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Dad was a preper, and taught me to be one too.
Dad grew up before the depression and knew what it took to survive .
Being multi skilled and having the tools to be busy making a living any way you can.
Due to his and my collection I have plenty to do one way or another.
Too often people think they will be running to the woods, more power to them.
Been there done that .
Depending on the scenario, one plans for the fantasy may not be as pretty as imagined.
I include many different senarios not just a few.
Not going to list them all , no point.
Been through several emergencies through out my life , the unexpected is all ways around the corner.
The mind set I travel with includes asking my self ,how long is it going to take to walk home from here?
Is the gear I have with me sufficient to endure the task ?
In the span of time it takes me to get home ,should it be a state wide event , Is it worth going home or heading another direction ?
There are several perspectives for staying home during an event , cooperativeness of a community/neighborhood.
The safety of the familiar, verses the safety of the unknown. The skill of your family unit their courage and personal skills and cooperation in a stressful environment, no matter where it is.
I have friends and family I expect to show up if required, but their planning has to include dealing with their own challenges along the way.
All in hope that nothing will happen .
They do it because they are pathologically delusional.
They are so unhappy with their regular, normal, everyday lives that they have to create a sense of impending disaster and or 'collapse' of the economy and system as a way of self regulating the inner anxiety that they feel on a daily basis - as it relates to their own lack of satisfaction with their own lives.
By creating an alternate future reality where they imagine an apocalypse or some type of Armageddon, they are able to function when necessary in the present and go about their normal routine with a narcissistic and somewhat infantile sense that they are least prepared for it all to hit the fan when the time comes. By mastering and 'preparing' for their imaginary Mad Max - Endgame scenario, they maintain and illusionary sense of power within the parameters of a very real present world that for numerous reasons, they feel powerless in.
Most, as they become older or are at the point where they have spent at least a half a century living (50 years old and beyond) - become so disassociated from reality and how they have wasted their lives that they actually have to believe that it will all end, and end soon: political and/or economic collapse of society - because they cannot reconcile within their own fragile and immature minds that other people will be able to experience and live full lives in the absence of any collapse and their own mortality is winding down.
What most do not understand, is that the political and economic elite that are in control and have been for some time, have far too much to lose in the event of a total collapse - and so by default, as long as the majority of the population continue to be good sheep: those at the top would never allow a systemic and or real collapse to occur. And thus, the Matrix continues to function according to how it was planned.
Oh, this is just a golden post. The cat's meow, for sure. All that thought and everything.
By the way, Sir Skydiver... I hope you don't carry a reserve chute. Because if you do, you're pathologically delusional, creating an alternate future reality, and your glass house is in peril of being shattered.
I was wondering if preppers do their prepare-for-the-worst things (i.e., stockpiling ammunition, MREs, preparing escape routes, and whatever else preppers do) because they expect to need it, or if it's just a harmless hobby to them.
It's not my thing but I can see it being fun to do, and I would be tremendously surprised if it became a necessity in my lifetime.
I think many preppers are legit. They really believe there will be an armageddon of sorts and they will be ready.
Then there are those folks that are just interested in stockpiling guns & ammo, that call themselves preppers just so their neighbors won't think they're whackos. Basically riding the coattails of the real thing to cover up for being a gun nut.
I was wondering if preppers do their prepare-for-the-worst things (i.e., stockpiling ammunition, MREs, preparing escape routes, and whatever else preppers do) because they expect to need it, or if it's just a harmless hobby to them.
It's not my thing but I can see it being fun to do, and I would be tremendously surprised if it became a necessity in my lifetime.
As we've always discovered throughout history, trying to prepare for the worst is futile because if or when it happens, it really doesn't matter what you've done to prepare because what happens is something you haven't prepared for.
Prepping is a multi-billion dollar industry designed to prey on the irrational fears of a certain segment of society that truly believes they can increase their chances of survival when a calamity strikes.
I make a distinction between those that prepare for typical disasters common to certain areas where hurricanes, flooding and other such things occur. That is prudent.
Those who think were there to be a breakdown of government, a natural disaster of a global scale that they are increasing their chances of survival haven't really thought things though at all, especially the ones that have stockpiles of ammunition and guns, their end of world jacked up 4x4, food, water and a bunker. Actually, they are the first to get wacked.
As we've always discovered throughout history, trying to prepare for the worst is futile because if or when it happens, it really doesn't matter what you've done to prepare because what happens is something you haven't prepared for.
Prepping is a multi-billion dollar industry designed to prey on the irrational fears of a certain segment of society that truly believes they can increase their chances of survival when a calamity strikes.
I make a distinction between those that prepare for typical disasters common to certain areas where hurricanes, flooding and other such things occur. That is prudent.
Those who think were there to be a breakdown of government, a natural disaster of a global scale that they are increasing their chances of survival haven't really thought things though at all, especially the ones that have stockpiles of ammunition and guns, their end of world jacked up 4x4, food, water and a bunker. Actually, they are the first to get wacked.
Pretty much this. Prepping for Armageddon wouldn't have helped anybody survive the Mt St Helen's explosion if they were in the path of the mudflows. Either you evacuated before they hit or you were gone.
I think it depends. I've seen a YouTube video where a woman was canning milk that she had bought, which frankly was far more expensive than if she had just bought powdered milk and put up large stores of water (she had bothered with unpasteurized milk, too, which she then super heated for canning...). In that instance, I think of it as "fun," since it's not something that is necessary for survival and it wasn't cost effective in any way. I also similarly think it's "fun" when people get together as preppers and start preparing for an apocalypse, and talk about how they would defend their family against the hordes of people clamoring for their supplies. I think of that as "fun" because frankly, people seriously overestimate their ability as a family (often two parents and a few kids) to keep out hordes of similarly armed people who have the single-minded purpose of raiding their pantry. I think, in that case, it's ultimately just fun for people to discuss their plans, compare their plans, or try to think about how their plan can be "better" than someone else's.
However, to keep supplies for a natural disaster - food (dried/canned), extra clothes/blankets/hand-warmers/etc., water, possibly even guns and ammunition (which I think of as being better for hunting than defending against the hordes), a good escape plan in case of fire or flood - all of that is smart for people to do. That way, if you're ever cut off from emergency helpers (like what recently happened in Colorado), you will have supplies enough to take care of you and your family.
I make a distinction between those that prepare for typical disasters common to certain areas where hurricanes, flooding and other such things occur. That is prudent.
Yes, I interpreted the OP to be about more extreme steps than those prudent ones that every household should take. For me, most things beyond what I believe to be reasonable steps to make it through a natural disaster in a society that's still relatively together, I mostly consider because I either enjoy them, they save money, or they save resources, or some combination thereof. I'm also tempted to go off on my usual philosophical jag about how the most applicable type of disaster preparation is to get to know your neighbors and share what you have.
There seems to be a politically driven agenda about qualifying what is or is not prepping, and a moral judgement about the folks that engage in it.
Point 1) Yes there are nutcases out there preparing for the end of the world and the zombie appocolypse. Do they comprise the majority of preppers? No. Are they the ones most pointed out by the department of homeland security and the poverty law center as threats? Yes.
Point 2) Taking some moderate precautions to assure you have adequite food and water, shelter and heat in case of an emergency is prudent. Just because you don't live in Tornado Alley doesn't mean you won't have a wildfire or flood or earhquake. Depending on the government to protect and provide for you so you have no interruption of services is betting on a loosing horse in the race, and you could end up paying the price for it.
Point 3) Are practicing skills and learning to care for yourself and your family a waste of time? Never. I like being able to make mechanical repairs to my own vehicles, grow much of my own food, be able to do first aid if someone is injured. I like building my own house, being able to wire it and plumb it and repair it. I like knowing my family is secure through my efforts no matter what happens.
Point 4) Not everyone is planning and hoping for the zombie appocolypse. That falls under doomer porn, not prepping. You prepare for a possible event, doomer porn is similar to playing dungons and dragons, it's a game. Most serious preppers have little to do with the doomers.
Point 5) Just because you don't agree with someone does not mean your opinion has any effect on what they choose to do or enjoy. In other words, "Lighten up". If someone wants to grow a garden it has zero effect on the amount of food you will find in the store, (exept maybe in an emergency).
If someone wants to invest their time and effort to go off the grid, it has no impact on if you will have enough power to run your big screen.
If someone likes living a simpler life with fewer frills, it will not mean you won't have access to the latest smart phone at wal-mart.
Point 6) Yes there are people making money off of supplying a need and providing a service to folks with the werewithall to pay for it. It is LEGAL to do that just as folks sell car parts for cars that are not modern, or paintings that do nothing but hang on a wall, or some piece of twisted metal on a stand that someone charged thousands of dollars for, that is worthless except to whoever was dumb enough to pay for it. It is still legal.
Some folks like being set to handle possible emergencies. Simple.
Others prefer to have nothing in the cupboard because it is "messy" and only use their refrigerator to chill some expensive fermented grape juice for relaxing after they come back from dining out every night.
Your choice either way.
There is nothing about serious preperation that should be put down or insulted simply because it doesn't agree with a political philosophy. It is still a semi free country, folks are engaging in legal activities.
If your life is so empty you have to find someone else to criticize, then you need to find a life of your own.
From the inside preppers sincerely believe that they are able to adequately shape their lives in the event of a military, economic or natural disaster.
From the outside looking in you can see that their efforts are probably at the margin, they make some unlikely assumptions about the likely fallout from a disaster/their capabilities to deal with such, and thus it looks more like a hobby/life style.
Fortunately we will probably never know the answer to this question. In the meantime corporate America markets and sells (just like every other passion) all sorts of stuff to the segment, thus making it a 'real' consumer group, regardless of whether their skills and preparedness will ever be put to test.
Some of you folks are so myopic in what you think a "prepper" is that it's pretty embarrassing. You may as well write a book on quantum physics or string theory, using your expertise as a garbage collector.
A "prepper" can be anything from a commune of hippies who don't want contact with the rest of the world, to a religious assembly, to wide-eyed schizophrenics with one UZI in each hand, to back-to-the-land Little House on the Prairie types, to people who buy mass quantities of food simply to save money, to people looking to be prepared for a disaster, to people who grow their own food and can it, to folks capitalizing on all of the above in a business venture. And the list goes on. The term "prepper" has been used for all of that. It's actually rather a confusing blanket term. Yet most of you insist it means a psycho hiding in the bushes with a gun waiting for zombies. If you want to use a word intelligently, understand what that word means. Otherwise simply use the term "psycho in the bushes with a gun." Quit trying to paint your own vocabulary--and quit trying to call all birds black ravens.
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Pretty much this. Prepping for Armageddon wouldn't have helped anybody survive the Mt St Helen's explosion if they were in the path of the mudflows. Either you evacuated before they hit or you were gone.
