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The Doom Boom: US Families Increasingly Prepared For "Modern Day Apocalypse"
From the outside America may seem to be a land of endless optimism and confidence. But, as Sky News reports, an increasing number of Americans seem to think it is danger of falling apart, and they're preparing for the end. "We're not talking about folks walking around wearing tin foil on their heads,; we're not talking about conspiracy theorists. I'm talking about professionals: doctors and lawyers and law enforcement and military. Normal, everyday people. They can't necessarily put their finger on it. But there's something about the uncertainty of our times. They know something isn't quite right."
A now-privately-held ex-nuclear-missile base in Kansas has been turned into luxury "post-apocalyptic refuge for the very rich"
"It's an undergorund complex straight out of a bond flick"
They call themselves preppers. Mainstream suburban Americans hoarding supplies and weapons while leading otherwise perfectly normal lives.
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[they are] afraid of some impending catastrophe but also what that will do to American society.
"I think that is what I'm scared of the most," he told Sky News, "Not the actual events. I've already prepared for that. It's the aftermath, when there are no police, there are no military to protect us, we're going to be protecting ourselves."
The trigger could be a terrorist attack, a monetary collapse, cataclysmic failure in power generation, or a natural disaster. Preppers fear what comes next and have no faith in either their government or human nature.
"Once people use up all their resources, they're going to come after the people that prepared and had more resources. So basically we have to take care of ourselves."
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"We're not talking about folks walking around wearing tin foil on their heads," Jay tells Sky News. "We're not talking about conspiracy theorists.
"I'm talking about professionals: doctors and lawyers and law enforcement and military. Normal, everyday people. They can't necessarily put their finger on it. But there's something about the uncertainty of our times. They know something isn't quite right."
Jay is a celebrity in the strange but increasingly mainstream world of preppers, writing prepper books and touring America, speaking at prepper expos where a bewildering range of survival supplies and techniques are on offer.
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But it's also arguably a sign of a country coping with economic decline. The end of the American Dream has left people more uncertain about their future, and their country's.
Katy Bryson is in Jay's prepper network. Prepping, she says, puts Americans back in charge of their destiny.
"They're not in control of whether they lose their job or not but they are in control of whether they are prepared. So I feel like that's why the industry is just booming right now for preparedness," Katy added.
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My solution. Don't live anywhere near human beings (in my case, 125km to the nearest). Also make your digs self-sufficient, unreachable by land vehicle, and for practical purposes, invisible from above.
The key point is... live nowhere near human beings. I won't even bother defending this advice... just read what everyone else writes, about how you need huge arsenals and impossibly impenetrable structures (also impenetrable by vapors, liquids, chemicals, bacteria and virus). Frankly, that sounds a lot like a plan to bury yourself where nobody will ever be able to extract you... including yourself.
In other words, being where nobody else is... makes life infinitely simpler. But... wait! What am I saying? I don't want people moving to my own private exclusive boonies. So, yeah, go ahead and try to create safe houses in dodge. Good luck with that.
There are all different levels of disaster we face and its impossible to be prepared for every possibility. Prepping needs to be within your comfort zone and if you are happy and comfortable miles from anyone then that's a good choice for you. Some will likely burrow in where they are. There is a belief that there is protection in numbers, either by force or by simply being invisible in the crowd. I think there are better and worse plans but the most important thing is to work your plan but be ready for change when called for. Those who will not adjust will perish.
I still have that old fashion "instinct" to "help people in trouble" until and unless they give signs they are willing to harm me. And this "instinct" should work when the SHTF. But sadly, in current times, it will have the opposite effect - it will get you killed.
Note that my travels have led me to believe that people in some parts of the world will not turn into insane crazies running around in circles and destroying everyone and everything in their path (like most americans will). But these locations where people are more sane and thoughtful... are already places with very-to-extremely low population density.
To be sure, if you can find a few very reliable people who you know very well, and have seen function in dangerous or emergency situations before... explicit collaboration with them is extremely prudent and wise.
People don't realize what's coming. When most westerners face reality for the first time ever, they will do absolutely anything to get what they want. Partly because they have no seriously thought out ethics or morals at all, and partly because they have never even had the faintest idea of what happens when SHF blades. They are 100% mentally unprepared for what is to come, and ZERO sense of self-sufficiency or self-control.
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"Most Americans" and "most westerners." Uh huh.
Unlike we Asians, who are so much more highly civilized and spiritually evolved than our materialistic, narcissistic Caucasian counterparts. They are cretans and barbarians altogether. Right.
There's an ugly stain of racism on your lily-white dress, Ann.
But no matter. Methinks when the balloon goes up, your self-righteous ass will go pretty fast...
That's right.
Asians have the right to go shithouse like everyone else.
And those fuckers will eat anything. 100 year old eggs?
Hell, they'll chew the penis off of anything that walks.
LS you are a fucking asshole...
Awww...
SO sorry to bitch-slap your crush!
I assume you know people consider me Chinese? Born and raised there, moved to Maui after school, then finally to the boonies of the southern hemisphere about 3 years ago. However, I don't identify with Chinese or asians any more than I identify with any other "culture". I became explicitly and self-consciousness independent of all cultures when I was 4 years old.
The fact is, if you read more of my messages, you'd understand my points much better. But I don't blame you for not reading them.
People (of all races, colors, whatever) who have lived "poor" for a long time (if not forever), simply do not suffer the same kind of panic that american mall rats do when modern conveniences vanish. Partly because they and their neighbors grow some or most of their own food (and trade for much of the rest).
Without going into a lot of detail, the point is, the normal everyday life they live is already more "prepared" than a "western prepper". Not because they're geniuses and sages, but because that is often the only life they know, or have ever known.
Who knows what will happen to me when the SHTF? I have prepared more than 99.9999% of the people on this planet, but... the fact is... I'm a 5'5" 105lb wimpy girl, not some rough, tough, he-man. So if my survival depends upon me "fighting off invading hordes from the cities", I'm toast.
But... my guess is, not a single "invading horde from the city" will find their way to my door. I live 125km from the nearest human being, and 250km from the nearest small "city". My place is not accessible by land vehicle, nor visible from the air (except from very low and slow aircraft with eyes peeled). I am 100% self-sufficient when it comes to power and food and water.
If by some super unusual coincidence a couple or family somehow wanders to my place... I'll help them and put them to work in my gardens, not shoot them (unless they act in threatening ways, in which case I will shoot them without hesitation).
I spent 90% of my life savings to move my butt thousands of miles and set my self-sufficient digs. I rolled my dice the best way I knew how. I'll live with the consequences of my choice, or perhaps die with them if you're right. So be it. At least I was alert enough to understand what is happening in the world, and make a guess at what is coming.
There isn't a racist atom in my being. And in fact, race is irrelevant. What is relevant is... our knowledge, our skills, our preparations, our life experiences, and to some degree our comfort or tolerance for living a very simple life.
In this last category I do poorly. I'm a wimp. I do okay with extremes of discomfort for short periods, but rather poorly for extended periods. Which is why I chose my approach, where I could literally live the rest of my life happily and comfortably if every other human being on the planet vanished tomorrow.
If I had to boil the entire issue down to one point, I'd say it would be "how well are we prepared to live a life without outside help". I don't see how anyone could argue against the conclusion that people who grow their own food are in better shape than city dwellers who haven't grown a single gram of food their entire lives. And that's pretty much the point. Nothing to do with race, and everything to do with life experience, expectations, and ability to think independently and take care of yourself.
Spot on..!!
Seclusion and self-sufficiency are the key to survival if society collapses. Living in Brooklyn and biding my time to move down to my farm in Costa Rica (in very secluded part of the country). My biggest fear is that I get stuck in the NYC cesspool and can't get out if SHTF.
A ton of the FSA have guns and no moral qualms about using them. Honest working people who follow the strict gun control laws are going to make great target practice for the animals.
I'd rather die than to sweat out the apocalypse. Death aint bad at all.
We're all sure going to find out
I'll be trading beans and rice for pussy and blowjobs.
We lost Joe Cocker today.
Did he sing this song for the apocalypse?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wG6Cgmgn5U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWNWi-ZWL3c
I'm reading some of you who are laughing at these people with underground bunkers and such. What makes you think they don't have homemade explosives, CS, boobie traps or even better, armed drones.
People with money will find many ways to protect themselves. If they can buy it they will use it.
Ya know, just 80, 90 or so years ago, it was a normal thing to prep. Thats how folks lived. Funny how people forget in such a relatively short span of time.
Prepped in this sense no but more people lived on farms and they just naturally prepared for the seasons including winter including killing the necessary animals in the fall they weren't going to keep in the barn over the winter. Part of the cycle of things.
There has been a huge and notable increase in people growing backyard gardens with estimates that it is at it highest levels since WW2 ('Victory' Gardens) driven by a variety of factors including cost, deserve to eat locally grown food, and hip/cool thing to do.
Nope.
Everyone I know who has a decent size garden cans their stuff. Nobody with a brain throws away good food.
They haven't forgotten a thing.
Why you got a red for that, I have no idea. Im still eating food I grew in the summer of 2011, some canned, some dehydrated. Theres going to be 300 million+ dingbats that mock those of us who put food up who will be wishing they werent so fucking dumb.
You would be surprised at how many people have no idea on how to can and preserve food.... my grandmother and Mom made damn sure this art did not die with them. And I in turn have made sure my kids know the basics.... plus they are good free (well kinda) slave labor ..lol
Using a dehydrator is also a wonderful way to store food.
I have just started growing mushrooms... shitake and oyster... dehydrator is great for them. this is a good webinar on how to do this....
https://www.treefarmsystem.org/ntfpmushroom14
It's not totally dead. Smaller town folks still can and freeze for winter, just not as much anymore because it is not a necessity, that and money isn't as much a problem for most anymore, so laziness takes over. But from what I see the trend is growing again as people find out what is actually in thier food. The biggest difference is between city and rural people. I simply don't think that %80 of people living in cities are even capable of growing a garden, and this has become a government dependency problem.
To be honest, prepping for anything beyond a localized, short- to medium-term emergency (think a few days to a few weeks in the event of a natural disaster) is fucking pointless. I'll tell you why. There are 104 operating nuclear reactors in this country: every last one of which REQUIRES both power from the grid and continual 24/7 human intervention to stay cool and not go tits up. You can't just turn thede things off. And most nuclear facilities typically only keep a week's worth of diesel fuel on hand in the event of station power loss. In a true TEOTWAWKI scenario, with no grid, no backup power, and no trained staff available, you have 105 Fukushimas on your hands -- in the US alone. Prep for that, bitchez. You better hope you have an underground bunker to retreat to, or somewhere deep in the Southern Hemisphere.
Sorry to burst your bubbles, but that's the reality of the situation. Turning the clock back on modern civilization is no longer an option. If it perishes, we perish along with it.
My TEOTWAWKI preps include a fat bag of China White, a couple bottles of Xanax, and an ample amount of bourbon Fuck surviving a few extra weeks so that I can watch my skin melt off.
"There are 104 operating nuclear reactors..." and "...you have 105 Fukushimas on your hands"
Did they build one more nuke power station during the time it took you to write this excellent comment?
TEOTWAWKI = theendoftheworldasweknowit?
Speaking of bugging out, does anyone have any real insight as to why land is so affordable in the Missouri Ozarks? I have some theories, but nothing based on any known facts, other than there isn't much, if any, arable land.
It''s arable.
But it's on a 45 degree angle. Hire a young Cambodian farmer. In about 40 years you'll have some nicely terraced acreage.
The rock walls will be a bonus.
New Madrid fault.
Prepping for what exactly?
When this hits if you are not dead -- you will wish you were.
Looks like a expensive concrete coffin to me.
Underground strongholds have one major weakness... ventilation / air supply.
You can always make a decent buck selling on fear and ignorance especially if you feign empathy well with those you are selling it to. There seems to be a wide gap in this country between people who don't do any common sense prepping in prevention for a natural disaster/etc if necessary ride out a few really rough weeks including to those that take it to an extreme and investment small fortunes in 'apocalyptic bunkers.'
Take my chances on just the common sense prepping (especially backing up important electronic files if necessary) and just expand on what I already do I have to including much more gardening & preserving food. Maybe their will be a complete breakdown of central order but I wouldn't bet on it and if that would occur that locally like-minded people would band together to self-police if necessary in the interim.
Much more likely you have another GD and something similar and I learned what my grandparents did & they were alright in the end with plenty of food & extra income from being resourceful including my grandfather running numbers for Jewish gangsters in Reading.
People who live their entire lives in fear waste it and you don't get a lot of time to make up for that wasted time. You get 80 years if you are lucky and that's it with no make believe happy ever after story.
You can stretch that 80 to a hundred or more with the proper exercises.
100 is the new 70.
A one and a two and a three.......
The new 70? Really? Yee haw!
And three and a four and a five...
Hey... I didn't give anybody permission to video my house!!!
Not so fast. Conspiracy "Theorists"???
Conspiracy isn't a theory. It's a Felony.
Tell that to the Polish folks of WWII, as Hitler positioned tanks and troops on the Polish border. They we're called conspiracy theorist too.
Typical Sky News hype. People being essentially self-sufficient (for longer than a two-week pay cycle) used to be "normal". Only goes to show how STUPID our society has devolved into.
I respect those who are thinking ahead. That said, many seem to skip over the scenario of a group/mob of people coming in the middle of the night. Unless you live in some sort of impenetrable fortress with an army of people to back you up, your cans of beans and silver coins aren't going to do you a lot of good.
Sadly, the gang bangers with their pants hanging halfway off their arse probably have a better chance at suriving than most. Strength in numbers. They don't need to prep. Can overpower all the people that took the time & effort to do so.
Yep. First thing to get torn down: windmill.
"Sadly, the gang bangers with their pants hanging halfway off their arse probably have a better chance at suriving than most."
ONLY in the urban areas. They are scared to death of the country.
When you have idiots at the helm it's best to look at and make alternatives. Especially since the idiots seem to be self-replicating and are like trying to get rid of zombies in a video game.
Not sure about the underground thing. Nuclear war breaks out you'll just be burried alive basically. Probably be better off dead. If the Earth were ever able to cleanse itself of the radiation and somehow humans were still around AND considering if the Earth were able to still support life weather wise............I suspect sites like this one will be a future archaeology site like tut's tomb. Either that or a bunch of Morlock type creatures that looks like a Arkansas on a good day that have built a shrine out of all their gold bars and spend all day praying to it only to find that it is filled with stock certificates.
I'm 59 and have basically been expecting TEOTWAWKI since 1980. 35 Years and NOTHING I have believed has even come close to happening. I basically don't give a flying fuck anymore. I worry about my kids and grandkids. Unless shit totally collapses here in the next few years, should I croak, I should be able to leave each of my two girls and families maybe a million and a half each in farmground etc. Someone mentioned a "hit" list. I've thought about that. The most prudent thing to do in a collapse is to pre-emptively strike anyone you think is a potential enemy i.e anyone you've pissed off over the course of a lifetime. I would love to spend my last days of TEOTWAWKI hunting down politicians and bankers in a Mad Max scenario or maybe join a group to drag those fuckwads out of that bunker they think will keep them alive. So many possibilities to drive em out of there it isn't even funny. I don't want to live in a Mad Max world. Anyone who does is total nutjob. I think it's coming....and if it is I'd like to live to see it, maybe help my loved ones fight to the death. If you look at humans and what we have turned into...a bunch of gadget and tablet Zombies....and then you look at Hollywood culture, the elitists, the deadbeat Welfare crowd....We're totally fucked up and deserve to be wiped off the face of the planet by an Act of God.
Anyway. Merry Christmas to All of you. I think the reason most like me would like to see some sort of collapse would be punishment for the ones that caused it. Unfortunately, they will be the ones who will escape the hardship and violence to come for the most part.
God Bless all of you...Hope all works out for the best regardless of your situation. I am weary of it all.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy,Healthy and Prosperous 2015 to you.
Talking of grandchidren, something to ponder on -
All You Need Is A Good Idea!: Ever wonder what kids really want most for Christmas?
http://allyouneedisagoodidea.typepad.com/all_you_need_is_a_good_id/2014/12/-ever-wonder-what-kids-really-want-most-for-christmas.html
Let us hope that the young children in the video above do not turn out to be the young folks in the photos below!
The Day Einstein Feared Has Arrived | Zero Hedge
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-20/day-einstein-feared-has-arrived
Nice bunker....so who gets to come outside and milk the cow, and hoe the potatoes?
Its not "hoarding" before a shortage; Is call stocking up. Hoarding occurs during a shortage.
If you are not mentally prepared to do what will need to be done, including taking the life of another human being without hesitation, all your prep is for naught.
I thought wur not in Kansas anymore?