i think it is a self perpetuating thing. For a large majority of folks, a power outage for a few days is SHTF. As time goes further, that groups problems radiate outward, and thus cause more S to H more peoples F, and it spreads. (By power outage I mean like what happened in the northeast a while back.) If one like that happens for more than a day or 2, in the summer or winter time, you would have thousands just die from exposure. 15,000 is the number they say died just from a heat wave in France last year. By being aware and prepared, you move yourself further out from the 'epicenter' of all the S flinging. I would not want to be in a major city!
As the waves of S get heavier, more of those unprepared to deal with them will just die. Most folks don't think about it that way, but so many are so dependent on all the trappings of civilization and a McDonalds on the corner, that they will not be able to gear up for survival before they simply starve, or do some crazed thing out of desperation and are killed by someone like me who is prepared enough and stable enough to simply go on the defensive for a little while while all the wheat settles out and the chaff gets swept away.