Don’t you know if you store more than a ‘few’ days worth of preps you are a ‘tinfoil’ nut job? Just ask any lib and there are more than a few FReepers who will tell you the same thing.
If you like to join us ‘tinfoil’ nut jobs this post is for you.
Its your choice you can prep or you can stand around on a bridge waiting for FEMA to bring you a bottle of water, a MRE, a warm blanket and a kiss for your boo-boo and maybe you can even get your picture as you stand there on the national news.
Any one with half a brain can look arouns and see for themselves what is happening right before thier eyes. There’s a Great Storm coming you can feel it.
Listen to what the bible says: A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. NIV Proverbs 22:3
One of the things Selco covers in this article is the fact that many will not accept that a breakdown is occurring even as they watch it happening before their eyes. Why don’t they realize it? It’s caused by a condition called ‘Normalcy Bias’ a mental state people enter when facing a disaster.
It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.
A good article on ‘Normalcy Bias’ is on our own ChocChipCookies Blog The Survival Mom:
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/12/29/normalcy-bias/
You either prepare and stand on your own beholden to no one or you become dependent on others to provide your basic needs and become their ‘serf’. Me I don’t want to be beholden to anyone for providing what is needed for me and mine. I certainly don’t want to have to kiss some ‘gubberment’ third class bureaucratic to try and coax some help from them, I don’t want some ‘jack booted’ thug herding me in line and telling me where to stand, sit, eat or sleep. And last but not least I don’t want to be shut up in with a bunch of ‘zombies’ and have to worry about not only trying to get basic necessities but having to fight to keep what I manage to get.
For those who are just starting or are old hands at prepping you may find my Preparedness Manual helpful. You can download it at:
http://tomeaker.com/kart/Preparedness1j.pdf NOTE! THIS IS A FREE DOWNLOAD. I DO NOT MAKE ONE CENT OFF MY PREPAREDNESS MANUAL!
For those of you who haven’t started already it’s time to prepare almost past time maybe. You needed to be stocking up on food guns, ammo, basic household supplies like soap, papergoods, cleaning supplies, good sturdy clothes including extra socks, underwear and extra shoes and boots, cash (I myself have been putting up change for the past few years both for the metal content and the fact that using change places to make what purchases you can will move you down the the list of possible marks during shtf), tools, things you buy everyday start buying two and put one up.
As the LDS say “When the emergency is upon us the time for preparedness has past.”
Again I like to recomend FReeper’s ChocoChipCookie Blog The Survival Mom (Please Blog Police let this one slide!) Where you can get lots of useful information like:
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/11/20/8-morale-boosters-for-any-worst-case-scenario/
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/02/02/survival-priorities-the-rule-of-three/
And More
Also there is Ferfal’s Blog a survivor of Argentina’s first collapse:
And there is Selco’s Blog a Bosnian War survivor at:
“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger. Underestimation can be fatal.”
Yes, I've read such. However, I am not a true end-world doomsday prepper. My 2 realistic concerns are:
1. The BIG ONE finally hits California;
2. A dirty bomb going off in Los Angeles;
I know there are many end-world scenarios, but to be honest, I probably wouldn't want to survive after an Extinction Level Event, nor an all out nuclear war. Ever seen the movie, "The Road"? It's about a father and son trying to make their way through a post-apocalyptic world. It was probably the most realistic and depressing movie regarding that scenario.
We are simply prepared for local disasters. We have a year supply of Mountain House freeze dried foods, access to a lake (with Katadyn filters), and many other necessities, not to mention self-defense and cooperation on our street.
BTW, one thing I never see on prepper sites/shows or even read here is the 50 gallons of potable water in your home water heater, not to mention your toilet tanks and filling bathtubs if the water lines have not been cut off. That can last quite awhile if not world's end. The other matter that is never discussed is how to dispose of human fecal matter (you can pee anywhere). Our plan is a 5 gallon bucket lined with plastic bags for each use. Disposal is not a problem. Also, without showers, hygiene can be accomplished with a large supply of baby wipes (Mom To Mom). You can use them for armpits, groin, and potty wipes.
And yes, we have the crank radio (2), shaker flashlights (plus many regular flashlights and batteries), coleman stove with propane bottles, solar outside lights to bring inside, and now looking at the Sun Oven (http://www.sunoven.com/) It can not only cook, but boil water, depending on your location.
We will do okay unless an asteroid, nuclear war, devasting earthquake, or a complete meltdown of our economy. Even then have some gold coins.
That's as prepper as I'm going. We do have other items, but too numerous to list here. If you have a viable idea for a 6-12 month survival plan, please let me know. Feel free to Freepmail me or post it here. However, please be realistic about the threat.
Two weeks worth of supplies would get 90% of people through the worst part of any disaster that has any likelihood of actually happening. Even if the “big one” hit California, you’d have the entire rest of the country pouring relief into the state. Two weeks would sustain the vast majority of people until then.
The problem with hardcore preppers like you is that you’re way out on the irrelevent end of the probability curve. Your approach is based on the .001% case rather than the 1% case. The latter is what you would focus on if you really were interested in doing the most good for the greatest number of people.