Posted on 08/10/2019 10:19:27 PM PDT by familyop
CANTERBURY, England — “Doomsday prepping” or stockpiling food, medicine, weapons and other supplies in case of an apocalyptic scenario has long been considered peculiar behavior only exhibited by conspiracy theorists and other extremists in the United States. However, such prepping has actually been steadily on the rise in the U.S. over the past decade. So, what’s causing this surge in stockpiled rice packets and underground bunkers? One group of researchers say it is an ever growing sense of impending doom in American culture.
Many have speculated that this surge in doomsday preppers over the last 10 years was linked to an extreme political reaction among many conservatives to Barack Obama’s initial election in 2008, but a new study out of the United Kingdom finds that neither the Obama presidency nor extreme right-wing conspiracy theories in general are the main cause of this growing phenomenon.
Researchers interviewed preppers from 18 U.S. states and asked about their motivations for stockpiling food and supplies. The results indicated that, although most did seem to be conservative and fear liberal policies, the main reason behind their motivations was the overall sense of fear currently dominating U.S. culture across a variety of media channels. Most Americans can’t seem to log online or turn on the television without being hit by a grim view of the future being reported or speculated on.
Potential occurrences commonly worried about by preppers include possible economic depressions, terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks, pandemics, or environmental disasters.
Furthermore, researchers say that frequent recommendations from the U.S. government on how to prepare for potential disasters, such as when residents of certain communities are advised to stockpile water in preparation for a hurricane or blackout, have also contributed to the rising number of doomsday preppers in the United States.
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The study’s authors say their findings paint a more nuanced picture of doomsday preppers and their motivations, especially since up until now most were simply considered crazy or delusional. According to their results, most preppers don’t believe the world will end tomorrow or a giant meteor will hit the earth at any moment, they simply want to be prepared for anything “just in case” something terrible happens.
Researchers note that while extreme right-wing ideologies don’t seem to be the main cause of these fears and preparations, the general idea among many conservatives that if a Democrat regains control of the White House it will inevitably lead to chaos remains very much connected to the phenomenon of doomsday preppers. At the end of the day, though, that is just another possible event for conservative preppers to fear, and not the main cause.
“Fear is now deeply entrenched in modern American culture and is the principal reason that so many citizens are engaging in ‘prepping’,” explains lead author Dr. Michael Mills in a release.
According to Mills, these preppers believe that if the worse were to happen, the government’s response simply wouldn’t be adequate and many people would be left to fend for themselves.
“Rather than seeing prepping as an exception within America’s right-wing political culture, we ought to see it as being reflective of increasingly established and popular outlooks,” Mills comments.
The study is published in the Journal of American Studies.
I’m NOT throwing out my supplies—collected during the Obama years!
I find I have too many supplies that need to be used up.....I’m going to be a little more careful this time around
The pilgrims prepped for winter, citizens prepped for wars and depressions.
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Biblical Joseph, prepped in Egypt for seven years, for a famine that lasted seven years.
CWII
Normal people who just want to live their own lives will not be vigilant forever. I pray that we can delay the disaster of another democrat in our White House for another four years, perhaps even more, but it will happen. The totalitarian globalists will seize power again, and they will be immeasurably worse than ever before. Be prepared.
I'm not either. But I did send quite a bit downrange a couple days ago. Will have to spend a few hours at the reloading bench this winter to top off again.
that is what the still is for.
My 76 year old sister and 72 year old best friend recently got their concealed carry. My sister got it because she no longer felt safe in her very nice home in its really nice neighborhood. Why? There have been an increasing number of break-ins by people from other neighborhoods. I would actually have to call these “diversity break-ins” as the few that have been caught do not speak English, at least not as a first language.
I asked my friend, who lives in the woods were there is little crime, because it’s just so far from “diversity” neighborhoods why he got his concealed. (He carries all the time now.) He said, “It seems the safe world we grew up in is gone and I feel the need to protect myself.”
Um, having a Plan B (and C) is common sense?
Because of the "unknown unknowns" - 9-11, Katarina, (didn't see either coming), increasingly shaky financial underpinnings, increasingly shaky societal underpinnings.
Asteroid hits, Yellowstone cauldera, plagues, nuclear exchange, etc.
Why the hell wouldn't someone have some type of Plan B?
“Journal of American Studies”. Never heard of it.
Most people are not worried about the End of Time. They are worried about THEIR government coming in and making them prisoners in their own nation.
I grew up in a rual farming community in Wisconsin in the 50s. When you went through town, you would see simple wall displays of the hunting rifles and shotguns through the front windows. There was only one or two police in our town. It seemed that every adult looked out for us kids. The streets were safe. Life was good. We were unsophisticated and unnuanced.
And then liberals came along to “improve life”!
Boy Scouts taught it: Be prepared.
In response to your comment etc. Having been in England for a short period of time during the very end of the Cold War I found everything in England is smaller then the United States, refrigerates are smaller, stoves are smaller, cars are smaller, houses are smaller, I don't think they even have basements, and few have garages they don't buy up worthless junk at malls, and shopping centers, They just don't have the room to store all that stuff and junk. And because of that they don't have to many malls and shopping centers, They don't go down to the local big box store and buy a 24 packs of toilet paper, or paper towels, or a 24 pack of beer etc at one time, and stuff like that, that Americans are use to buying, they pretty much buy just what they need for day or two at a time, No room for stocking up on stuff, and prepping. Back to the buying toilet paper, paper towels, and beer and stuff in bulk, I doubt if they sell stuff in bulk in England and even if they did they couldn't buy to much stuff at one time/trip because they don't have the big SUV's like Americans do, they have small compact cars, life is so different their that the idea of Americans stocking up on stuff and prepping on stuff like that would be fascinating to people in England and pretty much the rest of the world.
Yeah, but other things are more valuable.
When I was stationed on the gulf coast and hurricanes would come in I would lay in a huge supply of batteries.
Then when the power was out for four or five days I could trade batteries for booze.
I made out fairly well.
Environmentally, England is a dreary but relatively safer place than the US.
Nothing wrong with storing 30 days of provisions for emergencies. It’s both prudent and Biblical. I discovered an old well on my property. I plan to bring back on line. Maybe I’ll add a sweet coconut tincture, bottle it as “South Sea Rejuvenation Miracle” and sell it to people with bald heads.
"Potential occurrences commonly worried about by preppers include possible economic depressions,
terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks, pandemics, or environmental disasters.
Furthermore, researchers say that frequent recommendations from the U.S. government on how to prepare
for potential disasters, such as when residents of certain communities are advised to stockpile water
in preparation for a hurricane or blackout, have also contributed to the rising number of doomsday preppers in the United States.
..these preppers believe that if the worse were to happen, the government’s response simply wouldn’t be adequate
and many people would be left to fend for themselves."
When even the Federal government encourages prepping for the civilian population,
since that is exactly what the government and military does on a regular rotational basis,
encourage your family and community to do the same.
Consider the recent events in Venezuela and Puerto Rico to be a 'learning experience';
when demand exceeds availability, the government, medical, and human services just shut down.
Our grandparents didn't believe in Doomsday Prepping, they called it being practical, prudent, and wise !
It isn’t just the diversity crowd. It’s everyone. We had a white meth head who jumped the fence and refused to leave our backyard a few months ago. No sense in calling 911 since LEOs are always an hour away. LEOs also don’t want to come to this area because they don’t want to upset the tourists and their $$$$$ so we’re on our own.
The closest town has had a huge uptick in crimes. Some from illegals but the majority is from rednecks and crazy females.
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