If the bottom falls out, Americans will reorganize themselves pretty quickly to make sure things don’t fall into complete anarchy. The loner preppers out there will be disappointed to find that everything doesn’t just go to hell. No one will come to the them begging for supplies, nor will they be attacked. Mostly they will just be irrelevent, as already existing communities and associations step up and mobilize to make sure needs are met. It will be rough, but it won’t be a return to the jungle. The bottomless pessimism of the preppers will turn out to be false. Sooner or later they will come out of their hidey holes looking for things that only the local community can provide.
You forgot that all will be singing kum-ba-yah and holding hands.
Disasters can be very local and very personal. It just makes sense to prepare.
/johnny
Just like they did in urban Detroit... Oh, wait. Detroit looks like an after-the-bomb movie set.
/johnny
Hidey Holes?
HA! I'm your next door neighbor...and, you don't even know it.
I would call myself a semi-prepper, it is probably just a good reason for me to horde food which I have always done. Almost all the other stuff is stuff you have if you are a farmer, fisherman, hunter, camper.
In 2008 we were dead broke and I lived on my reserves for 6 months. No, I didn’t make national news and I didn’t get a medal but I survived one of the worst times of my life by being prepared. There was no hurricane or tornado or earthquake either, just a crisis in my own personal life. I didn’t have to ask friends or family for loans, I didn’t have to go to a food bank or get food stamps, I just took care of myself and didn’t put a burden on anyone and most people didn’t even know we were having a crisis.
I agree with you about reorganizing, repurposing, making do and people helping people, we are Americans and we know how to survive and will do fine but it won’t hurt that there are people out there who won’t need help.
Case in point: Any severe weather or cataclysmic event -- tornado, flood, blizzard, fire, earthquake, hurricane (excepting Katrina & New Orleans, of course).
People crawl out from the ruins of their homes, re-group...and start re-building. The necessary aspects of destroyed infrastructure are quickly replaced...mostly with private resources (e.g., powerlines, etc). Local government is usually the last to respond, but it proves more effective and efficient than anything the federal government might eventually do.
As a group, Americanss are pretty darn self-sufficient.
The big cities will have problems, though.
Yes, existing communities in ghettos will definitely step up and mobilize to make sure THEIR needs are met - at your expense. How do you think those gangbangers are going to act? They will see the SHTF situation as a blank check for unlimited burglary and murder. Humans have the instinct of domination and aggression, not of cooperation (that would be ants.)
The police will disappear almost instantly. Police officers have their own families to protect - and they understand that after TSHTF their own life in the street will be very short. Police does not have overwhelming numbers. Police wins against criminals today only because police can quickly summon tens of officers to a single crime scene. If there are 100 crimes committed at the same time in the same town the police will be unable to respond to all crime scenes. But if you encounter a group of LEOs after TSHTF they will be more dangerous than a street gang.
I agree. It will be much like the tv series "Jericho."