Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I would not dare to paint all survivalists with the same brush.
from those that merely plan to raid to those that have built a compete town of their own the wide spectrum will vary due to economics and drive.
I like learning things to enhance my self sufficiency, mostly because I can trust my own work better than I can trust the work of others.
I am sure that many of you have found the same is true.
This has nothing directly to do with TEOTWAWKI survival so much as every day life.
I don't trust the AMA or FDA or any of the alphabet agencies for that matter, I've seen too much fraud in them during my lifetime .
I take care of my body the best i can and deal with issues naturally ( homeopathic)
It simply makes sense to know how to store food for the long run, and buy in bulk when you can, it is economically sound.
Simply storing food is not enough for the seriously long run ,but more than that, you can not be guaranteed that what you get in the store is not GMO, so growing your own as much as possible, is essential, not optional.
One thing I have learned about gardening is , it is a very long learning curve, and if you are waiting to learn AFTER you've run out of food you have wasted the investment.
If you have the wrong soil or don't know how to treat the soil nor have access to amendments to the soil you won't grow any thing .
Where are you going to buy Miracle Grow after the collapse ?
If you are commercially dependent to keep your garden alive, your not much further ahead .
I am building reservoirs/Ponds for catching water as well as cisterns and raising fish and chickens .
Though no long term events have occurred, the short term ones were not serious to me, being prepared .
I may not live long enough to see any apocalypse, but with what I've stored, some one else may have a fighting chance.
Though many survivalist do not wish to cater to those whom are not, when the time comes there will be some very hard decisions during those times.
"No human civilisation will last forever", no I didn't say that, a scientist and geologist said that, human civilisations have collapsed before and will again, ignore it if you wish.
this forum seems to be made up predominately of short term preppers who do nothing but tell long term preppers they are wrong.
Civilizations do collapse, but it takes centuries. Even in a case like WWII when most of Europe was bombed into rubble, things recovered. Hollywood likes to make movies about cities turning into smoking ruins overnight, but it will never happen short of total nuclear war. Whole generations have grown old and died waiting for that one.
If you are wealthy and want to take it on as a hobby, building and stocking underground radiation shelters can be fun, albeit very expensive. At the very least you will have a place to store your potatoes and onions. OTOH, I pay taxes to a local fire department and to a forest protective association to defend me against wildfires, and still every summer starts with a travel trailer stocked and ready to bug out if a wildfire heads my direction. I have a couple of generators and some fuel stored, and have designed my physical plant so that lack of electricity does not change the comfort level of my home. The only thing I need to stock up on if a disaster is pending is dog food, but I normally keep at least 40 lbs. on hand.
I'm not concerned about mobs spreading out into the countryside. Relief efforts will be concentrated in cities, and that is where the shelter is. If anything, the traffic will go the other direction, as rural people head for cities and the food distribution centers.
Since the 1930s there has been a population control agenda, it's just not a "politically correct" aspect of the government they openly subscribe to.
The UN agenda 21 is simply a more sophisticated program now in place .
You will find that the country side will be made inaccessible in the near future, forcing people to the larger populated areas .
If you have been watching what is happening with the government giving land away to foreigners, Free trade Zones and such there are simply too many aspects of the country being dismantled that collapse is enevatable ,even if nothing cataclysmic occurs naturally. (earth quakes and such)
There is coming a tipping point with this influx of illegal aliens and refugees, that though protesting may occur, nothing will be done, until some new false flag event, to create the excuse to call for martial law .
The answer to the question "Understanding survivalism" can be distilled down to one word -- fear.
I'm actually somewhat of a survivalist. I know how to remove radiation from drinking water. I know how to distill alcohol. I know how to make antibiotics from scratch. I can start a fire almost anywhere with almost anything. I hunt, fish, grow my own food, build my own furniture, and I can navigate a sailboat using a sextant and a wristwatch. I have been forced to stitch wounds on myself in the field before. (I don't recommend that unless it's necessary.) I don't know how to fly an airplane -- but that's also on my list.
But I don't do this because I fear an end of the world scenario. I do these things because they're fun (except home surgery). And all of them (except making penicillin) have improved my life in one way or another.
Preppers are mostly idiots. They think that they'll be better off if the [excrement] hits the fan -- because they have guns, ammo, and some dried food. The real commodity in that scenario is knowledge. I can build and manage a community if the need ever arises.
But since it's unlikely that the need will ever arise -- all of these things have practical applications. My philosophy is to live like I'll die tomorrow and study like I'll live forever.
I have a collecition of antique medical books. I have read them and evaluated them as keepers. Much of what passes for herbalism is total nonsense, but there are herbs that really work. I have a medical herb garden for emergencies, but am resigned to the fact that in the absence of modern medicine all of our lifespans will be severely curtailed. I'm not going to be installing an aortic stent any time soon.
Some things you mention are definitely a hobby. I'm still sitting in the same dining room chairs my grandfather sat in 80 years ago, at the same dining room table my parents bought 65 years ago. If I was faced with replacing my Lazy Boy recliner I would either repair it or do without. Reupholstering is trivial.
Most of my survivalism is just a case of conserving late 19th century and early 20th century technology. The wood stove will last longer than I will, and I still have a logger's buck saw if the chainsaw gives out. I have a grass scythe and a brush scythe, pitchforks, a barn, and many acres of camas if things get really bleak. I still can, dry and smoke my own food, and it forms a major part of the household food supply. It's just how everybody used to do things, and some people still do. I avoid keeping livestock because it messes with my travel plans, but have plenty of room and facilities to raise meat if I had to.
Survival is not an issue. We all end up dead anyway. Prepping is a lifestyle that can be very pleasant. You can't buy flavor like my smoked salmon or canned tomato sauce from legacy plants.
doom is right, most of the human population is doomed because they think "it'll never happen" and are too set in their ways to even contemplate something different, something other than "business as usual".
Right, and you "think it will happen." Except there's no actual reason to expect it will. You just (lets be honest) hope it will.
Doomsayers like you have been around at least since Roman times. I guess even a stopped millennium-counting machine will be right once a millennium.
Nowhere, at any time, has that poster ever stated that he "hoped" (or wished, or whatever) that anything catastrophic would happen. He has limited his discussions almost entirely to encouraging others to become better prepared for something unexpected.
It's your right to disagree with him. But it is not your right to accuse him of something he never said.
Right, and you "think it will happen." Except there's no actual reason to expect it will. You just (lets be honest) hope it will.
Doomsayers like you have been around at least since Roman times. I guess even a stopped millennium-counting machine will be right once a millennium.
Paul hasn't indicated what he hopes will happen anywhere just what he thinks may happen, yet you lambast him with sarcasm and disrespect. What do you think about these folks who say the same thing?
Paul hasn't indicated what he hopes will happen anywhere just what he thinks may happen, yet you lambast him with sarcasm and disrespect. What do you think about these folks who say the same thing?
Then why all the worry about the end of civilization as we know it? Why the absolute certainty that "the end is near" and the concern for preparing for "when the manure hits the fan"? Human nature being what it is, people don't mentally prepare themselves for something to happen without wanting it to take place. Since there's no gratification in being wrong, civilization has to take a great big hit for all the prepper porn fantasizers to be right. Ergo, numerous posters on this forum are gleefully anticipating some massive disaster ... of course, they're all assuming that they'll not only survive but become heroes. It's the way fantasies work.
Survival is not an issue. We all end up dead anyway. Prepping is a lifestyle that can be very pleasant. You can't buy flavor like my smoked salmon or canned tomato sauce from legacy plants.
And there's the rub. I have a lot in common with the regulars on this forum. From backyard chickens to heirloom vegetables to woodworking with hand tools. (I use machines, too. But I have all the necessary hand tools because often they're the right tool for the job.) I happen to like all these 19th and 20th century skills I've racked up. Some of them have quite literally saved my life.
But you won't ever find me on any other threads, offering advice on how to make better mortises, make gravlax or how to more effectively distill alcohol. Why? Because Linda D is right -- so much of what is written on this forum is best described as "prepper porn." I want no part of that.
Toss out the Atlas Shrugged, Turner Diaries, Stormfront crapola, and this would be one of my favorite forums. But that isn't ever happening. Self-Sufficiency and Preparedness attracts such people like a freakin' magnet.
You seem to have difficulty understanding that the concept of "freedom of speech" applies even to this forum
This is incorrect. There is no mandated "freedom of speech" here. I cannot say what I actually think about many of the posts on this forum. I'd get whacked with the ban-hammer.
That being said, many, many, many people equate disagreement with personal "attacks." You'll see that word on this forum all the time. "You're attacking us."
No, I'm not "attacking" anyone. I'm saying that a lot of people on this forum live in a perverse fantasy land. That isn't an attack. It's an easily defensible debate position. It amazes me how many of these "bring on the apocalypse" types have such thin skin.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
