Posted on 12/11/2012 3:37:42 PM PST by Kartographer
Have you noticed that it has become trendy to bash preppers? For a long time the prepper movement was ignored, but now it has become so large that it is getting very difficult for the mainstream media to pretend that it is not there. In fact, it has been estimated that there are now approximately 3 million preppers in the United States alone. So now the mainstream media has decided that mocking the movement is the best strategy, and lots of “critics” and “skeptics” out there have picked up on this trend. Instead of addressing the very real issues that have caused millions of Americans to prepare for the worst, those criticizing the prepper movement attempt to put the focus on individual personalities. They try to find the strangest nutjobs they possibly can and then hold them up as “typical preppers”. The goal is to portray preppers as tinfoil hat wearing freaks that need to be locked up in the loony bin for their own personal safety and for the good of society. The criticism of preppers has really ramped up in recent months, and it will likely get even worse in 2013. The establishment does not like any movement that is outside of their control, and the prepper movement is definitely not under their control.
(Excerpt) Read more at endoftheamericandream.com ...
Maybe a better question is why would someone that call themselves a conservative and a FReeper hate preppers so much?
Reminds me of this quote from Mark Steyn:
"Do you think the laws of God will be suspended in favor of America simply because you were born in it?"--Mark Steyn August 2011
The outhouse seat is always cold.
Blue board insulation makes a great artic toilet seat. Warms up almost instantly.
Ain't progress great!
The Walking Dead is hardly evidence of the normalization of survivalism. It’s the opposite, if anything, because zombies aren’t real. Now everyone who prepares for disaster can be mocked as afraid of the boogeyman. Just like how they still get away with calling McCarthyism a “witch hunt.”
You know what? Unlike witches commie spies and fellow-travelers existed. Unlike zombies various manmade and natural disasters exist. But try convincing anyone of the good sense in preparedness and see if they don’t bring up zombies.
By the way, since when was it always zombies? What happened to vampires? That’s what “I Am Legend” was all about. I realize kids don’t read, but still. I wouldn’t have thought Romero was so popular. I certainly can’t stand his movies.
Dang. Doesn’t seem like that long ago does it?
Not far from my home are deep underground coal mines with good hard anthracite. As long as you stay above the water table you could survive forever in a mine. Get below the water table and it gets dangerous as water can come up pretty quick. Other than that, they are not bad.
I got tired of cutting wood so I purchased 50 ton of deep mine solid chunks of coal. Most are between football and basketball size, but a few chunks are the size of wheelbarrows. I figure that will last at least ten years and it doesn’t rot like wood.
That's gonna be difficult. Those skill are hard. I did more physical work living off the grid in the mountains than I've ever done in civilization. Lots of folks don't want to do that kind of work anymore.
/johnny
The CDC,(yes, the one your taxes support) put out a zombie poster to encourage people to at least minimal preparation for disaster events.
/johnny
“Dang. Doesn’t seem like that long ago does it?”
Time really has flown by.
Funny.... Having been there done that, I do not feel entitled and do not take life for granted. While I enjoy it, and have much gratitude for the abundance I have been provided, I can do without it again and still be comfortable.
The work may have been physical, but as you get older you work smarter, not harder.
The real key was, at the end of the day your soul was still clean and your mind clear.
We’re cut from the same cloth on that. I just shake my head when I see what passes for tough times these days.
The conscience of man dies a small death every day, until a man does not notice its gone.
Not so much. Post-apocalyptic movies bring together different kinds of people who wouldn't have much to do with each other in real-life and reveal similarities people don't always see in real life or in other branches of the media. Some people are too far gone to realize it, though.
You know what? Unlike witches commie spies and fellow-travelers existed. Unlike zombies various manmade and natural disasters exist. But try convincing anyone of the good sense in preparedness and see if they don’t bring up zombies.
Give it time. If you bring up hurricanes or tornados, earthquakes or wildfires (depending on where you live) I doubt people are going to bring up zombies. To some people, there's a difference between preparing for a specific threat and just stockpiling to be ready for some vaguer eventuality.
By the way, since when was it always zombies? What happened to vampires? That’s what “I Am Legend” was all about. I realize kids don’t read, but still. I wouldn’t have thought Romero was so popular. I certainly can’t stand his movies.
Vampires are too associated with high school romance. Nowadays they're lovers, rather than killers. Kids do read about them. And they aren't as threatening as they once were.
I Am Legend's vampires behaved a lot like zombies (talking about the last movie, I don't know about the book and the earlier films). They certainly weren't like what vampires have become. So it wasn't hard to simply make zombies the next big thing.
Why wouldn't they? They successfully used those same tactics against conservatives.
They had a garden, cows for milk, chickens, hogs, and cattle. They had many jars of canned veggies and fruit. There was a well in the middle of a back porch. They had a wood cookstove, and a wood stove in the parlor. The bedrooms had no heat. Naturally, there was no air conditioning. They used oil lamps.
Somehow we went from self survival to wusses who can't live on our own. My parents still had a garden, raised two hogs a year, had chickens and fruit trees.
I was the generation that broke that chain. When I was out on my own, cars were to get one to the grocery where the food was. It was all different then.
I guess I'm so old that most people don't remember that time and living like that is now called prepping and crazy. we went from a generation of self canned food, as much as one could store, to canned grocery store food and we shouldn't have a lot of the grocery cans.
See what happened? Rural living without power caused necessary storing and this freaking generation today has no idea that happened.
You know what? I don't care what this crying, wimpy generation says. Just call me galt.
I saw it as a kid. It is still with me today!
I also remember a short story about a man who prepped and his neighbors laughed. Then the BIG ONE HIt. He ran into his self sealing shelter, and later remembered he had canned food, but HE HAD FORGOTTEN HIS CAN OPENER!
“Why are preppers hated so much?”
Well of course its because we are selfish haters. We want to hoard up food to keep just for ourselves and our families. We don’t care about the community at large.
In times of need we should be forced to share our food with those less fortunate citizens who didn’t have an extra can of chili in the pantry. It wouldn’t be “fair” to let them starve. It just would not be fair. :-)
Something has gone haywire in the American psyche.
The more people preach diversity the less they accept diversity in thinking.
Especially among ‘Progressives” and other leftists, there is definitely a dislike for people who do not think and act as they do.
What you propose could be fatal for you and your family if the shtf. Your neighbors will view your home as the neighborhood grocery store. After they have dispatched you and your family, they will eat your stores. If I were discussing this with someone far, far away, I would feel comfortable about encouraging prepping.
For some it is not prepping but normal food storing. I like to remember my Brother-in-law telling me how his parent’s stored lots of food for the ranch hands each year. During WWII someone snitched on them as being “hoarders” and they had it all confiscated by the US Government.
How did they get through the winter? They had a second cellar hidden way out in the hills that was not confiscated. That is how they survived the West Texas winter.
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