Group downplays Y2K crisis

Groups across the nation are using Internet sites to report the
potential upheaval from the Year 2000 computer bug problem, but one
group, the Religious Freedom Coalition, http://y2k.rfcnet.org,
says the impending chaos won’t be caused by crashing computers.

The conservative action group agrees with those who say that there
could be some or possibly many computer chip failures on Jan. 1, 2000.
However, the coalition doesn’t believe that the computer crisis will
greatly affect the way people live — such as shutting down power, heat,
or food supplies. However, the group does believe that public reactions
to the computer failures could be a real problem.

“Yes, there’s going to be a Y2K problem, but the majority of the
problems won’t come from computers but from people’s reactions to the
problem,” said William Murray, chairman of the Religious Freedom
Coalition.

If people start panicking at the turn of the millennium, Murray
believes that destruction of personal and public property along with
potential deaths will follow. It is this increasing panic over Y2K that
serves as the basis for the Religious Freedom Coalition’s Y2K mission.

“The project’s purpose is to give people a reasonable and balanced
view of what to expect with Y2K,” Murray stated.

Murray said that if a Y2K panic begins and both people and property
are harmed, he would blame those that “hyped up” the problem from the
beginning.

“If a panic begins, it will come back to the people who have been
beating this stupid (Y2K) drum,” Murray said.

And Murray says he knows what he is talking about. On a regular
basis, he has been meeting with congressional leaders who tell him that
compared to people’s reactions to Y2K, the computer problem itself will
be negligible in its effects on people’s lives.

Murray, who claims to be fairly knowledgeable with computers, says
that computers crash every day without causing major catastrophes. The
reason catastrophes don’t occur daily is because of manual override
systems.

“The manual overrides are there because computers fail all the time!”
exclaimed Murray. “Not a single American will starve to death because a
computer can’t figure out what year it is.”

Murray said that those who are fearing the worst in regards to Y2K
are assuming that nothing can be done without the computer. He pointed
out that all businesses will do all they can to stay in business because
they need to make a profit.

Although Murray believes in the durability of the nation’s
businesses, he detests those businesses that are making profits on Y2K
supplies. He refers to these new companies as “profit gougers” and
“purveyors of panic” because many of them are selling food and
commodities, such as gold and platinum, for many times the current price
on the market.

Murray believes that these companies are contributors to the
increasing panic surrounding Y2K and will have to take responsibility
for any destruction of property or life that occurs due to the panic.

Murray told WorldNetDaily that each time he talks with congressional
leaders in Washington about Y2K, the level of action by the government
goes up. Murray commented that organizations such as the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, the National Guard and even the American
Red Cross are preparing for Y2K because of the ensuing panic, not the
computer problem.

“These organizations are not preparing for the computer problem but
the human reaction to that problem,” said Murray.

FEMA, however, refutes this statement. Joe Stocks, a spokesperson at
FEMA headquarters, said, “Our efforts are concentrated on the Y2K
computer problem.”

The American Red Cross also refutes the assertion that it is
preparing for anything other than the Y2K computer problem. Christopher
Thomas, a spokesperson for the Red Cross, said that the effects of the
Y2K computer bug in anything is unknown, and it is because of this
uncertainty — not potential civil unrest — that they are telling
communities to prepare.

The Religious Freedom Coalition — attempting to do more than just
inform people about Y2K — would like to take part in protecting and
helping them during the crisis. Advising people not to pull large
amounts of funds out of banks, Murray said, “Everybody that loses their
head is going to lose money; everybody that stays level-headed will get
wealthy.”

Murray explained his thoughts on this by referring back to the great
stock market crash of 1929. During the crash, many people pulled their
money out of the stock market. Many lost all they had because of this.
With Y2K, the same thing could happen if people aren’t “level-headed.”

Thus, Murray suggests that staying calm during the crisis will
prevent any great loss of personal wealth. In fact, resisting the urge
to panic may result in great wealth as it did for John D. Rockefeller
who, during the crash, used every dime he had to buy stocks.

The coalition advises that everyone take reasonable, not
unreasonable, precautions for Y2K. Although the coalition doesn’t
believe people will starve or freeze to death in 2000, computer glitches
are still likely to occur. Therefore, reasonable precautions would
include such activities as the saving of bank records. In terms of
saving food and water, the coalition doesn’t recommend having a year’s
supply, but a week’s supply — something most people have already —
would be reasonable.

Although informing and advising the public about Y2K may not fall
within the general purpose of a coalition like the Religious Freedom
Coalition, Murray said that his coalition is taking an active role in
the dissemination of Y2K information because he fears that what panic
there is will be blamed on conservative preachers, some of whom have
already predicted starvation and general gloom. He doesn’t want these
few pastors to affect the public’s perception of all the other pastors.

“It should be no pastor’s responsibility to cause a panic,” said
Murray.

To encourage more pastors to go on record saying that Y2K is not a
problem of great magnitude, the Religious Freedom Coalition has placed a
petition on its website that pastors can electronically sign. All who
sign the petition are said to share the common concern that the Y2K
computer “scare” will harm the spiritual and economic well-being of
Americans more than the actual computer problem will.

The Year 2000 computer bug problem was unknowingly created by
computer designers trying to save precious memory space in the early
days of computers. Instead of designating four digits for the year date
in computer systems, only two were prescribed.

Thus, the year 1980 would be recorded in computer memory as “80” and
so forth. The problem known as Y2K will occur when the calendar changes
over to the year 2000. Not being able to distinguish the year 1900 from
the year 2000, date sensitive systems within computers, if not fixed,
could fail. Y2K specialists say that some dates during 1999 may
contribute to the Y2K problem as well.