Posted on 12/22/2014 5:56:30 PM PST by bkopto
An increasing number of Americans seem to think so, and they're preparing for the end.
They call themselves preppers. Mainstream suburban Americans hoarding supplies and weapons while leading otherwise perfectly normal lives.
It's a national phenomenon and it's supporting a doom boom industry worth many millions.
Braxton Southwick is a typical father-of-six in Salt Lake City, who believes the nice suburban neighbourhood he lives in could soon be swept away by some kind of modern day apocalypse.
Like other preppers, he's afraid of some impending catastrophe but also what that will do to American society.
"I think that is what I'm scared of the most," he told Sky News, "Not the actual events. I've already prepared for that. It's the aftermath, when there are no police, there are no military to protect us, we're going to be protecting ourselves."
The trigger could be a terrorist attack, a monetary collapse, cataclysmic failure in power generation, or a natural disaster. Preppers fear what comes next and have no faith in either their government or human nature.
"Once people use up all their resources, they're going to come after the people that prepared and had more resources. So basically we have to take care of ourselves."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
I think to some extent it is just good sense to be prepared. Now the “One Second After” scenario is another matter, if that happens then yes, the productive capacity of the nation (or much of it) is gone and we can expect anarchy. I am not prepared for that nor do I believe much of the anybody else on this forum is.
Figure $45/week/person for non perishable food and supplies.
This requires drawing up a menu of 3 meals a day that is food you normally eat. A bucket of beans and rice is not going to work.
2 months is an absolute minimum, 6 months is workable. Water must be figured in as well for both nutrition and hygiene. Look at your water bill and see how much your household uses.
For most folks 2 or more years of stored food is nice, but unworkable from a storage, maintenance, and economic standpoint.
Is that true for people on a well, and not on city water?? What about access to creek water than can be made drinkable??
As these kinds of articles go, this one is relatively benign.
Even so, notice that the the author does make the judgement call that prepping is hoarding.
"At the other end of America, another family are preparing in exactly the same way.
In Virginia, Jay and Holly Blevins hoard food and weapons and run a network of like-minded families."
Hell, I am older than he is!
“Ever wonder why these liberals are so obsessed with what other people have? Liberals usually are obsessed with other people’s stuff.”
Cuz we threaten their stuff!
What, like Nawlins after Katrina, or parts of New York and New Jersey after Sandy?
In a real, long-term disaster scenario, it is safe to assume that the "higher authorities" will eventually go home to look after their own families, leaving everybody else on their own.
Why is [prepper-ism] happening? Partly, no doubt, because it allows Americans to indulge in some of their favourite pastimes: consuming, camping and buying lots and lots of guns.
And partly because fear sells, drives up numbers for cable news, and increases sales for everything from dried food to assault rifles.
Liberalism holds that acceptance of "the other" is key, but at every juncture in this article, far from celebrating differences instead the author here is combatting deeply held FEARS that preppers are UNLIKE him.
He combats his fear of differences by reassuring himself that preppers are, in spite of themselves, SOMEHOW the same, somehow not less irresponsible; the prepper is INDULGING, the prepper is merely SELLING, etc. This also permits for a handy attack on COMMERCE, which is bad.
The notion that others are NOT indulging, not simply selling causes him FEAR.
What are the reasons that he sees differences between individuals and between groups as SCARY..?
Why is the author SCARED?
The other day I heard this:
Conservatives are people who prefer to be scared now, and comfortable later.
Liberals want to feel comfortable NOW, even at the cost of being scared later.
The author sees preparation efforts as reminding him that later HE WILL BE SCARED.
The author's tone is attacking because the actions of others are altering his GOOD FEELINGS --they are making him FEEL BAD, which is a new-age SIN.
Can you get the water out of the well when the power is out? Most well pumps take 220V electricity, most generators can run one no problem. Hand pumps will lift 30’ or so.
Not difficult to setup if done in advance. Plus drilling your own well (for emergency use, of course) is not that big a deal. Plans are on the net to drill your own well using garden hoses and PVC pipe. Won’t work everywhere,m but worth researching.
Creek water can be made potable, but must be set up in advance, and treatment methods verified. Water borne disease is not good when in survival mode.
How will the creek water get to the house? You will get 1 or 2 flushes from a 5 gal bucket. It gets old fast toting those uphill.
"Preppers make me feel bad and that makes me want to produce news bits that cast them as freaks. This work provides me with a form of therapy. As an open-minded Progressive, I'm uncomfortable with the idea that some people don't hold the same opinions that I do.."
My menu varies, I can go from one menu to an entirely different one easily; I did it for 29 years when I had to. I’ll assume the water system works fine which in my town is a safe assumption. Again, I’m talking disaster not anarchy.
High correlation between the two
What's that saying? If it's yellow let it mellow; if it's brown flush it down.
Do city sewer systems continue to function if power is out for extended periods of time? What with sewage treatment and all, would the sewers get clogged and back up? Fortunately I'm on a hill, so folks on the flatlands might be concerned more than me.
Be a prepper
Drink Dr Prepper.
The water system in my county depends on electricity to keep the pumps working. They have standby power and fuel for 2 weeks.
Even the Pentagon is warning of power outages lasting more than a month in severe very real possible situations well short of anarchy or civil war.
If the grid collapses, it is a major undertaking to get it functional again, even without mechanical damage to the generating equipment. It doesn’t have to be an EMP event, the grid is very vulnerable to failure on several fronts.
“My menu varies, I can go from one menu to an entirely different one easily; I did it for 29 years when I had to.”
LMK how that works with 3 kids ages 8 to 12. While you and I can exist on calories alone, many will not do well, or co-operate.
“Americans are fairly unique as world citizens in that we tend to believe that we control our own destiny as individuals to a much greater extent than we really do.”
Yeh and I’m putting money on Barry Glastner being in the first die off. Waiting for the Govt to come.
If you have the right iodine you can purify your own water, long range hikers do it all the time, not easy for long haul..... but you can boil it.
“Cuz we threaten their stuff!”
No, we don’t. They threaten ours.
“Do city sewer systems continue to function if power is out for extended periods of time? What with sewage treatment and all, would the sewers get clogged and back up?”
Yes, some do require pumps.
This is one application where a septic tank and drain field is preferred. The vast majority of them (but not all) are 100% gravity operated.
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