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Posted on 02/12/2012 7:41:15 AM PST by blam
THREE MILLION PREPPERS IN AMERICA Are Getting Ready For The End of the World As We Know It
Mac Slavo
February 11th, 2012
In the autumn of 2008, as Presidential hopefuls sparred over whether we had entered a recession or not and well before the onset of the most serious global crisis since the 1930′s, trend forecaster Gerald Celente advised his Trends Journal subscribers to prepare for the worst and plan for the best. “It will be,” warned Celente, “like nothing we’ve ever seen in our lifetime.”
The aware and prepared … those understanding just how out of control society would become, and those who had acquired the skills for survival would stand the best chance of navigating the chaos safely.
But Americans were not prepared. Not by a long shot
Very few had the foresight to predict that the economic system and social fabric of our nation would be threatened with upheaval and disarray. But some, whether through independent education or through intuition, deduced that there was a real possibility of a system shock so significant that life as we know it could be on the verge of a major paradigm shift – perhaps even a complete collapse of our economy and resource infrastructure.
As natural disasters around the world took the lives of hundreds of thousands, space agencies warned of solar disruptions that threaten our power grid, the economies of the world slid further into depression, and tensions between the world’s financial and resource super powers grew, more and more people began to realize that the stability we have come to depend on to live our daily lives was nothing but illusion.
With very few places to turn for support, most headed for the internet, where communities had popped up to discuss possible disaster and collapse scenarios, and ways to minimize the impact on oneself and family. That it was happening or could happen was no longer the question.
The real question was how to survive it when it finally came to pass.
With none of us ever having experienced (or even imagined) such a possibility before, many turned to guidance from experts in their fields – people like Gerald Celente or Marc ‘Dr. Doom’ Faber, who had an uncanny ability to see developing trends, and authors like survival expert James Rawles who wrote the popular economic collapse and survival cult classic Patriots and William Forstchen who penned One Second After, a frighteningly realistic look at what life without the grid might look like. First it was thousands, then tens of thousands of concerned Americans who began learning the essentials of survival by learning from each other with resources offered at web destinations like the American Preppers Network, Doctor Prepper, Survival Mom, Off Grid Survival and Ready Nutrition.
Those who chose to insulate themselves against coming disaster were often vilified or dismissed as lunatics by friends and family alike. And while many chose to ignore the trend which had become quite apparent, those who had the willingness to consider a different reality than had been painted by the powers that be just kept on preppin’.
As global malaise continued and the people began to lose confidence in political platitudes and corporatist solutions, the movement towards preparedness, survival and self reliance grew. After having seen what took place in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, many came to the conclusion that if the worst were to happen there would be no government to help, no 9-1-1 to call, and no emergency management agency to distribute food or water.
Today, at the cusp of possibly the most trying times in human history, more Americans than ever before are preparing for the possibility of disaster.
As many as three million Americans now fall into the category dubbed ‘preppers’ – people who are making detailed plans for the end of the world as we know it.
The preppers are an ever-growing group of survivalists who take extreme measures to prepare for a major catastrophic event.
…
More than 300,000 people a month visit the movement’s website, survivalblog.com, which catalogues how people are preparing for the worst.
The website has been set up by James Rawles, a former US Army intelligence officer, who is one of the movement’s leading figures.
Speaking to The Times, he said: ‘Should the worst happen, it’s become apparent that the Government can’t provide for everybody. And now that realisation is becoming more widespread.‘
…
‘People invest so much money in life insurance,’ Mr Ralston told National Geographic. ‘This is life assurance.’
He is like some of the people featured on National Geographic’s new show Doomsday Preppers, which chronicles a new prepper each week, delving into their conceptions of the end and what they’re doing to prepare for it.
‘It’s not a hobby, it’s a lifestyle,’ Gloria Haswell told National Geographic. She and her husband spend 50 hours a week getting ready for a climate shift in the poles.
…
‘These are not just a handful of people living in the mountains,’ National Geographic Channel’s executive vice president of programming Michael Cascio told the Wall Street Journal. ‘They’re everywhere.’
…
The Journal notes that Nat Geo has begun appealing to a growing subculture that has seen the past disasters – from last year’s tsunami and earthquake in Japan to riots to economic uncertainty – and have wanted to prepare the best they can.
‘The last few years have probably exacerbated the doomsday fear,’ Mr Cascio told the Journal. ‘The world is changing.’
Source: UK Daily Mail
This week the National Geographic series Doomsday Preppers debuted to an audience of four million, a testament to the fact that preparing for disasters – regardless of the kind – is a growing trend, and one that’s popular even among those that have been affectionately dubbed the sheeple. No doubt some of those watching the show, who never considered the possibility of far-from equilibrium events, will take to preparing right away.
Most seasoned preppers will agree that those first few weeks and months of preparedness are the most stressful, with emotions being described by newbies as anxiety and panic. For those just getting started, you should feel better knowing that it’s better late than never.
What you may be experiencing today isn’t panic. It’s a sense of urgency, and that’s a positive motivator that can, with focus, drive you to quickly and effectively achieve your goals.
Panic is what we’ll see from those remaining 99% of Americans who have failed to take measures to protect themselves from the coming devastation.
do not reply to these type of people. They will never learn— prepare for the worst hope for the best is all one can do.
All one needs to do is read about Argentina, or Bosnia, I believe Kartographer has posted links to these two situations.
Actually all one needs to have is grasp of history to understand the need to prepare.
Fable I believe is the ant and grasshopper- 1 played 1 prepared.
Well, people like that will be greeted with a rifle sticking out the door if they come begging.
Why is it crazy, or worthy of derision, for people to stockpile food, water, medicine, fuel, weapons, ammunition, and the like, to better help themselves and their community in the event of civil unrest, natural disaster, etc.
"Doomsday fantasies?"
Since when is self-reliance something to be castigated?
Sheer lunacy. Could you be more juvenile?
That is a reality that the left is constantly try to prevent :)
What do you think will happen when the govt. teat dried up? Do you think the millions of people living here, on the govt teat, will simply start working? There is generational welfare and they have no clue how to fend for themselves except through taking - which will lead to violence. Even Obama's benefactor, Soros, has already encouraged it.
Your screenname is indicative of a certain neighborhood which has had several interesting periods in its history, during which the types of collapse you pooh-pooh actually happened.
Perhaps it is time you educated yourself on the mechanisms by which the world works, as such an education would keep you from embarrassing yourself, again, among the adults in the room.
In 2000 we had a flood. It started raining about midnight and by 6AM we had over 20 inches of rain. All told we got over 30 inches of rain in 2 days.
My sister and I were at my mothers house going up and down the road cleaning the storm drains trying to get as much drainage as we could.
About 11AM on the first day of the flood, a guy from across the street came out and the first thing out of his mouth was wondering when the govt food trucks were going to be coming around to feed people.
Electricity was still on. Water was still working. Houses weren’t really flooded in that area just the streets were flooded. Yet this clown was looking for a govt handout.
My sister told him a food center had been set up in town a distance of about 5 blocks. He didn’t want to walk the 5 blocks. I told him the two stores across the highway were open, that was only about 2 blocks away. He didn’t want to walk the 2 blocks he wanted somebody to bring the food to his door.
This guy didn’t know who my sister and I were when he said if the food trucks weren’t there by noon we should all get together and go in these rich peoples house and take their food. He was pointing at my mothers house.
I informed him if he so much as stepped foot on that property i was going to shoot his ass. So much for being a good neighbor. Oh well, he got the message.
People that live on handouts will take when they don’t get their handouts and it doesn’t take them 3 days to start taking.
LOL—I was just going to say, we stock ammunition for many things, including fools who didn’t have the foresight to keep emergency supplies on hand—and then want to forcibly take someone else’s.
Preppers are the new 1% ;)
Bug off you little diarrhea mouthed dip-shit.
We actually had one “big city liberal who moved to the country” express his entitlement mindset as a letter to the editor. A powerful storm knocked out power & felled trees which blocked all the major roads in our area. Linemen had been working straight for twenty four hours in awful conditions. Power was out for three days. So bozo the liberal writes a letter claiming the power company took too long restoring his power. He castigated volunteers with chainsaws who were clearing the roads because they weren't government.
Can you all explain to me how I would go about “prepping,” when we are now down to our last 50k in savings? My husband is 48 and a pilot at a bankrupt company, where top management has been awarding itself for the company’s overall failure. Pilots have been living with a 30% salary reduction since I believe, 2002, and without a contract since 2006. We have one child going off to college in 2 years and another with Aspergers.
My point is, how does one prepare - buy all sorts of dehydrated foods and items when we are biting into our savings a bit every month? My husband just about died last week when I told him I needed a root canal.
Wind was blowing 100mph+, but they believed those crews should be out repairing the lines.
I wanted to reach through the radio and beat some sense in them.
The Survivors was an awesome movie. I just checked and neither Netflix or Amazon Prime has it for streaming and every video store within 50 miles has gone the way of the Dodo. I would very much like to watch it again, in between reruns of The Colony and Survivors of course.
Basic “prepping” starts with extending your pantry, as you can, to have ever more food on hand to last you longer times in a crisis. Prepping isn’t just about dehydrated foods and zombie survival gear, it’s about comfortable yet frugal living and having enough on hand that you won’t need resupply for quite some time (be it a week or a year).
Check my tagline for starters.
$17 will get you 50 lbs of flour at Costco. That, and some salt & yeast will feed you bread for over a month. $16 nets another 50 lbs of rice. While sure not optimal, $50 can feed the family for a month. Easy cheap backup food.
Shop at Aldi, Super Walmart, and other cheap stores. Always buy a little more than you need, and put it in storage. Put everything you buy in storage, and live off the oldest stuff.
Spring is approaching. Visit the dollar stores often: they’ll have seed packets for $0.10 each; $10 and some effort will grow you more food than you’ll know what to do with.
And getting out of Palm Beach County FL is probably also a good idea.
You must be an immigrant to Texas (I suspect from Michigan) because real Texans are better mannered and not as trashy as you.
You're a shame to Texans.
Now, go away, nobody here likes you either.
Its also called civil defense which is a civilian response to maintain safety and security.
If civil defense was still practiced, preppers might not be so afraid and feel like they have to run.
This country has lost so much of its culture, its a shame really.
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