Posted on 11/13/2015 2:05:45 PM PST by w1n1
My first real exposure to the world of prepping came in 2008, when I became a new father and we moved to San Francisco, an earthquake zone. A lot of people in the Bay Area keep stockpiles of food and water on-hand for when The Big One hits, and since my wife was super nervous about earthquakes and I'm a former Boy Scout, we picked up a few cases of MREs and a water barrel.
Later, I added double-barreled coach gun for defensive purposes, making it my first time to live with a gun in the house since I left home for college at 17. But after that I called it a day. As far as I was concerned, we were ready for an earthquake, and that was that.
I didn't take things much further for a few years. I didn't even own anything that qualifies as a "survival knife" until 2012. I had dipped my toe in the waters of prepping, and I started to read more about it online. Prepping has two peculiar aspects that I found completely compelling: 1) it involves shopping for and acquiring Really Cool Gear, and 2) it has a community that longs for a world where we're no longer compelled to work jobs we hate so that we can buy Really Cool Gear that we don't need. In other words, prepping is hyper-consumerist in practice and anti-consumerist in outlook (sort of in the way that war is frequently justified by the desire for peace). Both aspects appealed to me, especially the gear part.
But this isn't a treatise on prepping. Rather, it's about why I don't prep for The End Of The World As We Know It, TSHTF, the apocalypse, the collapse, or whatever else you want to call it. Read the rest of the story here.
We prep for our own. We have quite a few to prep for. We encourage others to do the same. I always tell people I can’t feed you I can only warn you.
Amen.
They will come after the hoarders because shortages are caused by hoarders taking more than their share. We know the hoarders don't deserve so much, because they are not sharing, which proves they are selfish, which proves they are undeserving, which proves leftists have the right to kill them and take their stuff.
In his Hollyweird mind, the dead and dying magically go poof! off this world. There is no disease or bad guys. He will live in peace for those three months his supplies last until his children start to die from starvation or one gets an infection.
Isn’t it odd how many Freepers espouse the same things as the most radical leftist?
Living hand to mouth is for idiots.
Paris and France itself is shut down right now. All people are to stay in their homes (declared state of emergency) and I heard a short time ago on Fox that there are terrorists loose in the city.
This state of emergency gives the police and military the right to enter your home at any time to search it.
People are frightened and afraid to go outside right now and can’t get on the streets. The French in cities tend to grocery shop every day or every other day. Most have small refrigerators and it doesn’t hold much and may not have a freezer in the refrigerator, either.
Food is going to be a problem quickly in Paris. With terrorists on the loose, even if the people can go into the street, they will be in danger with every step they take.
I have life essential life insurance by being prepared. Those poor people in Paris don’t have that and I’m sorry they are in that fix.
I hope the terrorists don’t attack our country in the same way, or worse, but I do think it’s coming here at some time.
This is why I prep, as well.
If you’ve ever experienced even a short-term power outage, you’ve got an experience that will lead to thought; and help you begin your prepping.
In my area, we’ve never had any real, long-term effects from a Katrina, or a Sandy; but just thinking about that will make you consider being at least a small-scale prepper. So will thinking about the possibility of a sudden loss of income.
-JT
No one knows what preps I have, if any, and I’m going to keep it that way. I’m not the Lone Ranger, and I’m not in an area where I can talk openly about prepping and get much cooperation. I know who my neighbors are and have a complete map showing Obama voters, non-voters, and potentially decent Americans. I also know which purported conservatives joke about things like taking from others. I don’t joke about that, and I don’t trust those who do.
I don’t think there is a chance in 10,000 that an Obama voter is also a decent person, and I will respond accordingly if it comes down to the neighborhood taking care of itself.
Non-voters are a tough question, but I have talked with many to find out if they are decent people and have some idea of who they claim to be.
Potentially decent Americans include those I have gone shooting with, those I know well and trust, and similar categories. I don’t think we can defend against a military attack. Yet. But we can take care against inexperienced zombies. I think there would be a learning curve for both sides. And my money is on decent people doing pretty well, as long as we don’t trust the Obama parasites with anything - ever.
You wrote:
“Potentially decent Americans include those I have gone shooting with, those I know well and trust, and similar categories.”
I’m wondering what your ‘similar categories’ are.
There are lots of “decent Americans” who may not be able to prep. I always consider, in my prepping, taking care of others who may not be as fortunate as I am - and yes, that includes a lot of the ‘stupid’ ones, too.
I have relatives and friends who seem to think that the grocery stores and fast-food places will always be open. I regret their lack of thought; but I wouldn’t let them starve, if it was within my capacity to avoid.
-T
:Sigh:
What does this person think is going to happen with all the bodies?
Does he think they will just vanish?
Good post.
I have though of this and one thing that comes to mind is that the closest, most immediate group that can become a threat might not be the ghetto mobs who have a way to travel.
The most immediate danger might just be everyday non-prepper people from the area.
And especially dangerous when those non-preppers are neighbors or casual acquaintances with starving children - people who were thought of as friends, or at least non-threats.
At first they will be harder to defend against than gangsters (who will be ready to shoot a neighbor?) and they will already be inside our perimeters.
Also they will be ready to leverage any relationship or familiarity and will probably have some idea of who has some resources, the type and depth of security that can be mounted, etc.
And at first they won't come banging on our door to open it by force - they will send their starving little kids in an attempt to get us to open it willingly.
Og had not these things. Og lived. Og prevailed. Praise Og.
With all respect, Munro: you’re worrying too much.
My Lord taught me a number of things, including:
‘Render unto Caesar” and “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves”
But He also told me this:
“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
“Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
“And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
“Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
I’m not suggesting that people be fools, and not have a little ‘insurance’; but spending too much time thinking about the horrible things that might happen, in my opinion, might just bring them on!
-JT
Thanks for the thoughtful and encouraging post.
But the truth is - I don't worry much at all.
I would worry if I percieved a potential danger and didn't have some idea or plan of how to act or react but that isn't the case.
I guess we agree then: prepare, and then put it all away, and live in Faith.
-JT
Not clicking that link. I am not a doomsday prepper either. However, I do have contingency plans in case of emergencies, and whatever events I think might happen.
It is the way I grew up, and a way of life. No one called it “prepping” then, it was just common sense, and still is.
Reminds me of the joke about the cop who stops an old lady driving down the highway. She has a pistol holstered under one arm, a revolver on her hip, a shotgun on the passenger seat and two rifles on the back seat.
The cop says, "Lady, what is it you're so afraid of?"
She answered, "Not a damn thing!"
There is no “middle of nowhere.”
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