post-nuke would be uncomfortable in the
worst possible ways. Bear in mind that this say nothing about the refugee problems that this fictional town does NOT appear to face.
Under the conditions depicted in this t.v. show, millions of people would be on the move. With our without cars, they'd descend on the countryside
like the praverbial plague of locusts. Individual farmers may hold out in fortified homes, but they'd be overrun and their crops would be gobbled up
by more than a few impolite interlopers.
Anyone who has looked at FEMA manuals from the Cold War period can tell you that unchecked refugee travel would be one of the biggest problems faced
by rural Americans. Even with the 'bounty' of a local sporting goods store to draw on, the citizens of Jericho would be hard pressed to defend
what's theirs, much less hep the migrating hordes. With such a small community, it's likely that they would face a constant trickle of needy nasty
people who would wear them down.
In the mid 1980's GDW came out with a para-military game called "Twighlight 2000," which does depict life in America after a mild nuclear attack.
The designers borrowed heavily from Cold War sources and literature to put that project together. The picture, as painted, is much more 'real' than
what the folks in Jericho face.
Twighlight 2000
I'm not asking for the show to become a total downer. All I want is for the people who never lived through the Cold War to stop writing abou
subjects they know nothing about. The chummy social dynamics in that pretend paradise would be much different than they are portrayed. The mercenary
marauders who plagued them near the end of season one should've much more on the ball than they were.
This community does not patrol itself very well, and they certainly don't defend what little they have well enough to deserve having it.