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Honestly, if a collapse happened the way some people seem to assume (Hollywood style it seems--starring Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis)--then the vast majority of preppers and survivalists on this forum would done within about 6 months. Basically, you'd only have a chance of survival if you are willing to become a well armed warlord that can act entirely without compassion. That's generally what has happened today in countries where law and order has broken down (or never really existed) for long periods of time. If you are friends with or in some way useful to the warlord, then you might be ok.
Your remote location will eventually be discovered and a few armed people will not be enough to protect it -- assuming you have anything worth stealing. Ironically, I think the biggest threat will be other survivalists and preppers who band together to conduct raids. You won't get much sleep. Who wants to live like that?
I think that everyone should be prepared for short to medium term disruptions. Beyond that, you can spend millions and still get screwed if the disaster you prepare for isn't the one that actually happens.
Honestly, if a collapse happened the way some people seem to assume (Hollywood style it seems--starring Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis)--then the vast majority of preppers and survivalists on this forum would done within about 6 months. Basically, you'd only have a chance of survival if you are willing to become a well armed warlord that can act entirely without compassion. That's generally what has happened today in countries where law and order has broken down (or never really existed) for long periods of time. If you are friends with or in some way useful to the warlord, then you might be ok.
Your remote location will eventually be discovered and a few armed people will not be enough to protect it -- assuming you have anything worth stealing. Ironically, I think the biggest threat will be other survivalists and preppers who band together to conduct raids. You won't get much sleep. Who wants to live like that?
I think that everyone should be prepared for short to medium term disruptions. Beyond that, you can spend millions and still get screwed if the disaster you prepare for isn't the one that actually happens.
Honestly, if a collapse happened the way some people seem to assume (Hollywood style it seems--starring Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis)--then the vast majority of preppers and survivalists on this forum would done within about 6 months. Basically, you'd only have a chance of survival if you are willing to become a well armed warlord that can act entirely without compassion. That's generally what has happened today in countries where law and order has broken down (or never really existed) for long periods of time. If you are friends with or in some way useful to the warlord, then you might be ok.
Your remote location will eventually be discovered and a few armed people will not be enough to protect it -- assuming you have anything worth stealing. Ironically, I think the biggest threat will be other survivalists and preppers who band together to conduct raids. You won't get much sleep. Who wants to live like that?
I think that everyone should be prepared for short to medium term disruptions. Beyond that, you can spend millions and still get screwed if the disaster you prepare for isn't the one that actually happens.
I think that everyone should be prepared for short to medium term disruptions.
Sometimes you really have to move a lot of coal to find a diamond, but this line at least is realistic. The rest of the post, well....
Most of the folks that seriously post on this board aren't really into Doomer porn. You need to stop watching NatGeo Doomsday prepper shows. They may be called "reality" shows, but they are far from the reality those of us on planet earth live in.
Sometimes you really have to move a lot of coal to find a diamond, but this line at least is realistic. The rest of the post, well....
Most of the folks that seriously post on this board aren't really into Doomer porn. You need to stop watching NatGeo Doomsday prepper shows. They may be called "reality" shows, but they are far from the reality those of us on planet earth live in.
Actually, Bark isn't too far off in his assessment - regardless of what's in vogue at Hollywood at the moment.
If you've ever served in famine relief, either with or through an NGO or other aid organization, you'll know that Bark's prediction of so-called survivalists banding together to ensure their own survival is almost proverbial in practice. Ethiopia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Chechnya (and a bunch of other countries in the Eastern Block), Pakistan, and North Korea... their SHTF scenario has already happened and has been ongoing for decades. What happens there is unspeakable and unimaginable to the uninitiated. Desperation breeds violent revolt, and starving people will do anything - anything to survive. It isn't pretty.
Most people in North America have no idea what desperation is. Even the worst conditions in our little part of the world bear no similarity to the reality that most people on planet Earth live in.
Watching 'reality' TV shows may not be terribly enlightening, but acquiring a realistic global perspective certainly would.
I don't watch TV much, but I spend my life 'living' with the... ahem... other reality.
There is truth in what you say, spent some time in some active war zones myself including eastern Europe and other "vacation" spots where it is warm and sandy. If it is one thing a former serviceman knows especially after the wars of the past 20 years, it is the horror of war.
Yeah, I saw folks do things that defy explanation, but at the same time I saw others band together and protect each other. Most of the places where I went were cauldrons of man's ability to do harm to others, and any unspeakable horror that could be perpetuated was.
I saw the worst of man's inhumanity in hellish conditions, so believe me, I don't have any misconceptions of what people are capable of.
At the same time I saw folks stand up for each other, sacrifice to protect those they cared about, suffered terrible deprivation so that the people they loved had something to eat or a warm blanket.
I have no misconception about what is possible, but I also know that people are capable of greatness in the worst of circumstances.
I for one don't ascribe to the fatalistic opinion that there can never be hope. It may be hard to find, it may lie on the other side of a fiery Hades, but the divine spark that separates people from animals is a reality.
I've handled bodies so charred and misshapen you couldn't recognize them as human, bodies that were subjected to horrible treatment beyond most people's imagination. I have looked into the abyss and sometimes it comes back to me in the dark hours of the night, but I for one refuse to submit to fear and I plan to survive with those I care about. I have the skills and abilities garnered over a lifetime of hard work, I can and have survived a lot of bad situation all over the world, I can do it again.
I don't give up because despair is the surest way to lose the battle, the war and your life.
Surrendering just isn't my way.
I have never seen a real war or disaster that had any parallels with modern Hollywood balderdash, with the exception of the burned out buildings, the bullet holes and the craters from high explosives. I know the stench of burnt human flesh in my nostrils, I know how hard it is to wash the blood off of your hands.
It never leaves you, but if you have the will, you can get through almost anything.
As Winston Churchill once said, "When one is traveling through hell, keep moving".
There is truth in what you say, spent some time in some active war zones myself including eastern Europe and other "vacation" spots where it is warm and sandy. If it is one thing a former serviceman knows especially after the wars of the past 20 years, it is the horror of war.
Yeah, I saw folks do things that defy explanation, but at the same time I saw others band together and protect each other. Most of the places where I went were cauldrons of man's ability to do harm to others, and any unspeakable horror that could be perpetuated was.
I saw the worst of man's inhumanity in hellish conditions, so believe me, I don't have any misconceptions of what people are capable of.
At the same time I saw folks stand up for each other, sacrifice to protect those they cared about, suffered terrible deprivation so that the people they loved had something to eat or a warm blanket.
I have no misconception about what is possible, but I also know that people are capable of greatness in the worst of circumstances.
I for one don't ascribe to the fatalistic opinion that there can never be hope. It may be hard to find, it may lie on the other side of a fiery Hades, but the divine spark that separates people from animals is a reality.
I've handled bodies so charred and misshapen you couldn't recognize them as human, bodies that were subjected to horrible treatment beyond most people's imagination. I have looked into the abyss and sometimes it comes back to me in the dark hours of the night, but I for one refuse to submit to fear and I plan to survive with those I care about. I have the skills and abilities garnered over a lifetime of hard work, I can and have survived a lot of bad situation all over the world, I can do it again.
I don't give up because despair is the surest way to lose the battle, the war and your life.
Surrendering just isn't my way.
I have never seen a real war or disaster that had any parallels with modern Hollywood balderdash, with the exception of the burned out buildings, the bullet holes and the craters from high explosives. I know the stench of burnt human flesh in my nostrils, I know how hard it is to wash the blood off of your hands.
It never leaves you, but if you have the will, you can get through almost anything.
As Winston Churchill once said, "When one is traveling through hell, keep moving".
{{{{{{{{{{Silvertip}}}}}}}}}}
I'm sorry you had to go through that; I'm sorry any of us do, and if we hadn't been so greedy and power hungry in the first place, it wouldn't have been necessary - but that's another thread.
I worry about those who're used to living the 'soft' life here in North America, I worry about their families, and the fact that what they don't know will probably kill them.
We need everyone to be as aware as you are - nightmares and all, if necessary. (I know it never leaves us!) Y'never know, it may just resurrect compassion enough to..., well, that's another thread too, isn't it?
Blessings to you and yours,
Mahrie.
P.S. Have you seen the movie Beyond Borders? It's as accurate as is palatable for a viewing audience, I'd say, and believe that it should be required viewing for Grade 12 kids - and all other adults who haven't seen it. I may be a little biased because of the work I do but.... Nah! I still think they should see it.
Last edited by Mahrie; 09-17-2013 at 11:04 PM..
Reason: To add a post script.
Ever since there have been humans, it is the way it is. People don't get along for the most part, and even if one side isn't causing problems, there is sure to be someone somewhere that will do anything they can to start something and break the peace.
The only reason we can sleep secure at night is because hard men are willing to do hard things to protect us.
Same thing no matter if you are talking nations, or villages or families. Someone has to stand up in the face of oppression and evil and say no.
I didn't do anything that others have done thorough all history. I just was able to handle it better than some guys.
I actually had a worse time handling it when I was a firefighter. Most of the victims there were innocent of anything except being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most war zones, even the civilians supported a regime or philosophy that started the conflict.
Natural disasters are a different story.
My experience is nothing that hundreds of thousands haven't gone through. People can be a lot tougher and more resilient that they appear. As a blacksmith I know what fire and pressure can do.
You take a rough piece of iron, you heat it, you hammer it, you put it under pressure, and out comes a useful tool.
Sometimes the steel cracks or shatters if there are imperfections, sometimes it breaks if you don't temper it right, but when it all comes together you have something strong and beautiful.
It takes a lot of heat and pressure to make a diamond.
Humans are the same. Some folks crack or buckle under the pressure, some folks rise to the occasion and create from disaster.
I choose to remain positive, no matter how Pollyanna that sounds.
In survival, a positive mental attitude is the first weapon you have to pull through any situation.
I did my duty, I have no regrets. The ghosts have no power over me and I continue to do the best I can to do what I want to do.
I'm just a simple guy. It's easier that way
P.S. I have not seen Beyond Boarders, I don't watch a lot of movies. I would choose either Blackhawk Down about the war in Somalia or the movie Behind Enemy Lines about the war in Bosnia they are probably the closest to real situations of any movie I have seen, although most of the movies are Hollywood and overdramatized.
I WILL do all I have to to survive because I don't fancy "the alternative!"
Y'might want to be careful there, big paul. What you have to do to survive might place you on the... ahem... rather unpleasant side of 'the alternative.'
Could you watch a child starve to save your own life?
Would you be willing to kill to protect your own foodstore if it came down to that? Looting usually happens early in critical situations. What if the one needing the food had a starving family to feed and was someone who had prepared but had been robbed of his 'stash' early? (Most people have no idea what the reality they're preparing for will be like.)
And this is mild 'stuff' we're talking about - and it'll certainly happen. I've seen it. I've been in critical situations and had to flee countries with just the clothes on my back. (My husband and I are missionaries, so we've been present in tense situations before.)
Just a couple of things to think about if you haven't already.
Welcome to CD, by the way. IMO it's one of the most interesting and civilized forums on the Net.
Love and All Good Things to you and yours,
Mahrie.
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