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 ...
They don't have enough intelligence to think well enough to save themselves so they get on here and show their stupidity. The internet doesn't check I.Q before allowing posting. They will be among the first to commit “suicide by prepper” by showing up at one of our houses.
Aw... won't that be a shame.
They'll need to bring their own lunch, because it might not go as quickly as you or they think.
"I was born here, an I was raished here, and dad gum it, I am gonna die here, an no sidewindin' bushwackin', hornswagglin' cracker croaker is gonna rouin my biscuit cutter. -- Gabby Johnson"
Time used to be when Americans didn't run and hide.
I think I'll just stand this ground where I was born.
I've got a better home waiting for me eventually.
/johnny
LOL! You sure have a way with words.
/johnny
“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.”
I always laugh out loud when a post says something like the above about Johnny. He knows everyone well who lives anywhere close to him and they know him and absolutely none of them would dare approach him without being invited in.
A zombie would never get to his door.
Thanks for the laugh.
Your story reminds me a bit of when I was a small kid. My Mother grew up on a large farm, over 1000 acres in the Florida Panhandle. They were technically prosperous but for the most part didn’t act that way. They grew enough cash crops so they had a savings and could purchase a few things from the small town only around 6 miles away.
Oh, there were 12 kids and the older girls worked with their Mother taking care of the babies cooking etc. The boys and the younger girls worked in the fields and worked hard.
My Father’s family was very prominent but had far less money than Mother’s. Granddaddy was a preacher, school teacher, school principal and often served in the Florida legislature. He made enough money for the family to get by but that was about all.
When Daddy was in WWII, he sent his entire paycheck to Mother instead of just the allotment the government sent her. He had no use for money as he was in combat and sold his cigarette ration for more money than he needed.
When he got home they bought a 40 acre farm with the $3000 Mother had saved during the war. That was a lot of money at the time. We were a family of 7 and we survived but that was about all. I do remember one really pleasant thing: The smokehouse! I would go inside to get something for Mother and that place smelled so good. There was coils of sausage hanging in the smoke, hams, and other meats and they were all good. Although we were staying alive that was about it. Daddy got a job at Tyndall AFB and we left the farm forever.
One thing Mother and Daddy learned and the children to a lessor extent was hard work. There was never too much work for Mother of Daddy. They had been hardened in their youth and were not going to be found wanting.
My guess is now a person who starts with a small nest egg and 40 acres could live permanently but that is all they would be doing. The Same people with a thousand acres even if it was partly woods would do just fine as long as they would work hard.
“Suicide by prepper” is an accurate term. The idiot trying to get our stuff knows we are going to kill him. He goes ahead to try it, and commits suicide because he KNOWS he is going to die. That is suicide.
Because after the collapse, preppers will become the new "wealthiest 1%."
Once someone's wallet full of green paper is no longer useful for anything other than starting fires, it's the person with the stockpile of food, water, and shelter, that will be the "rich" amongst us.
Then there will be cries that it's not "fair" for some to have all the food while others go starving.
Today, we're hoarding the nation's money in our IRA's and 401(k) accounts. Tomorrow, we'll be hoarding all the food and blankets. Preppers will be accused of having more than their fair share of goods. Mobs will be incited to turn against them, just as they are turning against the hard workers and prudent savers nows.
-PJ
I grew up on a farm. I remember seeing my Father plowing behind a mule. I have eaten "road kill." If we hit a rabbit with the car on the way home, my Dad stopped the car and took it home for supper (I sometimes cleaned it). My oldest brother showed the rest of us how to make clay marbles and bake then on the tin roof of the outhouse. All of us kids would pick poke salad and take it home for Mom to cook for supper (only pick the tender top leaves). We picked wild plumbs and blackberries for a quick snack in the pasture almost every day. I liked to make sassafras tea from the tree's roots because it was so cool! I know that steeped sumac berries make a lemonade like drink. I helped butcher hogs and watched my dad and neighbors salt down and store bacon. I have many times watched my mother wring a chickens neck, and have done it myself a couple of times. I watched my Grandfather and Dad turn bull calves to steers and watched the dogs fight over the stones. I have known how to get water from the air since I was in seventh grade.
My Dad retired from GE as a Sr. Computer Systems Analyst but thought television and modern culture were a corrupting influence, therefore, he took the tubes out of the TV and moved us to the farm for a more valuable childhood exposure (the TV sat unused for six years).
I held a security clearance in the military and was taught World War and "cold war" secrets that have revealed to me how authority functions and chicanery thrives. I have worked in electronic telecommunications all my adult life. I know what EMP is and can do. I understand and effectively utilize step-by-step troubleshooting. I have experienced a myriad of things that have made my life one long survivalist prep.
Let society hate me. I don't need its love.
In a full-up sudden collapse, the die off will be large and fast. There may not be much left in the way of mobs.
/johnny
“That’s pretty cowardly to have to hide your activities.”
I like your commentary on many things, johnny, but you are over the line on the use of “cowardly”. It is simply another tactic in use by many preppers. In a big city, be careful who you let know; in the country, smaller towns, yes, probably a good thing, at least not too detrimental.
I think much of the animosity began with the assignment of the label “preppers”, that was then adopted by those who plan ahead.
Labels are effective tools to dehumanize people, and even more so when they are associated with “hot button” descriptive adjectives, like “Doomsday preppers”.
Seriously, what conclusion could an objective person reach from a label like that, other than those people were weird and their beliefs were unsound? Don’t fool yourself for a minute into thinking that such labels are complementary.
So the first thing that “preppers” need to do to escape media efforts at attack is to dispense with the label, by adopting a new, neutral label. Just shunning all labels won’t work, because they will just continue to label you “preppers”.
I’m somewhat of a prepper but I don’t flaunt it. Why would anyone do that? It’s no one else’s business except mine.
If people didn't work, there was no food in those days. No federal government and those food cards they have now.
I just heard today that unless the govn. extends unemployment checks again, two million people will not get another check after December. I guess they will continue to get their food stamp cards.
I feel sorry for those who can't find a job and it's going to get worse with so many companies shutting down and others laying off workers and other’s hours being cut to below 30 hours a week. The country is dying.
Bingo!
I am who I am, I do what I do, and anyone that doesn't like it can lump it. I refuse to live in fear.
In previous short-term emergencies, I have prepared meals for my neighbors, since I am the one with a culinary education. I expect I'll do that in a long term emergency, as well. There are rules about how that works.
I can lose every bit of my stuff, and still make it just fine.
Skills are more important than 'stuff'.
/johnny
That's a major point. Every person's situation is unique. Some of us live in cities where we don't know many people well (if any) and can't trust anyone. Some live in small towns where we know everyone and can handle the known minority of troublemaking takers. Some are in between. The best strategy depends on our individual situations.
I'm thinking of a 1929-style economic collapse where mass business closures are followed by a decade of homeless, jobless masses.
Grapes of Wrath-style masses.
-PJ
Don’t come to my house when the SHTF.
Bringing something for the pot... that works pretty good. I make a great stone soup for a crowd.
/johnny
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