Understanding survivalism (United States, shed, neighbor, sale)

[my54ford]

Originally Posted by Linda_d

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.

Are you kidding. That's like saying you want your house to burn down because you have insurance

[ScoopLV]

Bad analogy -- it's more like saying you want to see society burn because there's a better chance that you personally will wind up on top that way. Complete with the Mad Max car, hot girl, and automatic weapons. Reading these threads, it's very clear that many users here prefer the idea of being "King of the Wasteland" over "Middle Manager at Kroger."

[jamies]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

The main reason I'm posting on this thread and not the dozens of others is because this one has a simple, one-word answer. Fear. Anyone who wants to understand this "movement" need only start with the motivation. And there can be no other motivator for the lion's share of what is written on this particular forum. It boils down to fear.

My hypothesis is that this fear is caused by an underlying anxiety about the sweeping societal change in power structure. This is then projected as a fear of the destruction of the very foundation of society. If the bulk of the threads here were more grounded, you wouldn't be likely to suffer incursions of people who read these threads and can only say, "WTF?"

I am a firearm instructor, so yes, I make my living in part from the whole prepper / survival issue. I would certainly agree that FEAR is the bottom line. People are afraid. They are becoming more afraid with each incident, with each piece of freedom taken from us.

Many of my self defense students are in their 60's, 70's and 80's. I'm not training mercenaries in cammo to take over the govt. You won't find me or my students occupying anything or fighting govt agents.

Some of my students ARE govt agents, or retired. They are your next door neighbors, maybe your grandparents. And they are AFRAID! Afraid of the unprecedented changes, tyranny and loss of freedoms we are experiencing in america. They are afraid of the fundemental change in america resulting from the end of anglo control and the rapid invasion of foreign ethnic groups who do not assemilate.

But mostly they are afraid of the violence and crime pervading our society. Crime may be going down statistically, but that doesn't matter if YOU are the one among millions attacked, robbed, raped or murdered by a barbarian each year.

I was in the LA Riots (both of them) I've been through three revolutions. I can speak to the effect of social order breakdown and the rapidity with which it occurs. " Prepping" is not new, the Boy Scouts have taught it for a hundred years. Everyne used to be a "prepper." It is just modern urban america, populated by a bunch of anti defense weenies, thugs, criminals, and fools who have caused some folks to take note and make some contingency plans.

[jamies]

Originally Posted by bigpaul

war does not start on day one, usually there is a fair amount of warning that something is occurring long before hostilities actually start.
in Britain in WW2, during the "blitz", children and some mothers were evacuated from the cities to safer areas, today we would call that BUGGING OUT!
America to my knowledge has never been invaded, and Britain hasn't been invaded since 1066, its usually our 2 countries that do all the invading!!!

I don't think anyone here expects America to be invaded, other than by say the 20 million criminal aliens, and the 30+ million other recent immigrants and their millions of offspring, many who don't assemilate into what America is, or was.

You are right there are signs, collapse isn't sudden. So take note of the signs we are given nearly everyday. Unsustainable economy, finite resources, destruction of environment.

You are right collapse isn't imminent, but it IS unavoidable.

[jamies]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

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.

You think so? It doesn't take centuries. Currency and economies collapse overnight, look at Greece and Argentina. Governments too. Look at Egypt and the USSR. Matter of months, followed by very rapid change over days, followed by catastrophic economic upheaval, crime and lawlessness.

Look at the Balkans. Ethnic war, precpitated by Slovenia seceeding, followed by wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. Think that can't happen here? Watch the continued refusal of ethnic foreigners to integrate and continue to consider themselves "hyphenated" to their "homeland."

Relief efforts worked real well for a few hundered dead folks after Katrina. See any relief in Libya after they destroyed Tripoli and most other eastern side towns? Many are living in rubble years later. Look at Syria today. Those folks are bugging out. Think the US is impervious to revolt? I've lived through three, it can happen anywhere tryanny and poverty collide.

40lbs of dog food? A true prepper would say, "Eat the dog, then the dog food."

[Nor'Eastah]

Originally Posted by jamies

Many of my self defense students are in their 60's, 70's and 80's. I'm not training mercenaries in cammo to take over the govt. You won't find me or my students occupying anything or fighting the blm or govt agents.

Some of my students ARE govt agents, or retired. They are your next door neighbors, maybe your grandparents. And they are AFRAID! Afraid of the unprecedented changes, tyranny and loss of freedoms we are experiencing in america. They are afraid of the fundemental change in america resulting from the end of anglo control and the rapid invasion of foreign ethnic groups who do not assemilate.

But mostly they are afraid of the violence and crime pervading our society. Crime may be going down statistically, but that doesn't matter if YOU are the one among millions attacked, robbed, raped or murdered by a barbarian each year.

Originally Posted by jamies

I don't think anyone here expects America to be invaded, other than by say the 20 million criminal aliens, and the 30+ million other recent immigrants and their millions of offspring, many who don't assemilate into what America is, or was.

You are right there are signs, collapse isn't sudden. So take note of the signs we are given nearly everyday. Unsustainable economy, finite resources, destruction of environment.

You are right collapse isn't imminent, but it IS unavoidable.

Thank you! This is it, exactly! The youth of America, schooled to accept "multiculturalism" and "diversity" solely for its own sake, according to globalist curricula, cannot understand how such policies lead to crime and financial dislocation in societies where those introduced cultures refuse to assimilate. Just look at Europe, where they are now revolting against this intrusion.

But the older generations do realize it. If there is any real division on the SS&P forum, it is not between the survivalists and the homesteaders. The division exists mostly between the younger and older generations here, between the urban liberals and the conservatives, and between those who are aware and the rest of the sheeple. "Mad Max" is not our real problem, here.

I couldn't rep you again yet, but you have a fine grasp of the whole situation!

[bigpaul]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

But the older generations do realize it. If there is any real division on the SS&P forum, it is not between the survivalists and the homesteaders. The division exists mostly between the younger and older generations here.

I cant rep you again but I think you have knocked the nail on the head with the above comment.
mostly because the younger generation have never known anything except "the status quo", we oldies have had a life before computers, Xboxes, mobile phones and yes even supermarkets, some of us have even lived without electricity.

[arleigh]

A man was just arrested in Florida for boasting he had pipe bombs and guns and was displeased with the government. (probably from the internet. ) Mind you he hadn't done any thing yet .
now tell me who is justified in their paranoid .
Both yes ,but the government rightly so because of their forward movement "against" the people.
Bullies usually become the initial aggressors.
People are "reacting" to the aggressive moves of the government . Gun sales rise when Obama opens his mouth.
If your head is stuffed firmly in the sand, you probably cant see or hear what's going on.
But there is a contingency of folks that refuse to stuff their head in the sand.
In this day and age men have been playing with even the weather and creating problems for others using weather against them, country against country, or in some cases a government against it's own people.
The problem is, those that are trained to teach disinformation, are winning those that choose to live in denial. much like the politically correct.
If you don't believe there is a significant problem, read the ingredience in a rat poison box. (fluoride) you know, the stuff deliberately put in your drinking water, there to subdue you, not help your teeth. Germans used it in concentration camps to subdue/poison the prisoners.

Many countries in Europe do not allow GMO foods endorsed by our government, gee I wonder why? if not to poison a population or at least monopolize a commodity fraudulently.
I've heard it from liberals before, "if it's not happening to me, I don't care what goes on any where else."
They have predicted the BIG ONE (earth quake) here in California for years ,almost as far back as I can remember.
I have lived through several big and small quakes but that does not mean that I take litely the possibility of something much bigger happening.
Scientists are not capable of predicting what is going to happen next, unless they are doing it.
So until a reliable source can accurately determine when something is about to occur , it seems prudent to me to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.

[ognend]

Originally Posted by arleigh

A man was just arrested in Florida for boasting he had pipe bombs and guns and was displeased with the government. (probably from the internet. ) Mind you he hadn't done any thing yet .
now tell me who is justified in their paranoid .
Both yes ,but the government rightly so because of their forward movement "against" the people.
Bullies usually become the initial aggressors.
People are "reacting" to the aggressive moves of the government .
If your head is stuffed firmly in the sand, you probably cant see or hear what's going on.
But there is a contingency of folks that refuse to stuff their head in the sand.
In this day and age men have been playing with weather and creating problems for others using weather against them.
The problem is those that are trained to teach disinformation, are winning those that choose to live in denial. much like the politically correct, morally perverted.

Most people in United States today prefer a big government - it is called EVOLUTION. It is a mix of living off the government (fully or partially) and being used to basic services the government provides. Even your most conservative types like ranchers collect subsidies via tax funded grazing programs.

What you are obviously pining for will never come back. Get over it.

[ognend]

Originally Posted by jamies

You think so? It doesn't take centuries. Currency and economies collapse overnight, look at Greece and Argentina. Governments too. Look at Egypt and the USSR. Matter of months, followed by very rapid change over days, followed by catastrophic economic upheaval, crime and lawlessness.

But all these countries and societies are still here. Some went through what you said, some didn't (no crime and widespread deaths in Greece, for example). Most of the problems you describe are economic issues - hence, being prepared (and independent) financially would have sufficed. You didn't have to have bunkers and guns.

Originally Posted by jamies

Think that can't happen here? Watch the continued refusal of ethnic foreigners to integrate and continue to consider themselves "hyphenated" to their "homeland."

Bull*it. Many foreigners integrate just fine.

Being an immigrant myself, I am against all the illegal immigration. It is not fair to people like me who came here educated, who are hard working and good tax payers. I would be the first one to say that many of the illegals should be deported.

However, there is a deeper problem - most Americans don't want to work anymore. They don't want to be in the fields picking veggies and they don't want to do dirty construction jobs for next to nothing. The people coming here illegally from the south are choosing willingly to be cheap slave labor in positions that nobody wants to take. You have to be honest about it. Do you know how many times I talked to my conservative neighbors here in Texas who had nothing but disdain for these folks and used the word "deport" in most of their sentences - only to find out that the same folks availed themselves to the same illegal labor when time came to put in a fence or build a porch for 1/10th of the cost?

Another problem are the corporations - Apple for example is sitting on $200 billion in cash, a lot of it outside of United States where it is tax free. They also exported most of the labor to China and are making a killing on their devices. However, people like you probably praise that as an example of a free market and capitalism at its best. All others see, however, is the destruction of the American worker and the propping up of the corporatocracy. So, which one is it? Are you happy knowing that the IRS is hunting down people for pennies owed in income taxes while Apple or Walmart get to sit tax free on hundreds of billions of dollars abroad through expensive accounting schemes (that only they can afford)? If someone like Obama tried to fix that - I am guessing you would be the first one to call him a communist. Meanwhile people like Steve Jobs are being praised as geniuses and movies are made about them when they essentially exported all the jobs abroad and are raking in huge profits all based on slave camps in some foreign lands.

Originally Posted by jamies

Relief efforts worked real well for a few hundered dead folks after Katrina. See any relief in Libya after they destroyed Tripoli and most other eastern side towns? Many are living in rubble years later. Look at Syria today. Those folks are bugging out. Think the US is impervious to revolt? I've lived through three, it can happen anywhere tryanny and poverty collide.

Both of these countries were destroyed through outside intervention. Both were also essentially dictatorships. What does that have to do with the United States - the bastion of democracy?

I think you are confused.