Preppers: suburban survivalists

Reuters profiles "Preppers" who are getting ready for total and complete societal breakdown due to natural disaster, terrorism, economic collapse, pandemic, or a good ol' fashioned apocalypse. Of course, they speak to Prepper patron saint James Wesley Rawles, author of How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It who also offers survivalism consultancy services.

"Unfortunately, given the increasing complexity and fragility of our modern technological society, the chances of a societal collapse are increasing year after year," said author James Wesley Rawles, whose Survival Blog is considered the guiding light of the prep per movement.
A former Army intelligence officer, Rawles has written fiction and non-fiction books on end-of-civilization topics, including "How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It," which is also known as the preppers' Bible.
"We could see a cascade of higher interest rates, margin calls, stock market collapses, bank runs, currency revaluations, mass street protests, and riots," he told Reuters. "The worst-case end result would be a Third World War, mass inflation, currency collapses, and long term power grid failures…"
Many of today's preppers receive inspiration from the Internet, devouring information posted on websites like that run by attorney Michael T. Snider, who writes The Economic Collapse blog out of his home in northern Idaho.
"Modern preppers are much different from the survivalists of the old days," he said. "You could be living next door to a prepper and never even know it. Many suburbanites are turning spare rooms into food pantries and are going for survival training on the weekends."

"Subculture of Americans prepares for civilization's collapse"

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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mesocosm

I foresee a trademark dispute with the Burning Man opera “How to Survive the Apocalypse.”
BDiamond

Who the heck named them “Preppers”? (Wouldn’t you like to be a prepper, too?) They’re survivalists.
- Cowicide
  
  They’re survivalists.
  
  Nah, they’re honeypots.
Mujokan

Margin calls you say.
Jonathan Badger

Suburban survivalists are nothing new. The stereotypical 1950s family with a fallout shelter was suburban. If anything, it’s the militaristic rural survivalists that are the new kind.
http://profile.yahoo.com/D2LSGOMY3VFKRBCWA5FIG32XOQ Truman Ash

They (We) are not survivalists in the way most people think of it. I pay for fire insurance and flood insurance even tho the odds of those things happening are very low. The state of california actively encourages Californians to stock emergency kits in case of an earthquake. I think of myself as a “Prepper” and all that means is that if something bad happens, I have a plan and some resources to back up that plan. In other words, I take responsibility for my own survival if something bad happens.

I live in a typical neighborhood with no underground bunker.
- Mujokan
  
  I just have legally compulsory health insurance. If everything collapses I’ll take off to India and become a wandering sadhu, that’s my plan.
  - David Jones
    
    See that is a plan. If you are prepared to enact the plan to take off to India and become a wandering sadhu, then you are a prepared. In thinking through the what may happen, and creating a plan that works for you is the idea. Your plan is perfect for you and that is the idea. I take the stance of embracing the positive power of paranoia and stop being bright sided and life is much easier overall
  - zarray
    
    My plan is to learn how to ride squat ponies, raid my western and southern neighbors, and do what is best in life.
- CountSmackula
  
  I put myself in a similar group. We have ample emergency supplies in case of hurricanes. And… if “IT” hits the fan, I have a back-up plan as well. My family, my responsibility.
  
  Oh, and we can’t have any underground structures here, the water table’s too high.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XVUHKAR2GFEXD5WW43ALSBAY7A SteveG
  
  Hey Truman,my nickname is Gootman,and I,like you do not have a bunker,but I do very much take responsibility for my own survival and I sure wish anyone physically and fiscally able too would follow suit. Thanks
http://www.commodorecrush.com/ Commodore Crush

This guy is a Christian apocalyptic kook.
http://twitter.com/tkaraszewski Tyler Karaszewski

I plan to watch the end of the world from the water on a foggy day, like these people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnzOmXK21aI
- http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios
  
  Not sure what I just watched, but I liked it. Had a very “Southland Tales” feel to it….
ToMajorTom

“Modern preppers are much different from the survivalists of the old days,”

Oh, yeah, the folks in years past who spent money on bunkers, kept rotating food supplies, outfitted mini armories, wore tin foil hats, and generally occupied much of their lives fretting and worrying about gov’ments, conspiracies, and the apocalypse. Those folks. On their death beds, I wonder how many thought, “Well, that was a waste.”
- hymenopterid
  
  When you try to imagine the future, sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between that which you think will happen, and that which you want to happen.
  It’s comforting to think that those thousands of rounds of surplus ammunition might actually be worth something someday, right after Kim Kardashian is forced to forage for food.
  - zarray
    
    Nah she can live off her humps for forty days and carry 100 lbs of cargo across the desert.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7UYXQ4HDXDW4MB7LVKSVYSSHSA Thinker
  
  Well, prepping saved my family during Hurricane Irene. We were high and dry with food, water and shelter. We were left in a position to help those who were not in as good as shape as us.
  
  Hell, I’d prefer to not have to purchase car insurance and health insurance either. I’ve yet to have an accident and my house has never caught fire – would I rather not have to save and prepare for potential accidents or disasters? Sure. However, children don’t like planning ahead but responsible adults really ought to be a little responsible.
  
  It is the truest sign of the state of our country when people have a problem with people who want to be responsible. If Hurricane Katrina didn’t fix your thinking yet, let me enlighten you – the government is not in a position to save your a$$. The government has run out of cash.
http://boingboing.net/ The Life Of Bryan

Sometimes it’s not so easy to dismiss that mindset as entirely incorrect when looking at the way things are going in the world. I’m not one of them, and don’t think that I ever will be, but can I say for sure that they’re wrong?
http://twitter.com/nesnora nesnora

American Armageddon:

Step 1: Destroy your planet with irresponsible consumption and warfare.
Step 2: Feel entitled to still live in it above anyone else.
Step 3: Create Vault 101.
- Mujokan
  
  Step 4: Shoot Deathclaws in the head with a plasma rifle
  Step 5: Profit
  - Sean Mangan
    
    Small error, step 5 should be, “Run like hell.”
IamInnocent

If some Apocalypse comes, good reflexes will be much more needed than preparation.
- zarray
  
  These ‘reflexes’, are they an attachment for my jazzy scooter?
CSBD

The name “preppers” came about when a new demographic began to move into the survivalist mindset. The new people would be considered more along the lines of middle class/white collar.

Old survivalists were heavily infiltrated with separatists, racists, neo-nazis etc. that were preparing for race wars more often than not.

1950s “survivalists” were preparing a couple weeks worth of food in their basements as it was what Civil Defense was telling them to do.

Modern “preppers” are spending more money on trying to prepare for a life after internet driven asinine/psychotic dreams of what the world is going to be like after XY or Z.

IMO, all the preppers are going to be doing is:
1. In the likelihood that nothing bad ever happens, making the people who promote this crap rich.

2. In the extreme rare possibility that “XYZ happens, they are just concentrating supplies for the truly ”prepared” to take away from them.

Face it, if you have the time or money to waste on this, there is someone out there who is not yet in prison for life +50 or on death row that is going to take it away from you on Day +1 (or whatever).

Having a bunch of stuff is not going to prepare a yuppie for dealing with someone you see on Lockup or American Gangster. They are out there and they are going to rule whats left of the world when there are no cops.

CSBD
- mccrum
  
  This is definitely more true in urban areas. However, in northern Idaho , like where the author lives, it’ll probably take a while for the gangs to get their hyper-powered motorcycles organized to make it up there.
  
  Yeah, they’ll probably descend like a horde of locusts, but he’ll have a good six months to hide himself and put up signs to where the local orphanage can be found.
- ZikZak
  
  They are out there and they are going to rule whats left of the world when there are no cops.
  
  Cops don’t disappear when social order breaks down. If real-life examples are any indication, cops tend to “go rogue”. They continue to operate as an organized armed group, but outside the rules that society normally sets to restrain them.
  
  Cops are the top gang in most cities, and as social order breaks down, the difference between them and other gangs will become even more hazy.
  
  So it’s not so much the scary tattooed thug from TV you need to fear as the boys in blue. Because what’s stopping the thug from robbing you is guys with guns – and there are still plenty of those around (maybe more). But the only thing stopping the cops from robbing you is the government, and that probably won’t be so impressive anymore.
Guest

Hey, this is the same kind of thing Glenn Beck has been prophesying too (right before the “Buy Gold” commercial)
- David Pescovitz
  
  Yep. And they quote him in the article I link to.
Faith Landsman

I guess that makes me a prepper then. I live in an area that is overdue for a big earthquake. I have the resources to allow my family to shelter in place for 2 weeks leaving the roads open and the rescue workers free to assist people who don’t have the resources. No bunker, just a plan and some cans.
Marc45

Watch the movie “The Road” and then decide if survival is worth it.
Anyone who thinks they can survive the roving bands of thugs, looters, rapists and hunters by having a basement stocked with food and water is deluding themselves.
People survive best when grouped together, not alone and isolated.
- hymenopterid
  
  Yeah but then you have to subject yourself to the authority of whichever local asshole decides he runs bartertown.
  - bcsizemo
    
    Obviously you just need a sawed off shotgun and a supercharged Ford Falcon to over throw the big man in bartertown…
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  You do know that’s fiction?
swashbucklingmonkey

I recently started putting away some food just in case it becomes harder to procure. I would say there’s a scale of kookiness one could gauge themselves – I’m putting enough by to hang out comfortably for a few months while some bird flu pandemic blows over. I don’t think that’s up there with zombies. But there is one strange side effect: somehow I kind of hope that something like that happens now just to satisfy my ego. And that’s really strange to me. Perhaps that’s one reason some take it to the extreme? On another note; ‘I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you’…
- zarray
  
  Remember to rotate the food stores and importantly learn HOW TO COOK IT.
  
  Textured Vegetable Product is not a kind mistress.
http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios

Just found this little gem over on Fark in regards to the strange sounds in the skies of late:

“”Seriously though…lots of people have been reporting these sounds…all over the world. I mean, this is 2012 – the so-called “year of the apocalypse” and such…is noboby just a small bit nervous? Makes you wonder…

I predict a coronal mass ejection from our sun will “cleanse” the earth this December. It will wipe out almost every satellite we have, every computer in existence, and our entire electronic infrastructure, leaving us to revert to survival-style living.

We will lose over 25% of the earths population in the first 60 days due to mayhem, murder and starvation. We will lose another 25% after the first 6 months as more and more of the weak die off and new tribes of survivors form up.

We will never again attain technology or comfort levels comparable to what we have now.

Some of us..the ones trained and equipped with seed banks and defensible secret farm compounds, will thrive and laugh as you button-pushing Fark nerds die weeping.

Enjoy. And remember this post on the day it goes down. Remember and regret, for it will be all you have left.”

So they got that going for them.
- jetfx
  
  I always found it funny how much of survivalist conceptions of the apocalypse were revenge fantasies, particularly against intellectuals.
  - CSBD
    
    Yeah… I never thought of that angle before, but it fits nearly every rant I have read or heard on the subject over the last 20 years (I live near Militia country in Michigan).
    
    The nuts are everywhere and they have the secret info that makes them special. It makes up for them being down trodden and marginalized.
    
    Saving a bit of food and water does not make you a survivalist or prepper. Those types are consumed with it more so than your average sports superfan cant shut up or think about anything except their favorite team(s).
  - petertrepan
    
    Definitely noted. I think that underneath all that worry about the end times, there’s a little bit of hope that the world really will end, and the survivalist will become king of the dung heap.
    - http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios
      
      Waaaaaaaaaaay more than a little bit of hope. I would wager the majority of them are on their knees praying for it nightly! “Itchy trigger fingers” and all that.
- jandrese
  
  I’ve always thought it odd how these survivalists think civilization will never spring up again after a disaster. The sentiment is almost “I hate modern life, everything was better when my job title was Hunter-Gatherer.”
  - eyebeam
    
    The sentiment is almost “I hate modern life, everything was better when I could rape with impunity.”
    
    Fixed that for ya.
    - http://benjscott.com thunderhammer
      
      The sentiment is almost “I hate modern life, everything was better when I could butt-rape with impunity.”
      
      Fixed that for ya.
  - AnthonyC
    
    It’s not entirely implausible. The first rise of technological civilization depended largely on there being readily accessible fuel sources for the industrial revolution. At this point we’ve already found all the easy-to-get coal, oil, and gas.
    
    In the event of a true global collapse, if humanity does survive, the next civilization would basically have to leap directly from wood to either nuclear, wind, hydro, or solar. That’s a *big* jump, technologically, economically, and intellectually, and I’m not sure humans are smart enough to make it. More specifically, I’m not sure a society that chooses to do the research to make that jump will out-compete neighbors that choose to build more flintlocks.
    - chenille
      
      During the Middle Ages we relied on animals, wood, wind, and water. It was not the best, but it was plenty to keep cities going without every man, woman, and child having to stockpile their own food and ammo.
      - AnthonyC
        
        Population densities were typically much lower, then, though admittedly Rome 2000 years ago was a city of over a million people.
        
        Regardless, a resurgence of *technological* civilization would be much harder a second time around, if it had to be launched without fossil fuels. All the energy sources you mentioned were used, but they didn’t leave a lot of excess.
    - zarray
      
      Wind energy (and to an extent steam) is easy, it’s just a coil of copper (readily available in every abandoned home) spinning around a magnet; or a very long and sturdy stick moving up and down hitting a pump lever.
      
      The biggest hurdle to wind is the NIMBY HOA
      - AnthonyC
        
        Agreed, wind is the most likely path such a civilization could follow. Still, wind isn’t easily transportable the way coal is, and you can’t easily build a wind-powered train, and so on. So if wind is your first electricity source, then for the first century or two you can only really use electricity for tasks that can be time-shifted and then completed on-site. I’m not saying it’s impossible, only that the bar is substantially higher than it was for us the first time around.
http://www.canadianliving.com/ Jennifer Gruden

It’s all about the zombie plague.
jetfx

Now just imagine that if the world really does end, and the only people left to repopulate it are paranoid right wingers.
- Mujokan
  
  Aren’t they the ones who are obsessed with bestiality?
- http://boingboing.net/ The Life Of Bryan
  
  There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
- awalls
  
  The Amish will survive
- http://twitter.com/dargaud Guillaume Dargaud
  
  Or psychopaths billionaires like at the end of 2012 (the movie). I couldn’t help laughing thinking at what type of civilization they’d rebuild: “What, you want me to be a plumber ? But I’m a billionaire !”
Comedian

I wonder if they’ll fare any better than this guy?

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2012/01/man-who-wanted-to-live-like-bear-grylls.html

Man who wanted to live like Bear Grylls in Scottish wilderness for a year died after less than a month
- kP
  
  You can only drink so much piss before it catches up with you…
- jandrese
  
  I suspect that people who want to do that are a bit “special”, so this isn’t a particularly surprising result. Those survival shows always seem so intent on showing you pissant techniques that are barely worth the effort too. I suspect that the Scottish guy didn’t bring proper shelter and didn’t realize that makeshift survival shelters aren’t that great for the long term, then he got wet on some cold night and froze to death.
  
  Survivorman is an excellent example of this, where he’s nearly dead at the end of every week from trying to extract a few drops of water out of some fibrous root or something instead of just searching out a proper source of water. I also love when he adds some complication on day 1 (I’ll pretend my arm is broken), only to give up on it by day 2 or 3 because he realizes he’s not going to make the week that way.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/ Stefan Jones

Being prepared for earthquakes, foul weather, blackouts and such is way obvious.

Beyond that: The most effective survival tool is a functional society, beginning with knowing your neighbors. Having a functional and robust civil society, with fire departments and public health infrastructure is not far beyond that.

A national government that promotes emergency preparedness, civil society, and emergency services; and which acts like it gives a damn about its citizens would be a nice thing to.
- Mujokan
  
  You don’t need to know your neighbors at all if your local government has half a clue, and that is the way I like it. My neighbors mostly seem like dicks. Luckily where I live in Europe, people still have a lot of faith in government.
  - ZikZak
    
    It’s a lot easier to lose faith in government than one’s neighbors. A sense of local community based on actual social and material reciprocity is much more resilient than some vague “faith in government”. You’d be surprised how ephemeral the latter is when the going gets tough.
http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul

There are a hell of a lot of responsible, fun, green activities that have the nice additional benefit of being good preparation for even sub-Ragnarok disasters or disruptions…

“Urban homesteaders”, local-foods consumers, community gardens, off-grid alternative/renewable energies, Maker collectives, open-source DIY design encyclopedias, etc, all are great ways to reduce our total dependence on just-in-time inventories of food and goods shipped thousands of miles.

If dystopian fiction is anything to go by, the militia-style thug gangs are the real danger to community cooperation efforts to recover from disasters.

Then again, target shooting can be fun too, and cleaning a nicely maintained gun is an exercise in appreciating a well-constructed, cleverly designed machine. The only real annoyance in going to a range is that most of them seem to be populated by fruitcakes who get a chubby rewatching Red Dawn and Commando.
- petertrepan
  
  There are a hell of a lot of responsible, fun, green activities that have the nice additional benefit of being good preparation for even sub-Ragnarok disasters or disruptions.
  
  This. They’d also have the added benefit of pushing wealth down toward the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid. We’re badly in need of social institutions that aren’t religions or corporations.
- zarray
  
  you hit the nail on the head
greebo

So why do Americans obsess about this “prepper/survivalist” mindset (and write endless articles about it), while completely ignoring its anti-thesis, the Transition Town movement. TT folks also take seriously various scenarios of collapse, driven by peak oil, climate change, environmental destruction, and so on, but instead of thinking how to protect themselves, they engage with their broader community to try and build community resilience. When the end of the world comes, I’d much rather be in a Transition Town community than hanging out with a bunch of preppers.

See: http://www.transitionnetwork.org/support/what-transition-initiative
- chellberty
  
  I can tell by your words that you watch peakmoment tv.
  You prep for the time inbetween and open source hardware is the franchise of the free exchange of information.
  Also I have been involved with two opensource transition groups http://osrliving.org/ OSRL is an international group of people who have come together to develop tools and methods that support self-sufficiency and resilient living. All that we do is shared with the world using an Open Source mentality. By sharing information openly, we help to shift the world from a centrally based power structure to a more locally focused one. This empowers us all more equally.
  
  and
  
  http://opensourceecology.org/
  The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small, sustainable civilization with modern comforts.
  
  Your project is amazing. Thrilling, actually…It’s people like you who really give me hope for the future.
  – Chris Anderson, TED Curator
  
  need i say more?
ChicagoD

Note to self, if times are so uncertain that we ought to live like Mole People, perhaps a pathway directly to the door is . . . ill-considered. Maybe a little more low key would be in order.
- IronEdithKidd
  
  Yeah, I noticed that immediately, too. Putting a bit more shrubbery around the vents would seem advisable, as well.
  - kP
    
    Nee!
dagfooyo

Oh yeah, I hate preppers. With their polo shirts and snooty accents and trust funds.
- http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
  
  The ones you’re describing have a role to play, too. In the credits they are usually identified as “panicky asshole #1″ and get played by Paul Reiser or William Atherton.
  - Bucket
    
    Those people are dead, Burke!
http://www.disoriented.net/ angusm

1. Write book on how to stockpile supplies and build underground bunkers against possible collapse of civilization.
2. Sell book direct-to-customer through Internet website
3. Use customer address list to compile map showing locations of handy supply caches
4. Wait for civilization to collapse
5. ???
6. PROFIT!!

Of course some of those caches may be guarded by heavily-armed suburban survivalists, but I’ll work out how to address that issue in version 2.0 of my business plan.
- CSBD
  
  Oh… im stealing that idea for my next book:
  Making others prepare for TEOTWAWKI for fun and profit. Postscript… living off them if there really is a TEOTWAWKI
CSBD

I really feel bad for the Libertarians after TEOTWAWKI… they wont have any police to protect them from their Slaves.

(A Kim Stanley Robinson reference)
- http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
  
  Yeah, all the Randians have been asking the wrong question. It’s not “Who is John Galt”, it’s “What’s the best recipe for John Galt?”
kP

I was really hoping to see some comment spillover on ‘cargo culture’ as it relates to ‘preppers’.

Both seem to spring from the same mindset: Believe something, build something, wait.

But the cargoers are optimists, whereas the preppers are pessimists.
- hymenopterid
  
  Yes, but as others have pointed out, the preppers fantasy of the apocalypse is one in witch they become kings of the wasteland and all the people who made fun of them in high school are eaten by zombies.
  
  So in that light it’s hopelessly optimistic.
saint_al

Hell, even the American Red Cross advises preparedness. A powerful, destructive earthquake can certainly feel like the End of the World.
If, say, the New Madrid fault line finally does what’s been anticipated, highways, bridges, and interstates will be lost. Commerce between regions will be badly disrupted, to put it mildly.
A much more likely scenario than zombies or race war… nothing wrong with having extra canned + dry foods and water in a secure area.
- http://twitter.com/rvitelli Romeo Vitelli
  
  Except that the Red Cross only advocates self-sufficiency for the 72 hours that it will typically take before widescale emergency systems become operational. Most people don’t even have that.
  - CountSmackula
    
    72 hours isn’t squat. We’ve been 2+ weeks w/o power after only moderate hurricanes.
    
    The feds usually show up after a week to pass out MREs, ice, and bottled water. Yippee Effin dippy.
    
    Gumbo & jambalaya will clear out the unpowered fridge/freezer. The genny running 1 hour off/ 1 hour on during the day keeps the guest house livable.
Mister44

Well – everyone needs a hobby.
Preston Sturges

Rawles has a lot of good information on his site, and he keeps out 99% of the racist comments. And he’s lately he’s been warning readers that going paramilitary is not always the right response.

Nevertheless, the prepper community still contains a very large number of people who are out on the fringe of extreme paranoia waiting to be overwhelmed by a human wave of brown skinned cannibals, or the Liberal death squads that will snatch Christians from their beds and kill them on their front lawns, or they’ll be poisoned by “chemtrails.”

Although Rawles keeps a lid on that stuff, a bit leaks out now and then like this guys speculating about survival scenarios

http://www.survivalblog.com/2012/01/the_overnighters_coming_to_a_n.html

“……… You wanted to call the police, but there is no longer any type of phone service, and the last you heard, the police had their hands full battling a large, violent group of Occupiers camped out at your local mall…….”

Really? The “Occupiers” have turned the mall into Bartertown and are fighting off the SWAT team?

You never know with people like that whether they have already cast you in their paranoid fantasies as the existential threat to their precious bodily fluids.
GregS

To me, the irony of the “prepper” movement is this. The preparations it advocates makes no sense if the apocalyptic scenario it fears actually were to happen, but they do make sense for preparing for the more mundane sorts of natural and artificial disasters, like hurricanes, ice storms, and power failures, that people are actually likely to encounter. Having a stockpile of non-perishable food in the basement or a survival bunker in the suburban back yard would be useless if global civilization collapsed (for one thing, you’d lose them all to the first armed gang that came along), but could be very useful if you’re trapped in your house for a week because of a massive snowstorm, or if your house were damaged in a tornado, etc.
- Mister44
  
  re: “for one thing, you’d lose them all to the first armed gang that came along”
  
  Scoff- I wouldn’t. Maybe the 3rd of 4th, but I can assure you a war of attrition that will make other unarmed neighbors a much more desirable target.
  
  If it really turns into a Mad Max sort of world, ammo will be the new currency. There just so happens to be an ammo plant down the road from me. I call dibs!
scruss

Dee X on metafilter lived through the siege of Sarajevo. In summary, she writes of preppers: “Those survivalists, I feel sorry for them. It’s no way to live.”
Full comment is here:
http://www.metafilter.com/78669/What-if-things-just-keep-getting-worse#2430771
- hymenopterid
  
  Thanks for posting that.
  
  It’s a relief to hear that altruism and basic human decency don’t just fall apart at the drop of a hat like in the movies. If anything, from her story it seems like people acted with more compassion as supplies became more scarce.
  
  If Hollywood was writing the script, the characters would be at each others throats in the first act.
  - zarray
    
    I think that’s because everybody in Hollywood is always at each other’s throats.
Kirk Is

I’m a little surprised that no one has mentioned a recent big, popular, go-round of this: Y2K! In fall of 1998 I wrote this:
http://loveblender.com/1998september/ramble.html – not crazy gloom and doom, but close enough.

To my credit, mid-98 and through ’99 as very few “look ahead” systems fizzled, I calmed a bit. But still I can see where these people are coming from.
travtastic

I always found it odd how these people try to prepare for the end of civilization by surrounding themselves with trappings of civilization, in excess. Like multiple people said above, these are measures to take for a short-term disaster, to bide you over. I almost never see any of these people figuring out how to be self-sufficient and live off of the land.

A guy I work with has a neighbor who’s one of these guys. My coworker said “He’s ready for TEOTWAWKI, when the power stops working!”

Was it wind turbines, or solar panels? No. It’s a diesel generator. Where are you going to get more goddamned fuel when civilization collapses?
- CSBD
  
  Vegetable oil will run a diesel… though you would need lots of ”workers” (slaves) after the Apocalypse to grow your food.
  
  I think that is the point of some preppers… was he sizing you up to see how much work you might be able to do for him?
Antinous / Moderator

I live right across the street from a big patch of desert full of live bunnies and dead wood. I’m set.
- Mujokan
  
  Watch out for that Christopher McCandless “rabbit starvation” thing.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    I’ll supplement with the occasional stranded tourist.
    - Mister44
      
      You misspelled “terrorist”.
orwell

you just need to know who your mormon neighbors are. they’ll have a year’s worth of goods… no need to prepare… just pillage…
- Ito Kagehisa
  
  That’s a good way to have your bones found in some mountain meadow… you’d be a lot better off walking up to their houses waving a Book of Mormon and shouting “I convert! I’ve seen the light!”
  
  Screwing with LDS or Unitarians in the total absence of law enforcement would be like building your own coffin.
  - http://boingboing.net/ The Life Of Bryan
    
    I’m sorry, did you just imply that Unitarians could be a dangerous group to stumble across? Aren’t they the ones that make Methodists look uptight?
    - Ito Kagehisa
      
      Have you ever heard of “Beecher’s Bibles”? Ephraim Nute? The Underground Railroad?
      
      Unitarians remind me of the Nizari Ismaili Shia Muslims. Absolutely great to have as your friends, and more than willing to be your friends – but you shouldn’t cross them. It’s not going to work out well for anybody, really.
      
      Methodists are uptight, btw. I was raised Methodist.
James B

Walton Feed is a good source of food for long term storage. One of the things they point out is storing food helps prepare you for personal financial difficulties, not necessarily some fantastical apocalyptic scenario. I wish it wasn’t the case, but there are plenty of people going hungry in the US right now.
boxbrown

Hey I did a comic about these types of people! http://blankslatebooks.bigcartel.com/product/the-survivalist-box-brown
Ito Kagehisa

The best defenses against societal collapse are moral behaviour, old-fashioned frugality and choosing the right community.

But in reality, if there was any sort of societal collapse, most of us would die less than a week after the pumping stations stopped filling the water towers.
- Mujokan
  
  I can walk three blocks and drink out of the lake… Yay for strict pollution controls.
  - awalls
    
    Until the sewers stop working and the pollution gravitates tot he lake…
  - Ito Kagehisa
    
    Yay is right! Testify, brother.
    
    It’s best to drink from the stream feeding your lake, though. Still water isn’t reliably safe for humans… especially a few days after the lake’s become the only source of water for a large group of people.
Foxymoron

I’m stocking up on coffee and chocolate. Apocalypse in style.
- http://twitter.com/rvitelli Romeo Vitelli
  
  Stock up on toilet paper. You’ll live like a king on the supplies that you’ll be able to trade for that.
http://evilbobdayjob.blogspot.com/ Deidzoeb

Anyone whose nipples get hard thinking about survivalism ought to read this essay, linked from a Boingboing interview a couple yrs ago. Charles Hugh Smith argues that the traditional (stereotypical?) self-sufficiency and lone-wolfism of survivalists would not be as helpful as working together with neighbors, relying on community.

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjun08/survival6-08.html

Maybe the illustration accompanying this post is that kind of friendly survivalist engaged with his community. Note the rock path leading to the door of the bunker, instead of the hidden bunker with a shotgun just inside the door for fending off greedy neighbors who want your stash.
Preston Sturges

The best preparation for surviving a personal financial setback is to save money. With money you can buy food.

Having food on hand makes sense for earthquakes, hurricanes, or zombie apocalypse, but if you get laid off the thing you need is cash.
AnthonyC

With every passing year our knowledge of the world increases. Our ability to build structures that can withstand calamities increases. Our economic output goes up. If society is becoming more fragile rather than less, that means *we’re doing it wrong.* Not individually, collectively.
technogeekagain

I severely doubt the “many” in the quote, measured on any reasonable scale.

This also, once again, strikes me as an example of why military intelligence is either an oxymoron or a euphemism for misinformation.

As the son of writers and advertisers, let me remind everyone — even though the readers here are more aware of it than most — that writing a book does not make you an expert, nor does it even make you correct. It can make you a lot of money, though, if you’re strident enough and you have marketing tie-ins.
technogeekagain

Or, to put it more briefly:

Bunker?
Bunkum.
snowmentality

I guess it gives people a sense of control to fantasize about a dystopia, and role-play how they’d cope in whatever particular dystopia they imagine. I have an anxiety disorder, and it used to make me feel oddly in-control to run through endless worst-case scenarios in my mind. (“What if somebody breaks into the house right now? Okay, what if they threaten me with a gun? Okay, what if they kidnap me?”)

But ultimately, it’s a waste of energy. You wear yourself out trying to plan for every highly unlikely scenario — and then you’re too burned out to notice or cope when something happens in real life.

Keeping a decent first aid kit and a few weeks’ worth of food, water, and medications on hand, so you can stay in your home in case of snowstorm, hurricane, etc? Good idea. Putting together a go bag, in case a wildfire, hurricane, chemical spill, etc. means you need to evacuate quickly? Also a good idea.

Trying to prepare for the utter downfall of civilization where you will personally have to hold off the ravening hordes or repopulate the planet? I guess if it makes you feel better to star in your own mental movie, you’re not really hurting anyone, everyone needs a hobby … but man, I’m not sure it’s worth it.
Preston Sturges

A lot of this prepping is driven by revenge fantasies. After “it” happens, everyone that laughed at you will be begging for an MRE.
- zarray
  
  As an army buddy put it to me: The only things left after a nuclear war will be cockroaches, sad floaty grocery bags, and the omelette mre.
  
  /edit: What I mean is not even the roaches will eat the omelette MRE.
Mister44

This really isn’t “new”. Ant and grasshopper anyone? Before we imported food from Chile, we had to stock pile it for the winter.
- Muneraven
  
  Ant and grasshopper: Ants have an average lifespan of 45 to 60 days. Grasshoppers live about a year. Ants “plan”, save, work hard and die young. Grasshoppers eat, hop, and be merry and live six times as long. Yet another example of how what we are told is good for us is not, in fact, necessarily good for us at all. When I was a little kid I knew that story was bogus . . .
Beanolini

How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It

Anyone born before Eternal September or the mass adoption of cellphones has already survived the end of the world as we knew it.

Next!
Theo Junior

I posted a pocket Gerstrell Guide for surviving an atomic blast awhile back. Listen and you shall Be Prepared.
http://audiolingo.org/podcasts/AL_2005-08-06_A-Bomb!.mp3
Muneraven

It isn’t possible to be a survivalist and a Christian at the same time, assuming a Christian is a person who actually strives to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. The gospels are chock full of admonitions to take care of other people and share what you have. Any food you put aside, any shelter you made…you would have to give it up to someone else if you were genuinely trying to live like the deity who died a tortuous death to save sinners.

But, of course, “Christian” doesn’t mean following Jesus’ teachings at all for most people who call themselves by that name.
Dave Bryant

The Bible is full of situations wher God told someone to put away food for un upcoming famine…
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_D3REU37L5PDMYDFSB6OZ6UEMNI DolphMerlin

Boy was I stupid> Starting thinking about this “collapse” stuff a few years back. Bought Guns and Amo (doubled in value since then), taught myself how to buy and store food in bulk, and grow my own vegetables (cut my food bills in half) and the stupidest part was buying gold and silver 3 years ago … man was that dumb!!
shane222

All you who won’t stock up on food & water, be grateful for those who do, as they will be one less family then standing in the long line in front of you as you’re anxiously awaiting the rumored FEMA truck arrival in your neighborhood after the next natural or man-made disaster.