The Disaster Myth Narrative: No One Panics, No One Loots, No One Goes Hungry

SHTF Plan ^ | 9/10/13 | Daisy Luther

[Kartographer]

SHTFplan Editor’s Note: There will be no panic. The government will be there to help when everything around you falls apart. Those really smart people on TV said so. This is the 21st century, and we’re way past really bad things happening.

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” ~ George Orwell

I was recently doing some research about the aftermath of some natural disasters that took place here in America. I was shocked to find that the articles I was looking for – ones that I had read in the past – were pretty hard to find, but articles refuting the sought-for pieces were rampant. Not just one event, but every single crisis aftermath that I looked up, had articles that were written after the fact stating in no uncertain terms that the hunger, chaos, and unrest never happened.

Apparently we, the preparedness community, are all wrong when it comes to the belief that after a disaster, chaos erupts and civic disorder is the rule of the day.

According to “experts” it never happens.

[driftless2]

Easy Rider was a psychotic, liberal view of America. What dirty, smelly hippies like the ones portrayed by Hopper and Fonda represented to most Americans were dirty, smelly hippies who couldn’t earn a decent living. Hopper and Fonda sold heroin to make their stash. Even Truman Capote trashed the film on Johnny Carson basically saying the main characters were criminals.

[PA Engineer]

You are either capable of staying up 24/7 or you have friends/family you completely trust that will be with you 24/7. I hope it’s the latter and best of luck to you.

I think you need to think beyond one set of ears and eyes. Tripwire alarms are varied and useful. Some are lethal and some are silent. Motion sensors placed in different quadrants can also be a force multiplier. Couple sensors with LED spotlights and you add another layer of protection and set of eyes.

Some of us have thought this through and gamed it. The first rule is not to be easy. Have the raiders move onto the next target. The second rule is to be able to sleep comfortably even if other eyes are staying up and watching. The third rule is to live through it for another day.

There are very cheap and easy methods to provide layered defense and security before one has to make that "300 yard" shot. For under a thousand dollars I could make any retreat a very undesirable place to approach, while at the same time providing a very complete situational awareness.

[GeronL]

I am sure those can feed 10 million

lol

[Ellendra]

I have kind of the opposite problem. My dad thinks prepping is just an excuse for hoarding disorder. He spent years trying to convince me that canned food spoiled after a month!

[GeronL]

Many canned foods last 3 years... officially and some long after the expiry date.

[Ellendra]

Try telling him that.

[jacquej]

This is a comic tragedy...

My grandmother, from Rome, Georgia, was a child of the war between the states. (Please know I am older than dirt, and these are my memories of her intense desire to hoard, because of her memories).

She had canned food in her pantry that I knew enough not to eat, because it had been there for years, and looked a bit “bulgy” - she lectured me when I took too many “tissues” from the paper roll in the bathroom. I remember her today, when I use more than two little pieces to wipe the drips.

Trouble is, too many of us take so much for granted. Hoarding can be a problem, but canned food does not spoil after a month - maybe 10 years?

My late husband, Air Force reservist, had to open cans of food stored from WW2 in the very early 60s, and figure out how to serve it in the mess when the rations didn’t get there on time. When he told it, it was funny.

Now it seems like our future.

Good luck with your Dad, he must be a whole lot younger than me, or else he is unfortunate enough not to remember the rationing of WW2, when eggs were hard to get. My dad used to bring them into New York city from outlying farms, in his pockets, so he could give an egg to every pregnant woman he and his Navy buddies could find.

There is nothing new under the sun, except our propensity for forgetting the lessons of the past.

Time for me to get some sleep - good night to you, and kiss your dearest dad - he is right, fresh is best, but canned is better than not being able to get fresh.

[yorkiemom]

There are many FReepers that think that there were none of these things either, just look at this thread.

Isn't that the normalcy bias - to deny reality? To be doing it so early in the game seems odd though.

Well, there are holocaust-deniers out there too.

For sanity's sake, I just need to avoid all of the above, now and especially THEN.

[yorkiemom]

For under a thousand dollars I could make any retreat a very undesirable place to approach, while at the same time providing a very complete situational awareness.

Do you have sources for the tripwires and spotlights, and whatever else you recommend?

[PA Engineer]

Are you OK with links and imagination? Assume you would break up your property into four quadrants. Then break each quadrant into four sectors. Wireless motion alarms can do this now out to 1000 feet.

The wireless alarms are for the outer quadrants. The sectors is a decision you would have to make. The outer should be silent to alert the retreat people. The inner is a loud noise with LED lights or something more powerful. If today, a noise alarm would be sufficient. WROL is something different. That would be you decision. Nevertheless, you would need to map (measure or step out) each sector into four zones.

Some links for you to start with:

There are many, but this is a quick google for your reference:

12 Gauge Security Control system

Twelve gauge comes in many loads:

Google and see what you think will fit your needs.

Here is something that can break your property into four zones:

Remote Alarm

Search Amazon for Mr. Beam spotlights in those zones. This is for when you may need to consider force.

Just a couple of things to get you started.

Please feel free to ask more questions after reviewing the material.

There are many questions you have to ask yourself about your situation.

In my case, I am remote on a ridge in the woods. I have blind spots that technology mitigates. I have worked with the world as it is today, to a world WROL.

LOL. Just recently this is how I saw my first badger in western pa. I followed it down my property after the first sensors were tripped.

I also have remote game cameras. There are bugs regarding the batteries. Just another chore to change them out on a monthly basis.

Hope this helps you to start.

[verga]

I am reminded of Pascal’s wager. Some believe there is no God and live their lives that way, others do believe and live their lives that way. In the end for preppers the worst that will happen is that they have extra food etc...For others they will suffer accordingly.

[Travis McGee]

Now I wish that in the first sentence I didn’t say a Christian school, but just private school. To bait more libs into reading it.

[appalachian_dweller]

9/11/01 was a short term event. Still, I saw panic everywhere (was in Reston, VA). People running red lights and causing crashes. Folks wandering aimlessly like a deer in the headlights not knowing what to do.

We are 3 meals away from the break-down of civil society. Once food becomes unavailable, the claws and fangs will come out.

Think Katrina coast to coast with no end in sight.

I hope for the best, but I plan for the worst.

You do what you feel is best for you.

[yorkiemom]

Thanks! I will check these out and get back to you.

Sounds like you have a great setup. I’m in the process of relocating in the next few years, hopefully to a place that can be more secure. But that makes these next few years precarious and worrisome. Wish I was settled in our homestead NOW.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

Also there is Ferfal’s Blog a survivor of Argentina’s first collapse:

Didn't Ferfal say that if he had it to do over he wouldn't look for a bugout cabin but instead would get the heck out of Dodge completely? He recommended passports, dual citizenships, learning other languages, etc.

My wife and I are looking for other countries to retire and hope to be thousands of miles away when the SHTF, not just holed up in our basement.

[TEXOKIE]

bttt