There may be hope....

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  • rebarguyindy

    Plinker
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Aug 20, 2013
    52
    8
    Spencer, IN
    I was at a get together recently at a friends house. There were many people there whom I had not seen in many years, mostly friends from school. The friend hosting the party and I had maintained our friendship over the years and I knew this person to be of the liberal/progressive view. I assumed (correctly) that most of the people at the get together were of the left leaning persuasion. The conversation was very friendly, mostly reminiscing the "good ol' days", but eventually wandered into politics and social issues. When the topic of prepping came up, I gradually let it be known that I was a "prepper". To my surprise, the attitude from others was curiosity and questions about why I would do that and not criticism and ridicule. After giving a few real world examples of how being prepared just made good sense, the conversation progressed in a very pleasant and enthusiastic manner. I guess the moral here is that even though we live in a society with radical political polarization, there are still people who keep an open mind about subjects and are eager to learn about them before passing judgment. It just gave me a little hope...
     

    DeadeyeChrista'sdad

    Grandmaster
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    35   0   0
    Feb 28, 2009
    10,070
    149
    winchester/farmland
    Evidently you're a lot more trusting, and a lot less jaded than I am.

    Anyone who doesn't already know that I'm not so much a TEOTWAWKI or commies coming over the hill kind of prepper as much as a two weeks without power, boy scout be prepared kind, with a side of firepower, doesn't need to.

    I just don't trust people.
     

    BigBoxaJunk

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Feb 9, 2013
    7,314
    113
    East-ish
    Evidently you're a lot more trusting, and a lot less jaded than I am.

    Anyone who doesn't already know that I'm not so much a TEOTWAWKI or commies coming over the hill kind of prepper as much as a two weeks without power, boy scout be prepared kind, with a side of firepower, doesn't need to.

    I just don't trust people.

    I'm with you. Having MORE people know about my preps gives me the opposite of hope.
     

    churchmouse

    I still care....Really
    Emeritus
    Rating - 100%
    187   0   0
    Dec 7, 2011
    191,809
    152
    Speedway area
    Evidently you're a lot more trusting, and a lot less jaded than I am.

    Anyone who doesn't already know that I'm not so much a TEOTWAWKI or commies coming over the hill kind of prepper as much as a two weeks without power, boy scout be prepared kind, with a side of firepower, doesn't need to.

    I just don't trust people.

    Pretty much. I have had to inform some folks that if you come to the compound empty handed you will be fed, given a bottle of water and sent back out among them.
     

    OkieGirl

    Master
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Jan 20, 2012
    1,551
    113
    iti anunka (In the trees)
    I'm with the OP. Not gonna drag them out to my space to show off preps, but it's important to get their gears working on possible scenarios. The 'general population' may think it's ridiculous to have a prepared mindset and have things set aside to live without common comforts.

    Thankfully it's sneaking into a more modern mindset but masked by more socially acceptable terms like "Tiny Home Living" where composting toilets and energy sources like wind and solar become so mainstream. The term "Green Living" for people who are urban dwellers but want to grow their own food. There are small bits of prepping that is readily adoptable by liberally minded people, reach them through common ideas and philosophy. It's a shared passion. Time will allow a moment to discuss how to defend against the wolves...
     

    Leadeye

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    4   0   0
    Jan 19, 2009
    36,690
    113
    .
    There are some advantages to living way out there, but I have to admit that I miss kids trick or treating.:)
     

    Goodcat

    From a place you cannot see…
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    151   0   0
    Jan 13, 2009
    3,382
    83
    New Pal
    Has anyone posting about preps and not letting people know they prepped considered that people can identify you from your username in some circumstances? :p
     

    JeepHammer

    SHOOTER
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 2, 2018
    1,904
    83
    SW Indiana
    I'm not sure what political idiots have to do with 'Preppers', or why some people drag politics into everything.
    To me, politics are like religion, it's yours, keep it to yourself if you can't discuss like an adult, and at an appropriate time & place.


    Evidently you're a lot more trusting, and a lot less jaded than I am.

    Anyone who doesn't already know that I'm not so much a TEOTWAWKI or commies coming over the hill kind of prepper as much as a two weeks without power, boy scout be prepared kind, with a side of firepower, doesn't need to.

    I just don't trust people.

    Last first, my distrust of 'People' has little to do with politics or 'Prepping'.
    I learned NOT to trust people in middle/high school when 'Friends' turned on me in a heartbeat,
    In the military when Ronald Reagan sent us all over the world doing things we shouldn't have done in places we had no business being,
    In life when insurance company, banks, car makers, etc. NEVER lived up to the terms of contracts...

    A singular PERSON can be rational, Humans as a herd are dumb, panicked animals that can be quite dangerous.

    I had a job where I actually saw with my own eyes what goes on in food processing, so I grow a lot of my own food,
    I actually read the water company reports of what's in my water (you either have a BIG water filter, or you ARE the water filter), so I drilled water wells.
    I figured out what the electric company & other utilities were screwing me for, so I went Renewable Energy.
    Now I get called a 'Prepper', same classification as paranoids that dig a hole in the ground and watch Alex Jones...

    Whatever...
    I get clean food, exactly how I want it. If I want green beans with pearl onions & tiny potatoes in them, that's exactly how I get it.
    The water is clean, the home is comfortable, and I haven't paid an electric, water or sewage bill in 16 years.
    I own outright, no debt to some conglomerate bank or investment company that's going to foreclose on a home along with 100,000 others even though I haven't missed a payment.

    It's simply a matter of working my butt off, not throwing good money after bad, and living within my means, and making sure I'm eating when times get bad...
     

    dudley0

    Nobody Important
    Rating - 100%
    99   0   0
    Mar 19, 2010
    3,725
    113
    Grant County
    If you are concerned that you may run out of food / water / ammo then I'm guessing it's not enough. If you don't need to go there to survive maybe it's enough.

    I hear that. My places are set up better than any of the places where I personally know the people. The few that know I prep know that they are not invited in. I watch for signs from other people who I know to see if they are prepared, most are not.

    I have made sure that I have plenty of room for my immediate family. There is more space available, but the invites aren't there.

    It's all really like the grasshopper and the ant. I am not a hard core prepper. Still on the grid, still have ties to society (even if I don't like them all). I do have food, water, clothing, meds, and protection for me and mine tho.

    Unless it was a TEOTWAWKI or a disaster that took the house out I am staying put. Too much trouble to take everything that I have to another location unless I absolutely had to.
     

    JeepHammer

    SHOOTER
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Aug 2, 2018
    1,904
    83
    SW Indiana
    Sounds to me as if you’ve just started the “committee” that will oversee the distribution of “your” prepped supplies.

    This EXACT statement comes up everytime the 'Black Helicopter' and 'End Of The World' types get into 'Homesteading' conversations...
    And (ironically) it comes from the other end of the spectrum, the 'Save The Planet' bunch goes WAY off the deep end the other direction!
    I do take time to talk to these extremest groups on both ends, mostly because there might be a good idea there somewhere...
    (Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while)

    Each & every time I talk to these people they are either City or suburban raised...
    Not deep country or from small family farms, they have ZERO idea how to sustainably garden, sustainably can & preserve outside of a grill smoker in the backyard over propane.
    They have no idea how to raise livestock, butcher livestock, practice animal husbandry, make & keep a garden that will produce well, etc.
    Each and every single one of them *Thinks* they have it all figured out, but never actually done it, and can't answer the simple questions about bugs, soil pH, staring plants from seeds, how to produce fertilizers, etc.



    -----------

    First off...
    The 'Earth' will still be here no matter what.
    It's a big chunk of radioactive metal with a fairly thin crust of 'Slag' on the outside, and we are just ants on the surface of the slag.
    The 'Earth' doesn't know we are here, and furthermore don't care, we are microbes on the fleas of dogs to the 'Earth'.
    Every organic thing on the planet will be long dead & burned away before the sun goes supernova and blows the planet apart or sucks it up...
    This is just the fact the universe doesn't know about, or care about what you *Think*.

    Secondly, and most important, the farthest society ever breaks down is into 'Tribes'.
    I spent 16 years in, 14 years deployed with the Marines, I've seen society break down first hand, and repeatedly, and it's always the same deal.
    The larger the tribe (group, militia, MAG, whatever you want to call it) the stronger it becomes.
    It's simple numbers...

    The only tribes that advance & prosper TRADE & accept other tribes for that trade & exchange.
    Hostility & isolation only concentrate the gene pool, make the members subject to more disease, go through all available resources & diminish in numbers, become weaker.

    ANY hostile singular person has exactly ZERO chance since eventually they will have to hunt supplies, and they will eventually run into someone/something they can't handle...
    That guy isn't Superman, or bullet proof, and when he attacks or just POs everyone off, in a collapse situation SOMEONE is going to elminates that particular thorn in everyone's side...
    Neighbors turn against neighbors over old disputes, simply because there isn't anyone to stop them in a collapse/civil uprising.
    The people with guns that decide to steal eventually run into someone with a gun that defends his stuff... But it doesn't take a million rounds & a thousand guns to protect your stuff...


    Third, the tribes that survive the best are based on primitive farming, hunting & gathering.
    *IF* you want to eat regularly, you had better have agriculture & preservation skills.
    In the biggest part of the US, a pressure canner, hot packer, canning jars, lids & rings will ALWAYS beat the guy sitting on a huge pile of ammo.
    Bullets in a frying pan never goes well, and bullets in a pressure cooker for a week won't make gravy!

    Trade for what you CAN DO provides you with materials, goods that are outside your specific speciality, and creates allies.

    ------------

    Personally, I prepare for hard times, not out of a blind fear that the world is going to 'End', but because I've seen bad times come & go...

    With virtually 100% of the US food supply being contaminated from hormones, chemicals, biological contamination, and the health problems a fat, sugar & salt based diet creates, that's virtually the entire population needing serious (and expensive) health care for those health problems dragging the economy into the toilet.

    With the US being (by far) the largest arms supplier to the world, it's a drag on the economy and making the world a much more dangerous place, and those chickens are coming to roost already...

    With a false 'Consumer Based' economy, instead of a production & agricultural based (true) economy, the economic model can't be sustained.

    The sheer greed, and concentration of wealth at the very top can't be sustained.

    The stock & commodities markets are so oversold now it's unsustainable, and there will be another major crash/depression. Period. All the economists, and the major stock/commodities dealers are in agreement, it's just a matter of WHEN, not 'If' it corrects.

    Keep in mind it wasn't the political figures or top 1% that lost everything in the last crash, or the one before that, or the one before that...
    And you all still reelected 96% of them to do it again,
    (The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over but expecting g different results...)

    SO!
    The sustainable garden, the root cellar, the canning & preservation equipment & materials will always be more impressive & useful that a house full of guns/ammo, or a room full of freeze dried 'Survival' crap.
    A home built (or rebuilt) to withstand the worst the elements can throw at it, with an eye towards security, and PAID FOR will always win out over some hole in the ground someone calls a 'Bunker'.
    A circle, group (tribe) of useful friends THAT ARE WILLING TO EARN THEIR KEEP will always trump the fear driven isolation mentality.
    Stupid, lazy or worse yet, power hungry people will always be something between dead weight & and destructive...

    This same thing is true in business, the lazy guy that spreads rumors/lies and *Thinks* they have all the answers/wants to be in charge will ruin a business faster than anything else, if only because you can't stand to be there...
     

    HonkieKowboy

    Sharpshooter
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Nov 14, 2018
    333
    28
    Lafayette
    I was at a get together recently at a friends house. There were many people there whom I had not seen in many years, mostly friends from school. The friend hosting the party and I had maintained our friendship over the years and I knew this person to be of the liberal/progressive view. I assumed (correctly) that most of the people at the get together were of the left leaning persuasion. The conversation was very friendly, mostly reminiscing the "good ol' days", but eventually wandered into politics and social issues. When the topic of prepping came up, I gradually let it be known that I was a "prepper". To my surprise, the attitude from others was curiosity and questions about why I would do that and not criticism and ridicule. After giving a few real world examples of how being prepared just made good sense, the conversation progressed in a very pleasant and enthusiastic manner. I guess the moral here is that even though we live in a society with radical political polarization, there are still people who keep an open mind about subjects and are eager to learn about them before passing judgment. It just gave me a little hope...

    Kinda the opposite for me, slowly let myself out to a liberal uni dorm, ended up on the radar of public safety. Luckily for me though, public safety commented that I was good at complying and did not see me as a threat... And I've joined the outdoor skills club of my school as a front for prepping (I'm not so sure how that's working out).

    Speaking from the POV of somebody who's consistently surrounded by leftists, most people stock up on food (even the full blown progressives), but that's mainly due to being able to have quick food during late hours at night, so having a shelf full of food might not be so suspicious, but your mileage may vary. However, I'd advise you to keep MREs hidden while having some conventional instant foods in front view. Basically anything that looks military will attract attention, but luckily a surplus parka in flat colors which I brought for winter looks like something you'd be able to pick up at a name brand store.
     

    HonkieKowboy

    Sharpshooter
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Nov 14, 2018
    333
    28
    Lafayette
    This EXACT statement comes up everytime the 'Black Helicopter' and 'End Of The World' types get into 'Homesteading' conversations...
    And (ironically) it comes from the other end of the spectrum, the 'Save The Planet' bunch goes WAY off the deep end the other direction!
    I do take time to talk to these extremest groups on both ends, mostly because there might be a good idea there somewhere...
    (Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while)

    Each & every time I talk to these people they are either City or suburban raised...
    Not deep country or from small family farms, they have ZERO idea how to sustainably garden, sustainably can & preserve outside of a grill smoker in the backyard over propane.
    They have no idea how to raise livestock, butcher livestock, practice animal husbandry, make & keep a garden that will produce well, etc.
    Each and every single one of them *Thinks* they have it all figured out, but never actually done it, and can't answer the simple questions about bugs, soil pH, staring plants from seeds, how to produce fertilizers, etc.



    -----------

    First off...
    The 'Earth' will still be here no matter what.
    It's a big chunk of radioactive metal with a fairly thin crust of 'Slag' on the outside, and we are just ants on the surface of the slag.
    The 'Earth' doesn't know we are here, and furthermore don't care, we are microbes on the fleas of dogs to the 'Earth'.
    Every organic thing on the planet will be long dead & burned away before the sun goes supernova and blows the planet apart or sucks it up...
    This is just the fact the universe doesn't know about, or care about what you *Think*.

    Secondly, and most important, the farthest society ever breaks down is into 'Tribes'.
    I spent 16 years in, 14 years deployed with the Marines, I've seen society break down first hand, and repeatedly, and it's always the same deal.
    The larger the tribe (group, militia, MAG, whatever you want to call it) the stronger it becomes.
    It's simple numbers...

    The only tribes that advance & prosper TRADE & accept other tribes for that trade & exchange.
    Hostility & isolation only concentrate the gene pool, make the members subject to more disease, go through all available resources & diminish in numbers, become weaker.

    ANY hostile singular person has exactly ZERO chance since eventually they will have to hunt supplies, and they will eventually run into someone/something they can't handle...
    That guy isn't Superman, or bullet proof, and when he attacks or just POs everyone off, in a collapse situation SOMEONE is going to elminates that particular thorn in everyone's side...
    Neighbors turn against neighbors over old disputes, simply because there isn't anyone to stop them in a collapse/civil uprising.
    The people with guns that decide to steal eventually run into someone with a gun that defends his stuff... But it doesn't take a million rounds & a thousand guns to protect your stuff...


    Third, the tribes that survive the best are based on primitive farming, hunting & gathering.
    *IF* you want to eat regularly, you had better have agriculture & preservation skills.
    In the biggest part of the US, a pressure canner, hot packer, canning jars, lids & rings will ALWAYS beat the guy sitting on a huge pile of ammo.
    Bullets in a frying pan never goes well, and bullets in a pressure cooker for a week won't make gravy!

    Trade for what you CAN DO provides you with materials, goods that are outside your specific speciality, and creates allies.

    ------------

    Personally, I prepare for hard times, not out of a blind fear that the world is going to 'End', but because I've seen bad times come & go...

    With virtually 100% of the US food supply being contaminated from hormones, chemicals, biological contamination, and the health problems a fat, sugar & salt based diet creates, that's virtually the entire population needing serious (and expensive) health care for those health problems dragging the economy into the toilet.

    With the US being (by far) the largest arms supplier to the world, it's a drag on the economy and making the world a much more dangerous place, and those chickens are coming to roost already...

    With a false 'Consumer Based' economy, instead of a production & agricultural based (true) economy, the economic model can't be sustained.

    The sheer greed, and concentration of wealth at the very top can't be sustained.

    The stock & commodities markets are so oversold now it's unsustainable, and there will be another major crash/depression. Period. All the economists, and the major stock/commodities dealers are in agreement, it's just a matter of WHEN, not 'If' it corrects.

    Keep in mind it wasn't the political figures or top 1% that lost everything in the last crash, or the one before that, or the one before that...
    And you all still reelected 96% of them to do it again,
    (The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over & over but expecting g different results...)

    SO!
    The sustainable garden, the root cellar, the canning & preservation equipment & materials will always be more impressive & useful that a house full of guns/ammo, or a room full of freeze dried 'Survival' crap.
    A home built (or rebuilt) to withstand the worst the elements can throw at it, with an eye towards security, and PAID FOR will always win out over some hole in the ground someone calls a 'Bunker'.
    A circle, group (tribe) of useful friends THAT ARE WILLING TO EARN THEIR KEEP will always trump the fear driven isolation mentality.
    Stupid, lazy or worse yet, power hungry people will always be something between dead weight & and destructive...

    This same thing is true in business, the lazy guy that spreads rumors/lies and *Thinks* they have all the answers/wants to be in charge will ruin a business faster than anything else, if only because you can't stand to be there...

    Pretty spot-on and insightful, however, something I'd like to add is that while farming is great for an individualistic standpoint of living in the woods miles from anybody else, as you said, survival chances increase with multiple people; and I think that another reason why having multiple hands on a team leads to more effectiveness is because it allows for the team/tribe/whatever to develop roles and specialize. Thus, it could be beneficial for somebody to be learning other skills for prepping, such as medicinal practices or construction of long-term shelter (which would take more skill than one might think); even refilling "disposable" lighters can be seen as a priceless skill, according to the report of somebody that has allegedly lived throughout the yugoslav wars. If you have a skill that's in demand, you will be able to generate income in terms of resources. In addition, the trade of goods/services could lead to a community with people interacting with each other for trade slowly forming bonds with each other.

    And the 1% escaping perfectly unscathed can be seen in the Chinese civil war as a historic example. When it was evident that the communists would win, most of the rich fled to Taiwan or the west, while the middle class had to suffer getting their resources "redistributed", my great grandparents faced the blunt of it.
     
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