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Selfishness and Preparedness: Why Prepare?
SHTF Plan ^ | 9/10/14 | Jim Roberts

Posted on 09/10/2014 8:48:17 PM PDT by Kartographer

Recently, a small firestorm was ignited by Valerie Lucus-McEwen, a government Emergency Management employee, who had the temerity to accuse preparedness types of “selfishness.” While your immediate reaction may be – as mine certainly was – “Are people really and truly this thoughtless?” – this question does deserve a proper answer, particularly as those who are easily influenced by the leftist media, or who believe the state really and actually is the omniscient, omnipotent savior of our personal and corporate lives, are actually asking this question. So, let’s examine the issue:

First, many preparedness types have, as part of their goal, the intent of helping neighbors and family who were unable – or unwilling – to prepare. In my own case, part of what I have in mind is assisting a large group of mentally retarded and Down’s syndrome children that my church has taken under its wing. (A group the state would do no more than “warehouse” if it were under their direction!). Not all preppers feel this way, but I would bet my bottom can of stored tuna fish there is an exceedingly large percentage of preparedness types who feel similarly.

(Excerpt) Read more at shtfplan.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Society
KEYWORDS: employee; preparedness; preppers
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To: CorporateStepsister

You turn a good word. :)


21 posted on 09/10/2014 10:06:33 PM PDT by The Duke
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To: The Duke

Thanks :)

I do think I’m tired of the idea of feeling bad for people who don’t think ahead. Women who whore around and wonder why there aren’t any ‘nice’ guys willing to ‘take care of her.’ Plenty of time and energy to whore around, but not enough to make an honest living? Same with being a prepper; right now my instinct is telling me to get as much control over everything in my life and start working HARD on my contacts in business to get my business more effectively running.


22 posted on 09/10/2014 10:14:41 PM PDT by CorporateStepsister (I am NOT going to force a man to make my dreams come true)
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To: Kartographer

That’s because, they are at heart, selfish. They assume that you are being motivated by that same selfishness that they have.

In fact being prepared, is actually a benefit to the government/emergency responders, because they won’t have to spend time, effort, and resources on you, and that means there is more for others.

Some who are preparing have even indicated that they are putting away extra to help neighbors, friends, and/or other relatives.

At any rate, I don’t give a flip what they think. We have always prepared for emergencies, here in tornado alley, and most people in this area consider it smart, not selfish.

Here’s the way I view things. If it impacts me and my family, I intend to do all I can to deal with it. Why? Because no one else in the world cares as much about my family as me and my hubby do.

I know that we will put forth our best effort to benefit our family, so why would I depend on some one else, if I don’t have to?


23 posted on 09/10/2014 10:45:25 PM PDT by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: Kartographer

I have always been kind of a go to guy for people who need help, and I notice that my preparedness has drifted into that same pattern.

As I prepare for myself, I still keep a few things for other people, for instance super long running led flashlights that I have replaced with better and newer versions, and while I no longer use alkaline batteries myself , I still hold onto my old ones, and every few years add to them during big sales, so that I can give them away, I have loaner hatchets and tools, and tons of information and techniques to share.

I have needed simple goods that while helpful for people, also gives me a chance to accept some of their items that are not of much help to them, but that can help my long term survivalist preparations.

My intention is to keep people calm and in the case of a long term emergency, to assist them to decide to move to centers where they can be taken care of.


24 posted on 09/10/2014 10:46:31 PM PDT by ansel12 (LEGAL immigrants, 30 million 1980-2012, continues to remake the nation's electorate for democrats)
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To: CorporateStepsister
Women who whore around and wonder why there aren’t any ‘nice’ guys willing to ‘take care of her.

OMG, I had an epic verbal skirmish with the SIL over that subject in the past. She could not in any way accept the fact that socially, a woman who slept with scads of guys was going to have an extremely high probability of farming cats, alone, in her later years. She actually mentioned during the discussion that there should be some type of law like solution to this!

I was tearfully reported to the wife as "being unfair because I used logic" after crushing her rhetorically. This woman teaches too...

25 posted on 09/10/2014 10:56:58 PM PDT by Axenolith (Government blows, and that which governs least, blows least...)
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To: CorporateStepsister

Same here ... Launching my own new biz here as well and I have zero room for mistakes. Best luck to you!


26 posted on 09/11/2014 1:31:29 AM PDT by The Duke
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To: Axenolith

I think a man can handle a woman who had problems in her past (who has not), but whoring is a major red flag. Husbands get killed by the lovers of their wives and their kids are in danger.

As for being taken care of, I hear men are sick of the idea that they have to work themselves to death so wifey-poo can live the ‘dream life’ they feel entitled to.

Put frankly, the idiot women need to stop acting like kids and I’m sick of hearing horror stories about how men marry someone they think will be as ‘free’ (get my drift?) after marriage as before, but go figure, the women go all prude on them.

Messing around like that isn’t funny and often by thirty, a woman ends up broken emotionally and psychologically. As for lifestyle, by thirty I believe that if a woman doesn’t have at least something solid on her resume, she’s going to end up old and alone and in poverty without a husband, the kind of husband, that she wants.

Since people are marrying at older ages, if a woman wants to be taken care of, she has to find the dupe in college/university or end up dating like crazy while she’s young. Put frankly, I do believe that your SIL’s reaction about there needing a law, like to require men to marry used up sluts, is the reason relationships are impossible to form these days without men knowing the woman in question WELL, or worrying about why bother in the first place.

Any smart woman knows that being prepped for real life, the future, doesn’t make you a cynic or a bad person. Somewhere along the line, society treats being responsible with being a mistrusting cynic. As if being smart makes you a bad immoral person. I’m quite frankly kind of cynical and lately I am kind of gloating about how these Pollyanna idiots are facing cold hard reality about their asinine idealism.

I thank God that I’m smart enough to be practical and pragmatic.


27 posted on 09/11/2014 2:15:59 AM PDT by CorporateStepsister (I am NOT going to force a man to make my dreams come true)
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To: The Duke

Thank you! I am wishing you the best of luck as well! A small business is a wench to really get going effectively and I’m just about to launch meetings face to face and put it all into motion. Doing this with only a good idea and no college degree is beyond tiring. I intend to find a nice school (probably Notre Dame) and have my curriculum personally tailored to my schedule and needs. If I spend a huge chunk of cash on school, I am not going to let the school dictate my learning and class/course selections.


28 posted on 09/11/2014 2:19:37 AM PDT by CorporateStepsister (I am NOT going to force a man to make my dreams come true)
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To: Kartographer

It’s possible that by people being Preppers that they are taking away from the Bureaucrats and others the ability to say to themselves:

“I DID something today, I helped out someone who was so clueless that they couldn’t think ahead and help themselves by storing some extra tuna-fish away for a bad day.”

Or something like that anyway. And by preparing for the SHTF we are being thoughtless about their need to ‘help’ us out in bad times. I suppose it comes down to ‘needs’; Preppers and the common citizen vs. the ‘Authorities’ and whose needs are more important.


29 posted on 09/11/2014 3:06:52 AM PDT by The Working Man
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To: Kartographer; All

Here is the original post about Valerie McEwan’s article and the response she received.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2965036/posts


30 posted on 09/11/2014 3:30:19 AM PDT by dynachrome (Vertrou in God en die Mauser)
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To: Kartographer

Anonymous commenter at SHTF:

The strength to save the worthy.
The grit to leave the rest.
The wisdom to know the difference.


31 posted on 09/11/2014 3:35:08 AM PDT by dynachrome (Vertrou in God en die Mauser)
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To: Oorang

It’s just like commodities trade. People who get prepared build an entire market of preparedness. Without demand, there would be nothing out there for others.

But actually, I’m not even familiar with the term, ‘preppers’. I’m assuming it’s the same as ‘survivalist’, right? Wind-up flashlights and stuff?

When it comes to survivalists — always be prepared, but only in moderation.


32 posted on 09/11/2014 3:38:36 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Powerless? Not with the Liberty Amendments)
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To: MichaelCorleone

Anyone that is not actively preparing for disaster is passively preparing to be a thief and murderer. On a preparedness blog site I know of, the posters estimated that 60% of the people they know expect THEM to provide if/when it is necessary. My neighbors are the same. We’re moving. OPSEC.


33 posted on 09/11/2014 3:52:26 AM PDT by Pecos (That government governs best which governs least..)
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To: Kartographer

I’ve told my family not to show up on my doorstep empty handed. After cries of “Unfair”, “Cruel”, “You’d do that to your own family?”, they quieted down and knew from past experiences, that Dad doesn’t mess around. Now most are prepping.


34 posted on 09/11/2014 4:03:54 AM PDT by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
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To: Kartographer

Here’s selfish - people who don’t have anything put back, then swarm the grocery stores when the forecast mentions there might be a snowflake on the ground by morning.

and btw...ever see what these people buy during a pre-storm panic? Those extra gallons of milk aren’t going to be very tasty after the power’s been off a few days. Yet, there’s always plenty of non-fat dry milk still sitting on the store shelves. Not a brain cell among these “shoppers”.


35 posted on 09/11/2014 4:21:52 AM PDT by LadyBuck (Strangeways, here we come....)
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To: CorporateStepsister

The problem is - I have adults (with kids of their own) in my family who are like that. Lazy, unmotivated, immature and looking to others to solve their problems for them. So I end up having to prep more than what I normally would, because this house will be the first place they come when things go pear-shaped and start falling apart.


36 posted on 09/11/2014 4:50:39 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow ("Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise, beating down the multitudes and scoffing at the wise.")
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To: dynachrome; appalachian_dweller; OldPossum; DuncanWaring; VirginiaMom; CodeToad; goosie; kalee; ...
dynachrome that is a keeper!

The strength to save the worthy.
The grit to leave the rest.
The wisdom to know the difference.

37 posted on 09/11/2014 6:29:00 AM PDT by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: Kartographer
Which likely republican candidates for president will have the guts, on the first day in office, to rip socialist idiots like Valerie Lucus-McEwen out of influential government positions and send them packing back to the liberal looney bins where they received their busy-work degrees?
38 posted on 09/11/2014 7:32:54 AM PDT by Iron Munro ("If you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln)
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To: tumblindice
Unselfish Citizens Of Ferguson, MO Who Like To Share


39 posted on 09/11/2014 7:40:52 AM PDT by Iron Munro ("If you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln)
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To: laplata

The long and the short of it is

it’s impossible to help others in need if you yourself are in need.


40 posted on 09/11/2014 7:44:18 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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