Seems weird.
Yeah...
The declarations of emergency have caused some people's stress levels to go through the roof. There are hundreds of conspiracies videos out there:
Thing 1 is happening on the same day as Thing 2 and NASA is going to study Thing 2 so prepare for the Rapture!
I, Harambe, am no stranger to conspiracy theories, but I might need y'all to take a break for a second and go touch grass.
Let's break it down.
Why exactly are these counties/states declaring emergencies?
From that last link out of Dallas:
A small Texas county issued a state of emergency this week as it prepares for a surge in tourism ahead of the total solar eclipse in April.
Bell County officials say they expect severe traffic congestion, fuel shortages and strains on first responders, hospitals, food, grocery stores and the cellular network beginning days before the April 8 eclipse. Officials predict the county's population of 400,000 to double — or even triple — as people flock to Texas to glimpse the rare phenomenon.
County Judge David Blackburn said at a press conference Wednesday the emergency declaration will help the county plan, prepare for and respond to the eclipse and coordinate with the state if needed.
Essentially, the debate-club nerds are using legal rules to give themselves more money, personnel, and resources - as well as better reimbursement from the state and federal level for unforeseen expenses. Everyone thinks our $34-trillion-in-debt federal government can bail them out forever.
A lot of it is tied back to the creation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 1979 by President Carter. The federal government doesn't have jurisdiction at the local level (in principle, at least), so local jurisdictions declaring emergencies is basically the first step of a formal invite for state and federal manpower to come in and help fix a particular problem.
Since we have super-short term memories, let me remind you that this happened for the 2017 eclipse too.
From Buzzfeed News (lol, anyone remember them?):
In Nebraska — where it is believed that the eclipse could bring in more people than any other event in the state's history — officials will activate the emergency operations center, using the same protocol they would use in the event of a large-scale disaster. And commissioners in Washington County, Idaho, passed an emergency declaration so that the county can recoup expenses in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
Imagine that you're a small town in the path of the eclipse where literally all the AirBnBs are sold out:
If there's a conspiracy here, it's the observation that using a process meant for true emergencies as a "Get out of Jail Free Card" for every inconvenience is really [read: REALLY] bad for a free society that doesn't want rule by martial law.
Dr. Wolf is being a bit over the top about this eclipse, methinks, but she's not wrong about how this can be abused (anyone remember the pandemic??).
So what's going to happen during the eclipse? Will it turn everyone into zombies who start tearing small towns apart? Will NASA blow up the moon? Will the CERN Collider open a portal to hell and summon the antichrist? Should the Baptists break open their finest bottle of grape juice and prepare to be teleported into the sky?
Here's what will happen:
Yup, that's it.
"See that you are not alarmed," folks. It looks silly.
Enjoy next week's celestial proof of God's fine-tuned handiwork! 😌
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