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Apocalypse being the end of all things is different from the collapse of civilization. IMO, Collapse also would mean being able to start over if there was no environmental condition that was the cause. The end of the daily grind, And back to the basics. if this happened there might be a way to start over. Also the curiosity as well. IE the film Quiet Earth. You wake up. Everyone is gone. What do you do?
I've noticed the same. It seems to be an eagerly-awaited opportunity to winnow out the weak and undeserving.
Another board that I've frequented for about the same amount of time I've been on C-D, also has a Survival and Preparedness board, just like here. I've been blocked from that particular forum on the board.
I had noticed, and commented on the fact that it was a bit disturbing, that several people seemed to actually be calling others to arms. Literally.
These particular members were telling the group at large that we shouldn't be sheeple and we needed to arm and ready ourselves for the coming battle, when the government comes to disarm us and send us into holding camps. Worse, it was a daily onslaught of reasons why the US is disintegrating and subversive ways we should be taking it back. And the Bible was tangled up in the whole thing. Seriously. It wasn't sane, but the board moderators seemed OK with it.
More importantly, Christ said "Feed my sheep."
Not "be ready to blow them apart if society collapses."
For some reason people think that United States is special as a "world power". Rome was the same, so was England, so were many others. The thing is though, with the amount of guns around, it will not be a happy ending when it does come.
As for people calling others to arms and generally being concerned about the powers of our government, what baffles me is that these same folks are completely oblivious to the fact that corporations and wealthy CEOs are the ones who run this country by virtue of money, the lobbying system we have and by virtue of connections. These same people have a hate for the government but when you say something about the corporate power you get attacked as being anti-capitalist and you get labeled as communist...
In my mind, the evil that will bring down this country is corporations. The government, Senate, Congress, they are just tools. The Constitution went to great lengths to protect the people from their government but NOT from wealthy private interests owning and running the government. In that respect, we are actually less protected than most other Western "democracies".
what baffles me is that these same folks are completely oblivious to the fact that corporations and wealthy CEOs are the ones who run this country by virtue of money, the lobbying system we have and by virtue of connections. These same people have a hate for the government but when you say something about the corporate power you get attacked as being anti-capitalist and you get labeled as communist...
A lot of Americans now believe in an apocalyptic world and anti-capitalist Hollywood capitalizes on the trend.
It's a bit off topic but I think it is extremely simple minded of you to claim Hollywood is anti-capitalistic because everything it produces it produces because it thinks it will make money. More often than not they are correct too.
Just because you don't like what they produce doesn't mean they're not producing it to make money.
The latter sort of proselytizing is actually a self-fulfilling prophecy; even if Jesus doesn't show up, these people are being prepped to kill for their god, and kept at a high level of fear, anxiety, and 'justifiable' emotional upset, so that they can be easily manipulated.
I think that is the dark side to the prepper movement. I know a lot of people here don't care much for the show "Doom's Day Preppers" but it's pretty telling that a whole lot of preppers (90% if the survey of preppers on the show is to be believed) feel the world will collapse soon so there for there is no sense in saving for retirement. If the world doesn't come to an end as they predict then they're going to be in pretty sorry shape come retirement time.
Not all of them, of course, but the ones who are taking out second or third loans against their houses to buy over priced boutique prepping crap or who are borrowing $200,000 to build their ultimate doom bunker hoping that the world ends before they have to pay the loans back... Well, I suspect they're going to be in for a rude awakening. About 1/3rd to half of the people featured on the show have already been evicted from their homes because they spent all of their money buying canned food and bullets instead of paying the mortgage. That just doesn't strike me as very smart or filling their responsibility to care for their families.
Now, if someone is able to continue paying for the daily things, put some money away for retirement (so they're covered when the world doesn't end), and still have enough to put some extra away in the form of prepping supplies then that is great but the prepping stuff should only come after IMHO.
It's a bit off topic but I think it is extremely simple minded of you to claim Hollywood is anti-capitalistic because everything it produces it produces because it thinks it will make money. More often than not they are correct too.
Just because you don't like what they produce doesn't mean they're not producing it to make money.
It's a bit more simple minded to believe that a single statement about Hollywood on a public forum by an anonymous poster is derived from a simple mind.
Perhaps you should spend less time thinking 4 yourself and find a reply, as you admit, that is not off-topic?
No, you claimed Hollywood movie companies were some how anti-capitalist and that is just provably false because they themselves are in business to make money. They are capitalist organizations. They're selling things which the market purchases so, sorry, but you're just wrong. They're making what sells and not engaging in some secret socialist plot even if you don't like their movies.
Last edited by Think4Yourself; 08-05-2012 at 06:34 PM..
Now, if someone is able to continue paying for the daily things, put some money away for retirement (so they're covered when the world doesn't end), and still have enough to put some extra away in the form of prepping supplies then that is great but the prepping stuff should only come after IMHO.
But you are thinking linearly when you state it like you have--as if they are, obligatorily, two different "accounts." They need not be. If, by the time I have outlived my usefulness in our industrial society, I have years worth of food, a paid-off cabin, paid-off land, a woodlot, no debt, no connection to any sort of municipal utilities, barter-able items, and enough cash to pay the taxes for a long, long time... what does it matter to me if the world did or did not "end"? The lifestyle is the same regardless. The way folks handle "prepping" varies considerably. But my particular goal in the way I "prep" is to replace the conventional, modern societal way of handling things. The "prepping" replaces many of the things you mention in your post.
I can't speak for everyone here, and I do account for some sort of "meltdown" in my "prepping," and I even believe that something like that could happen, but that's not my main focus. My main focus is simply to become separated from our "system" as much as possible, no matter the future of society in general. The "prepping" takes the place of such assumptions/"necessities" as Social Security, 401Ks, new car funds, big house funds, vacation funds, college funds, loans, credit cards, Friday night movies, etc... regardless of whether all those things are intact in the future or not.
Besides the fact that a true "prepper" certainly does not incur debt to buy food or a new shovel. The person that does that is not a prepper, but a misguided product of our consumption-based, debt-based, push-button, industrial society.
I have years worth of food, a paid-off cabin, paid-off land, a woodlot, no debt, no connection to any sort of municipal utilities, barter-able items, and enough cash to pay the taxes for a long, long time...
Unfortunately two of my properties are in Texas and it would take the money of Stephen Spielberg to pay my taxes for a long, long time.
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