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Guest Post: The Most Often Forgotten Survival Preparations
Submitted by Brandon Smith from Alt-Market
The Most Often Forgotten Survival Preparations
I think it’s safe to say with some conviction that in the year of 2012 the concept of survival prepping is NOT an alien one to most Americans. When National Geographic decides there is a viable market for a prepper TV show (no matter how misrepresentative of true preppers it may be), when Walmart starts stocking shelves with long term emergency food storage kits, when survivalism in general becomes one of the few growing business markets in the midst of an otherwise disintegrating economy; you know that the methodology has gone “mainstream”. There is a noticeable and expanding concern amongst Americans that we are, indeed, on the verge of something new and unfortunate.
Is it the big bad hoodoo of the soon to expire Mayan Calendar? For a few, maybe, but for the majority of us, no. That jazz is a carnival sideshow designed to make the prepping culture appear ridiculous. We don’t need to believe in magical prophecies to know that there is a catastrophic road ahead; all we have to do is look at the stark realities of our current circumstances. It does not take much awareness anymore to notice looming fiscal volatility, social unrest, the potential for unrestrained war, and the totalitarian boldness of our government. I’ll take the wrath of Quetzalcoatl any day over the manure storm that is approaching us currently.
With some estimating a count of 3 million prepper families and growing in the U.S., the motto of “beans, bullets, and band-aids” is finding a home amongst legions. However, being closely involved in the survivalist movement during the past six years and speaking with literally thousands of preppers, it has become clear to me that we still have a long journey ahead of us before we can claim true efficiency and mastery.
Sadly, having a stockpile of food, weapons, and some slick tactical gear is not enough to ensure a high likelihood of survival, at least not in any of the social collapses that have occurred in the past century around the world. It’s a start, but only just…
There are a number of detrimental weakness to the survivalist movement and considerable holes in prepper knowledge that must be addressed now while we have the time and relative safety to do so. The greatest threat to the common survivalist is not economic collapse, roving bandits, Blackwater mercenaries, or predator drones; those dangers are a piece of cake compared to the threat of an overblown ego, which will get a man killed faster than the most sophisticated smart bomb. If we cannot accept that there is always more to learn, and room to improve, we have been defeated before we have begun.
The following is just a short list of the many areas in which there is obvious and acute inadequacy in the movement overall…
Secondary Retreat Locations
Never put all your eggs in one basket. I hear a lot of tough talk from some survivalists who claim they would rather die than leave their property. Of course, I suspect they will see the error in this brand of bravado when the legitimate chance of death actually arises. There is no harm whatsoever in having a backup plan. I’m not sure any survivalist who doesn’t is really a survivalist. Stand your ground when necessary, but don’t let pure pride and stupidity prevent you from living to fight again another day.
Physical Fitness And Health
You may be the Tom Berenger-like master sniper of your particular county, but if you can’t run a hundred yards with your rifle rig without going into coronary thrombosis, then you aren’t going to live long during a collapse scenario. Even those preppers who have age as an excuse…don’t really have an excuse. I personally know survivalists and homesteaders in their 60’s and 70’s who could physically outmatch numerous other preppers of the same age or younger without much effort. The difference? They make a concerted effort to take care of their health.
Sometimes certain wise-cracks made by the insipid yuppies of our modern era against suvivalists are true, and we should take serious note when this occurs. The primary insult being that many of us are far too fat to outrun or outfight a paper sack, let alone a determined opponent. I have, to be honest, seen chest beating antics from more than a few clinically obese “preppers” that were truly embarrassing. On the bright side, this does not have to be a permanent hindrance to our success.
The solution is simple: Eat less. Eat healthier. Exercise more.
A person who has attained a high level of physical fitness has done more than prove his prowess. He has also proven he has the will and the passion to pursue a directed goal and achieve it, regardless of difficulty. This is where the adults are separated from the children in this world. Are you willing to endure extreme difficulty to win something of legitimate value? Do you have the self discipline to forgo certain luxuries and comforts to gain long term advantages? Or, would you rather take the path of least resistance and certain doom? Personal health is no joke for the survivalist.
Community Building And Networking
Organization is not the strongest suite of the survivalist movement for a number of reasons. The first being that our paranoia completely impedes our ability to work with others. Now, to be clear, it is not paranoia if they are really out to get you, and with multiple leaked documents like the MIAC Report, the Virginia Fusion Center Report, and the DHS reports on “right wing extremism”, it is not as if our concerns are unfounded. However, the movement needs to realize that the primary object of labeling us as “extremists” and categorizing us as potential threats to national security is to create crippling fear. Their main goal is to condition preppers to censor themselves, and to stifle their own organizational efforts.
Solid community, even open formation of community, is necessary for countless reasons. The more we isolate ourselves from one another now, the more alone and vulnerable we will be tomorrow. Calls for “OPSEC” should be embraced to a point, but they can also become an excuse for laziness and inaction. No prepper who goes it alone during crisis is going to come out unscathed, if they come out alive at all. This is the great forgotten lesson of survival, from the Depression and Weimar Germany, to Argentina and Bosnia; those persons and families who were isolated simply did not make it. The wide spectrum of skill sets and supplies needed to establish a survival foundation are far too many for any single prepper to attain.
The logical fallacy that usually prevents survival networking is the argument that if you are a bigger group, you are a bigger target. This thinking shows a lack of prioritization. During a social or economic collapse, EVERYONE is a target. National chaos does not make distinctions between those who never shared their survivalist tendencies and those who did. The DHS might, but they are not the biggest threat to the common prepper. The most dangerous environment for the prepper, no matter what the circumstances may be, is one in which he has no support.
If you do not have ample neighbors and friends on board with the prepper lifestyle, and who can be counted on in an emergency, then you are not ready, nor are your chances very good. Period.
Barter Markets And Trade Skills
At Alt-Market we relentlessly promote the idea of decentralized trade markets because, to be frank, they are going to spring up one day soon whether the IRS, the DOJ, or the Federal Reserve likes it or not. The crisis in the EU has proven my position on the inevitability of the barter dynamic conclusively. These private trade networks are becoming the new foundation for countries like Greece, Italy, and Spain, and it should be noted that the financial instabilities in America far outweigh any of the problem in those places. If we know that economic danger is on the horizon, and we know that barter markets will be the immediate result, then why not build them now, instead of waiting and scrambling after disaster strikes?
Any survivalist that does not know who he will be trading for essential supplies, and who does not know what skills he will use to garner those supplies, is in for a world of hurt.
Overlooked But Vital Items
There is a saying in the survival movement: You’re never done prepping. I absolutely agree. Unless you are a millionaire with a highly organized brain, there will always be some other piece of equipment that you’ll discover you need down the line. That said, there are some things every prepper should have, but many, from my observations, do not. I have also heard every excuse imaginable and some unimaginable when such people are presented with the recommendation that they obtain these items, lack of money being the usual suspect.
Yes, many of us are broke, or feel broke, these days Invariably, though, when most survivalists examine their financial situation carefully, they will discover a host of peripheral expenses that are unnecessary or outright extravagant. I once had a would-be survivalist make the argument that he could not afford a year’s supply of food, then admit that he had just went on a Carnival Cruise to the Caribbean. This is an extreme example, but it illustrates a common hang up. Now is not the time for people to live beyond their means, or to shrug off their preps so that they can have a new La-Z-Boy, cable TV, an internet gaming account, a high priced vacation, a six day a week stockpile of beer (hey, cut back a day, guys! Try it out and see how it fits) etc. Times are changing, and they will definitely change without us if we are not careful.
There is always a way to get the preps you need, if you are motivated enough to make it happen. Here are a few items that seem to escape from people’s lists:
Extra Survival Clothing: Clothing is a real pain for a lot of survivalists because it is one prep that they must absolutely purchase doubles and triples of. Good durable shoes, pants, even socks, can get expensive. Base layer clothing like Smart Wool sometimes costs in the range of $100 or more for a single set. Take the pain, bite the bullet, and get the absolute best clothing you can find in multiples. It may have to last you quite a long time without replacement, especially the artificial fabrics. Imagine having to wear the same vapor producing sweat drenched crusty duds day in and day out while sharing a retreat location with some less than amused buddies. They may end up coming after you before the looters do.
Body Armor: This stuff is going to be at a premium in the near future. I have already seen price spikes in good body armor in the days after the Aurora Theater shootings. Why? Because the fear is that the establishment will move to try to ban said gear in response, causing a rush to purchase. That fear is not misplaced. Plus, I would imagine a bullet to the gut, whether accidental or intentional, is not an event to celebrate with a rootbeer float. Believe it or not, body armor rigs that include rifle plates are extremely sparse amongst preppers right now, and this simply can’t continue.
Gas Masks And Filters: Not long ago I wrote about the revolutions and rebellions that took place in Russia after the formation of the Soviet Union against the abuses of communism. At that time, the more successful the rebellion, the more apt the Soviets were to dump chemical weapons over entire towns, mountains, and valleys, to erase the problem. Never expect that a tyrannical government is going to fight fair. In fact, expect that they won’t. Even if you don’t foresee such an event taking place in the U.S., it is imperative that every person owns not just a gas mask, but extra filters as well. Plan on dealing with multiple incidences in which your air will be unsafe to breath.
NBC Alert Items: How many preppers do you know with a Geiger Counter? I know three, out of the hundreds I speak with regularly. This is not a good sign. If the Fukushima disaster has taught us anything, it is that radiological threats are not just relegated to the realm of nuclear bombs. Every community should have several Geiger Counter devices handy, along with chemical warfare strips which change color when exposed to an offending airborne agent. Remember the panic buying that ensued in Japan for these kinds of goods after the reactor meltdown? Don’t overlook radioactivity. Knowing what has been hit by concentrated fallout and what hasn’t is a tremendous advantage.
Thermal Countermeasures: A box of road flares, IR flashlights, and IR floodlights, should be in every survivalists home. With the advent of predator drones armed with night vision and thermal vision, as well as numerous other nasty weapons platforms, the need for countermeasures that create false thermal signatures to confuse an attacker with this kind of technology is a must.
Extra First Aid Supplies: During a collapse, you become the hospital, and no amount of Obamacare is going to help you. Almost every prepper has a first aid kit, but few have one that will really last through a prolonged crisis. Collapse brings with it all kinds of injuries and sicknesses we never think of facing in our current atmosphere, with more frequency than I believe many would like to admit possible. A sterile bandage may be as sought after and as rare as a warm shower in the near future, so stock an ample supply.
Solar Panels: I am astonished at how many preppers still do not have any solar power capability today. It’s FREE off grid power, for god’s sake! Pay the initial costs, and at at least buy a system that is capable of charging and running batteries and essential electronics that will aid you in your survival.
Greenhouse: When discussing the idea of relocation, I sometimes hear the assertion that places like Montana are terrible for growing food (usually from people who have never lived in Montana). In fact, a survival garden could be grown almost anywhere, regardless of region or climate, if you use the right methods. One of the best methods is the use of a greenhouse, which many preppers do not have. Set aside your preconceptions of what gardening is, and do what works. Even in winter, some plants can be grown in a greenhouse environment to provide you and your family with precious vitamin rich food. Just build it.
Raw Building Materials: Do you have a stockpile of lumber and nails? What about raw iron and steel? Sealants to repel pests and maintain your home? Bags of concrete to reinforce a new addition? Think about how much you will need to build after the final shoe drops. Probably a lot more than you have ever built in your life…
No Room For Error
Time is running short, and if we are to succeed as a movement, we must be ready to hold a candle to ourselves, admit where we are lacking, and fix the problem while we have the luxury to do so. Ultimately, the most important and most ignored aspect of prepping is our own mindset. Do we have the correct sense of urgency, and are we acting on it? Have we prepared ourselves psychologically for the difficulties ahead? Are we ready to make sacrifices for survival and victory? Will we have what it takes at our core to see this thing through? At this very moment, many do not. But, they have the potential to rise to the occasion. The decision is theirs to make…
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For God's sake what direction is ZH heading? Gun postings - Survivalist postings - Economic collapse postings. What happen to the good old days when ZH posted charts, trading strategies, and financial scams?
The government won't help people prepare, so it's up to us.
This is exactly what people need to be reminded of...
I swear to God... Even my own preparations have fallen by the wayside lately... WHY?... Because I convinced myself that TPTB would 'see to it' that 2012 would, at least, be taken to it's final conclusion (aka ~ kick the can until the end of December)...
So far so good... but does anyone see the fallacy in that thinking? (even from a SURVIVALIST standpoint)... It, by design, places too much faith in TPTB... Which, by design, is the fucking last thing anyone should be doing...
I give a thumbs up for the wake up call (regardless of the HOKEY factor)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMwI5unlK9M
watch this video and tell me how people alone will pull themselves up in a country run by cannibal generals using coke addicted child soldiers who rape pregnant women.
americans are so spoiled. just look at what they think is needed to survive.....prep kits only for themselves.
you have to think of the entire society not just your own surival. YOU CAN'T SURVIVE AMONGST MILLIONS OF HUNGRY PEOPLE IN CHAOS no matter what "kit" you have because you may be prepared, but the masses unprepared will take your shit.
Get yourself bunch of guns and try to camp out middle of poor ghetto in USA after telling the locals that you are rich and see how long your bullets last.
I kind of thought this article naturally followed from ZH's daily diet of financial fallout. Why is it north Americans feel they are invulnerable to the ravages of history? As Dean Wormer told Bluto 'fat drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son'. Sailboats are a great survival option.
Bull market !!!
The burgeoning bubble is 4-6 years away from popping. If we get another decent pullback, grab it by the horns!
You're not supposed to be smoking that.
Seriously. Trade sentiment or long / short, but I think the deflationists have gotten it wrong, or at least early, again.
I think there is a decent chance we are stabilizing on the way to levering back up. That would mean this is either a sideways consolidation in an upward pattern, or, we'll break down a bit before moving higher. Think 1989 or 1994.
The market moves in waves. Do not deny yourself this truth. This means, that before any hyper inflationary moment, there will be an UNMISTAKABLE deflationary period. This will occur when the governments are defaulting, bank runs are common, and people can no longer afford the basics. These items will be the keynote speech before deflation on a mass scale occurs. Immediately following this, there will be a violent and earth shattering price increase to meet the deflation, which will be all thanks to our good friends at the Fed, 'combating deflation with hyper inflation'.
& to presume that you will not need to prepare for a post deflationary world- a hyper inflationary one- is not just a risk or liability... It's like being LTCM, picking up pennies in front of a steam roller.
(Cross-posting my comment from an older thread)
We're always waiting for the crash. Waiting for what comes next. Waiting for fraudsters to get jailed. Waiting for presidents to be impeached. Waiting for international corps to get sued, dismantled. Waiting for unethical laws to be struck down. Waiting for the matrix to run out of batteries... or even waiting for the next bubble, hoping for hope, for the next breath.
Meanwhile, that very matrix feeds off our hopelessness. It feeds off our despondency. It feeds on our fear. It even feeds off our righteous anger.
Some think, this can't go on. It will stop, crash and burn by itself. They keep taking part in it, even while they take on themselves the role of the loser.
Others grab their balls in their hands, and say, I cannot let this go on. It has to change. I will fight it! They keep taking part in it, becoming resolute in coming out the winner.
Although one looks better than the other, it isn't. Fighting against the system is falling into the game. The game is conflict; the game is one of negative emotions. Whether you feel fear because you think you are losing, or anger because you think the system shouldn't be allowed to win - in either case you fall into the game, you pick a side. Either you will win or you will lose.
But the game is rigged. You can't win. Not by remaining who you are. The matrix wields much more force than you have power - at least until you actually develop your power, in a way that the game doesn't let you conceive. You'll have to fight dirty. You'll have to be treacherous; you'll have to use violence. By the time you win, you'll have lost; you'll be one of them.
The only winning move is not to play.
Withdraw yourself from that fight; remove the conflict for your life. The world is as it is; there is suffering, there is egoism, there is violence, there is treachery, there is fear. Let it be, raise yourself over the muddy, heaving waters. Fly above the conflict, so that you may remain unaffected.
Then you realize your liberty. You realize your sovereignty; you don't need to be affected, and you only are if you decide to take part. Then you can start fixing yourself, making yourself whole, healthy, holy. You can work to substract yourself of the mechanicalness of it all, of the conditionnings, deep ruts dug in the individuals and the collective, over millenia and millenia. You can become a master of yourself.
Then, once you interact with the reality around you, it won't be as a machine, as a cog, as a prop. You won't be living in conflict solely because the world around you is conflicted; you'll know how to substract yourself from outside influences, how to be your own sovereign; how to be a real actor, a creator of your experience. Instead of the affected, you will be the effecting.
Only then does the real change begin. How can you change something, how can you direct yourself, when you let who you are be defined by what is going on outside of yourself? One second you are someone; with the next changing circumstance you are somebody else.
Find your center. Anchor yourself deeply. From that stability you can go out and explore; you can reach out.
There is real truth in this; real revolution can only start from within.
*Clap Clap Clap*
Very. Well.Said TFY!
ori
seeing-is-not-believing
Glad you liked it. Then you will also probably like my next reply downthread.
Thank you!
Opting out does wonders for keeping your sanity.
He is not recommending opting out... rather, opting in.
Not participating is an incremental thing. Anything that you cannot produce yourself involves some reliance on this external apparatus, much of which is dominated by the globalists/collectivists. Half of the US adult working population works for "the government" either directly or indirectly. Then we've got the 8 million on federal disability and the 50+ million on welfare. Detaching from it all is easier said than done. How do we kill this monstrosity when so many demand that it live on -- including the billions of people across the planet who use the US dollar for every day transactions and as a store of wealth?
The best that I can do is try to pay as little taxes as possible and support candidates that are anti-war (largely), Constitutionalist (for the most part), against federal expansion, and actually want to reduce the government's size and role in our lives. We don't need Big Sis or Uncle Sam any more than a steer needs a butcher.
Anyway, here's a good quote from Gerald Celente's summer Trends Journal:
This is not an “every man for himself,” manifesto. Rather it is a call for a cooperative of individuals with the courage, dignity, respect, integrity and passion to chart a future that is not dictated and imposed upon them by ruling political parties and the unprincipled and oppressive systems they represent.There is no “We the People” until “I the Person” is willing to stand up and speak for himself or herself. For the future to change, the individual must change. When enough individuals change, everything changes.
Great reply. Everything is you said is true, except maybe your affirmation "the best that I can do is [...]"
You have no idea about the best you can do. You've not even had a glimpse of your true power. It is, however, a very good starting point, which is a manifestation of your intention to grow, strive and thrive. As long as you hold that intention dearly in mind, the rest will happen by itself.
What Celente said about We the People is very true. Probably much more than he can conceive, depending on how deeply he looks into it.
Indeed, "there is no “We the People” until “I the Person” is willing to stand up and speak for himself or herself". But then, neither can there be "We the People" until there is actually an "I the Person" in you. That is the crux of the matter.
This is what I was pointing at in my above post. The overwhelming majority of men, and I include myself here, are fragmented, damaged, unhealthy. The hardest step to take is the acceptance of that fact; realizing that "I" are many conflicting personalities, incoherent views, opposing interests. Man must first realize that there is no permanent I in himself that could legitimately stand up and say, "I the Person".
Man is in large part mechanical, a machine, a computer. If you ask them who they are, you will notice that they mistake the process of mind for who they are. Just as a computer; while it loses his entire attention into the program it is running, it has no knowledge at all of its true nature.
And so different external inputs affect us, circumstances happen, and in reaction to this different programs are activated. One can very well contradict the other, yet we do not realize this, as there is no mindfulness of our deeper reality, only an awareness of the current program flicking on the screen.
If you realize this, then you will see how the matrix operates. It flushes us with inputs, so that we always have programs running us. It doesnt care if it is hopelessness, fear, jealousy, hate, or anger or pride. As long as you keep all your attention on the program that's running, you won't realize you're the computer actually running it. As long as you keep your eyes on the movie on the screen, you won't realize you're the spectator sitting in the theater, while you could just as well stand up, head to the projection room and change the reel.
This is what "waking up" consists of. Understanding your real nature doesn't start by these new-agey affirmations of "you are all-powerful, you are god, love incarnated, you create your own reality". No, you aren't. But you could. Only a realistic appraisal of your current state - you are the spectator who is totally absorbed in the movie, so much that you believe you are in the screen - will bring you the will, and the ability, to change it.
Then you will think, "No, I won't waste my attention on that movie anymore. I'll only pay attention to myself, how each scene makes me feel, how the action makes me want to react, how my internal processes are affected by what goes on". Only then can you start the long road of becoming your own master, overcome the fickle and flickering fragmented I's that run things in you. And when your consciousness has a leash firmly attached to your internal processes, then and only then will there be a permanent individual in you who can stand up and state with integrity, "I the Person".
TFY: I think that one of the issues that restricts most from truly looking within is - fear. I am on the path that you may have walked before - looking within and accepting what I see. The outer world so coddifies and and coddles every aspect of our lives that we are no longer allowed (or allowing ourselves) to feel pain, true pain. Boys shouldn't cry and girls should just gloss it over. The govt tells us that it will take care of all our social and personal problems, issues and fears that we are fogetting to see these fears for what they are - Learning Experiences. Pain and fear have been our teachers for as long as the human race has been around. Accepting your pain and understanding your fears are what we should be striving for in our lives. Instead we try to forget our pains and run away from our fears. This leads to a very shallow existence and personal despondency. There was a great pain in my life a couple years ago that awoke within me emotions that as much as I tried I could not push down. This was my great awakening. I "saw inside" instead of just "seeing outside." But I did not run away. I stared into the eye of the dragon and after awhile began to see not a dragon but myself.
Pain and fear will teach you far more about yourself than just about anything else in this world.
"The only winning move is not to play."
-W.O.P.R.
A new consciousness.
All good points. Then again, if just 1% of this world's 7 billion people bought 10 silver coins per year it's game over.
http://www.brotherjohnf.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/BrotherJohnF?feature=mhee
this could be my all-time favorite comment on the hedge.
thanks for sharing the beautiful wisdom.
Sailboats?! Pirates!!! ARRGGHHH!!!
He actually said it to Flounder but I dig the Animal House reference.
you go ahead & do that... I have other plans...
You'll be sure to tell me how it goes though (preferably in a family Christmas foto, along with a fruitcake)...
@strannick ~ I appreciatre the thought... But frankly I think PEOPLE are more stupid than SHARKS... I'd rather take my chances there...
proof: some russian says he is jesus, 4000 followers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Cv5hZfOmk&feature=relmfu
Infact, definitions of CULT fits current day political class
What brings people into the cult is the leader's ability to to manipulate the members in many ways, particularly through emotion.
After reading this this I now fully understand the real purpose of Obama-care: visualize Obama passing out the Kool-Aide
You talkin about Vlad 'P' again?
Why would someone camp out in the ghetto? What complete silliness.
Far more likely in that scenario that those trying to get out of cities with no resources run into militias of very heavily armed men with a mid to high level of weapon skill that will drop them by the score. Unprepared masses trained to dependence on the government aren't going to have alot of luck against what they encounter outside of their urban environment, and the further from cities and closer to food production areas they go the more impossible it will become for them.
100 rednecks with deer rifles and semi autos who know the terrain and how to use weapons will wipe the floor with 1-2K urbanites who think a pistol is a real weapon. The rural folks are loading up big time these days, the cubicle dwellers and gangstas won't have a prayer.
Yes. let us reduce people to mere categories to make killing them easier.
Funny what people will go throught to justify what they want to believe is necessary. You're all fucking pawns of your handlers.
Great ass!!!
What? No, its an observation from having spent time in both worlds. The person I was responding to seems to expect rampaging cannibal child soldiers a la Africa in the event of societal breakdown, my response is simply that it is not going to happen for reasons stated above.
As a point of reality there is a vast difference in the populations in urban and rural areas. Perhaps your neighborhood on Sesame Street is different, but having lived in both hellish urban hood and out in the boondocks they have little in common culturally, ethnically, or pretty much by any standard. It is real world- though no doubt unfashionable to contemplate among the metrosexual cubcile set people are in fact different. I find recognizing the world around me for what it is preferable to deluding myself about what I think it should be if I lived in a show on the Disney Channel.
Don't worry though, in the event of the sort of scenarios being discussed in this thread I am certain you will do quite well by teaching the world around you to sing in perfect harmony and buying them a Coke while you await the government to care for you. Best of luck.
Americans have become more conditioned to expecting help, expecting rescue, expecting insurance payments or new protection laws, than we have any idea about. When the stuff does go down, what will happen is, the electric grid will go down and the cell phone grid at the same time. What will happen? Almost everybody will pile into their cars and start driving around, trying to find open stores, trying to find open malls or movie theatres, trying to find out what is happening, trying to find an open gas station.
They will all be looking for someone, anyone, to tell them what is going on!
Then they will run out of gas far from home and all their prepes will have been for naught. Even those who choose to stay at home, most of them do not have water supplies to last more than a week or two. How many folk are planning to fish in the river, take water from the river,shit in the river, and throw the dead bodies of their gun target excercises in the same river?
As a society we are so cock-sure and unprepared that at least 90% of us will be dead within weeks .... and scurvy and pellagra and cholera are such wonderful ways to die ....
You might want reserve your ire for those preparing the camps
Dumbass post of the year.
Ouch, that hurt. Quite a display of rapier wit there, Sponge Bob.
You win....I guess.
(I have no problem with rednecks. Actually, I prefer them to yuppies and almost any other form of life.)
watch this video and tell me..
What a a stilted load of crap.
Productive humans cooperate and survive well. And Americans are REALLY good at that.
The ghetto people will riot, and will generally kill people in their own areas.
The Makers in America will make it through the changeover and THRIVE.
Indeed. Plenty of us will be fine.
Productive humans cooperate and survive well. And Americans are REALLY good at that.
_________________________________________
No. 'Americans' are really good at extorting the weak, farming the poor.
The cities are full of 'Americans'
As the resources dwindle from the periphery to the center, the noose of extortion and farming will tighten up closer and closer to the center.
BOOM Huxley!!! You nailed it. Finally some rational thought on the realities of a TEOTWAWKI event. Doesn't matter if you have 2 weeks or 2 years worth of supplies, you cannot survive a complete melt down of world society.
Better get right with the big man up stairs.
Ahem...there ain't no big man upstairs...unless you're referring to rational thought?
Let's apply rational thought to your inane assertion that there is no God. We'll start with something a bit simpler to refute, perhaps a claim that there is no gold in Texas for instance. To prove this you will have to dig up every bit of Texas, all the way to the Earths core and subject it to every modern scientific method available for detecting gold. Start digging, it's a big universe.
Actually there are two GODs and you can choose yours...
GOD : Getting Over Death
GOD : Gold Oil Dollar
Finding the first one takes care of a lot of things (fear mainly).
Think about it.
;-)
ori
This matrix was solved in the 1500's ....by Blaise Pascal ... honestly I don't understand why anybody still discusses it ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager
There are only four possibilities, its not particle physics to work out the possibilities and make the best choice ....t
Every proposition is either true or false, but not every utterance expresses a proposition. Pascal's wager is absurd.
Honestly I don't understand why anybody still discusses it ...
You're asking him to prove a negative. That is an intellectually bankrupt position. Thanks for playing, though.
"God is dead." --Nietzsche
"Nietzsche is dead." --God
“1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear, why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don't need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!
9. No place is safe, only safer.
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.”
? Max Brooks, The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead
This goes double now that the abc folks are putting the finishing touches on the obamao brown shirt brigades.(remember that force as powerful as our mil?,its being put together as I type.600 million rds,7000 ar's, are not for use against terrorists...............until they label the people as terrorists, as they have already classified us.Just do a recheck on the leaked memo to the Mississipi? hwy patrol a few yrs back.But then did a fake back up, when the GP caught wind of it and caused a shitstorm in the media.
This article misses the most important item: knowing a foreign language.
People getting ready to survive a catastrophe frequently forget often the best mode of survival is to get the f*ck out of there. That includes the country you are in.
And if you are going to stay in this hemisphere, there is a good chance that you will need to go south.
Oh, and a passport. One way or another, you are going to need a passport.
Es casi demasiado tarde para eso, mi amigo (It's almost too late for that, my friend.).
C'est vrai, c'est presque trop tard.
(I'm far closer to Quebec than I am to Mexico)
q'wan dehna meta! (africa is still safer because the more money and power someone has, the more they are afraid to even go there .....)
Because knowing how to say "Please don't kill me," in Spanish and Portugese will make all the difference.
Just had a nice flash of someone attempting to stave off latino killers with, "Yo quiero Taco Bell!!!!" instead.
GMad... that is a thumping indictment of the State of the Non-Union. Sad but funny.
ori
Talk about limited imagination.
Just because things have fallen apart in your country, doesn't mean they have fallen apart in another country.
That was the point I was making.
In fact, they want most of us dead. Just enough left over for farming and buffing Bawney Fwanks high heel induced bunions. Have you not heard of the Georgia Guide Stones or U.N. Agenda 21? Soros wants fewer people, too. It enhances sustainability for those who can engineer, finance and win elections. The elite only needs so many serfs... or Morlocks...
FORWARD SOVIET!
Nor will the MSM help us out and because we know what is going to happen soon.
The only thing the mainstream media does is try to mind control and brainwash you into believing their corporate prescribed fantasy. That's why their ratings are at all time lows, thank God.
The only thing the mainstream media does is try to mind control and brainwash you into believing their corporate prescribed fantasy. That's why their ratings are at all time lows, people are seeing through their bullshit, thank God.
George Carlin : The game is rigged
George Carlin's Greatest Moment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1lZMTCqf8&feature=player_embedded
Did we really want the governement's help after all?
technically the united states has experienced economic collapse in new orleans after katrina, we all see what happens when you rely on govt.......remember most cops left the force
AND some were robbing and looting while hiding behind the badge.
Then again "The Big Easy" was the worst possible jurisdiction for that event.
take away your own government, then foreign powers will install their own "government" in the power vacuum and colonize your ass.
dumbass americans thought katrina was bad?
see what happens when there is truely no government:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRuSS0iiFyo
15 years of civil war.
Mostly, you're right, but the Chinese or Russians will not colonize anybody; they will opt for a population clear-cut and start from scratch.
Well, the hotties can stay and serve.
They will take the 'American' path then... Interesting.
STFU. America doesn't have the patent on conquering armies. That shit was imported from Europe. And you can thank the Chinese for showing us all how to murder folks with gun powder.
Fuck off, asshole.
this is precisely the leverage the banks know they can use to keep the CIA in control of the govenrmnet in the case of some sort of 'collapse' of the civil government.
the CIA is both the oppressor and the 'protector' from foreign national secret intelligence agencies. the modern world is really a tough spot.
the CIA represents the small group of international bankers more than anyone. you can bet they will buy the rug out from the population of the united states before the russians are allowed to.
...for everything else, there's the 2nd Amendment.
I am waiting for the Red states response at the Governor's level, and legislative levels to the heavy hands to see if the resistance will be magnified exponentially.Some states will not bow the knee.
For Christ's sake it's only one article!
Besides, half of a panic is self-fulfilling. The other half is what happens when the welfare masses stop getting free stuff?
You don't see postings with charts and atricles illuminating financial scams and general chicanery? Trading strategies perhaps not as much as in the past but given the nature of things that isn't unexpected.
Why would you want trading strategies when the market no longer exists?
Quite so.
trading strategies will include, how many bullets exchanged for a bottle of whiskey...
and howd this dude leave out the hoarding of the whiskey...
shit....
fail.
one bullet might do it.
The new charts: Projected bean, bullet and bandaid consumption rate vs. various collapse scenarios
The new trading strategies: are .22 rounds a better barter item than junk silver?
The new scams: is your gold really tungsten?
ZH is just keeping up with the times.
Don't forget cigarettes and booze.
Addictions are powerful motivators...
Indeed. they are critical barter items for short, mid, or long term disruptions.
means prepping has hit bottom when walmarts sells a kit. rednecks never lead a trend. they just buy shit TV tells them to buy.
mass chaos will not happen unless US gets invaded by China.
US elites ready with money printing and wars to stay in power.
Nobody can do anything about it.
pushing asterity to Eurozone.
well played US elites.
prepping is good for hedge against food inflation.
A large chunk of rednecks already live that way, nobody had to tell them anything. They grow and can their own food as they always have, make their own jerky like they always have, and catch fish like they always have. It isn't Walmarts out in the sticks that are going to sell those items but the suburban ones. Nobody out in rural areas would waste their money . I dont need to buy canned goods, I give some local ladies I know large amounts of produce and some jars and receive many quarts back.
Rednecks ain't buying that stuff dumbass, thats all the city dwellers on that. They already have guns, nobody needs to tell them. I doubt there is a single male in my son's high school that doesnt have their own rifle and shotgun by 9th grade unless they are northern transplants, and at least half the girls do also. Kids here start shooting in elementary school, most get their first .22 at single digit age and it is a rare trip to the range where I don't see some young ones practicing with their own rifles.
+1 Yeah what he said.
Former overly educated snobbish city dweller now loving the redneck lifestyle after hunkering down in a farming community a decade ago. Hands down, rednecks will come out fine. As for the well dressed, well educated, wine sipping elitist crowds in the cities, God help them if it all ever hits the fan.
BTW, the Walmart 20 miles up the road (really) does have a center aisle display of Wise superpails. So far, no one has purchased one of these and moreover, it makes for an amusing 10 minutes to stand nearby watching redneck families laugh at the display on any given busy shopping day.
PS Just to work The City pacifist out of me on a regular basis, I like to rewatch episodes of The Walking Dead especially toward the end of season 2. Don't think of them as human and always shoot or knife for the head seems to be a good action plan.
Fantasy matters for US citizens.
US citizens, who are so fond of fantasy, should thank their government state for that: as it shields them from reality, the state is the apparatus that allows US citizens to enjoy so much their fantasy.
Being a redneck myself, I know a lot of us have buying prep stuff for over 10 years...and true, some stuff comes from Walmart...still fairly good prices on selected things.
Last time redneck preppers were all the rage was 1982 (Country Boy Can Survive). Good song, bad timing. Pretty much the beginning of a two decade bull market in stocks and a three decade bull market in bonds.
Redneck on a scooter #1
Redneck on a scooter #2
Redneck on a scooter #3
Redneck on a scooter #4
Redneck on a scooter #5
Redneck on a scooter #6
I aint too worried about the rednecks
Well, maybe this one
That was great! All of them! But the one you were worried about (the last one) is the vast majority! I promise you that! I know that guy. Wait does that make me a redneck? "F" it I'm on his team!
Jeebus. #6 looks like he could use a pilot scooter.
Kind of demonstrates an ignorance of where the term "redneck" comes from, don't you think?
You're confusing poor white trash on welfare with the men who work farms and construction crews. Sure, rednecks aren't what they used to be- but I wouldn't go claiming they're riding on scooters just yet. One of the more dubious "benefits" of being poor rural folk is that those crappy jobs are usually paying you to exercise 40-60 hours a week- hard to get soft and doughy when you're lifting steel beams in the scorching sun for hours on end, and then go home to fix your car because your check is too small to hire a mechanic.
That's not to say that being poor is healthy- I fought tooth and nail to get out of the nasty slave pits (only to find myself in a more comfortable slave pit with better air-conditioning and a chair) and I've got more than my share of scars and accumlated poisons to show for it. All the same, after the time I've spent in front of a monitor, I wouldn't be thrilled at the prospect of facing off against the guys I give orders to- most of the boys still in the trenches could probably make mincemeat of me in short order.
The biggest point to consider hasn't been adressed, however- physical strength has nothing to do with ruthlessness. Most of the guys that are physically powerful by virtue of hard work are more inclined to follow than they are to lead, and that's why they are where they are in the first place. The ability to beat someone in a fight is only marginally useful- most of those big redneck lunks are more inclined to feed you dinner and share their beer for an evening then they are to beat you up and take your stuff. Good folk, actually- far better than the asshats running the show right now.
Good post, I enjoyed reading it.
Years back, in a more ignorant time of my life, I used to make fun of rednecks for their 'simple' ways. Man that was foolish.
No better way to define the difference between rednecks and yuppies than the cars they drive. A redneck is 1000x more likely to stop his/her pickup in a snowstorm and pull you out of the ditch than is a sissy Prius driving citiot. Hell, many rednecks live for the chance to help others. A citiot, not so much.
Disclosure: I can't stand hybrid cars, especially the Prius.
Happened to me in real life. And the guys who pulled my car out of the ditch in that North Carolina icestorm with their pickup would not take anything more than a thank you from me. Got nothing bad to say about genuine rednecks at all.
If I may interject, the origin of the term "red neck" was more or less the sunburn that white males acquired through field work. A male, with short hair and a simple collared shirt, would acquire a red neck by way of working in the field. Back in the day. It was a general way to refer to an uneducatred working man.
None of the folks you purport to be redneck are, in fact, red necks.
I must further protest, this slander of red neck, on the merits that none of those folks, whose pictures are clearly posted, could find their way to the outhouse much less the field.
If you are going to slander fat, jabba-the-hut slugs, by all means do so. Both me, and my father (both red necks) do so with great merriment. Our prefered terminoligy is "wal-mart queen". However, please do not muddy the hard working, uneducated, farm working red neck, as simple and backward as his/her culture may be, as fat, lazy, obese, and dependant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mff0ax4N9xo
Regards,
Cooter
I know guys LOL I’m a hard working white trash “redneck” myself. I was just making fun of the Walmart Jabba-The-Huts on scooters.
Alcohol was involved.........
Actually, I believe the term "red neck" came from West Virginia coal miners. They wanted to form a union to fight the coal mine owners. A red bandana worn around the neck distinguished the real coal miners from the 'scabs' brought in by the mine owners.
its because of all the financial scams and no one getting trouble which has gotten us to this point
HEY TYLER, how about a chart of the number of survivalists vs debt to GDP ratio ???
Bullish.
The charts are telling us the S is going to HTF soon, so be ready. It is becoming apparent to more and more people that things are only going to get worse, not better.
If I was an American, I'd be getting a passport and a visa for another country about now. Bill Gates and George Lucas have bought some land in New Zealand, for when the USA becomes a shithole to live in.
I used to dream of moving to New Zealand, then I read about its geological challenges, and thought better of it. Not to mention, NZ has very left-leaning politics for the most part, and would not allow a man to protect himself under most circumstances. Most of the "Western liberal democracies" ultimately fail as go-to options. There are those who advocate Costa Rica, Belize, Honduras, Argentina, Uruguary. . . but any one of those, or maybe most of those, are on the brink at any given time (at least that is what history would tell us). Finally, if the USA becomes a s***hole to live in, my guess is that the rest of the world is probably worse off. What will happen, if we actually do collapse, is that "the people" will demand tyranny to establish security. Then we all live under the yoke of slavery.
passport? in the article's premise of SHTF, all borders will be closed so that's why i have Libertads and Maples. besides there is a shit ton of vacant rural land here in the US where you can bascially go without interference. only the medium to large cities will be shitholes, small rural communities will be much better off.
You just DO. .NOT. GET. IT.
You are in the beginning of the collapse of the current WORLD financial system. Well into the beginning. It doesn't matter who brought it down.
The outcome will be ugly.
Are you wishing or hoping?
AGREED!
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/just-open-up-your-eyes-and-look-65-signs-that-the-economic-collapse-is-already-happening
What world do you live in?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/31/india-blackout-electricity-p...
India blackouts leave 700 million without power
Power cuts plunge 20 of India's 28 states into darkness as energy suppliers fail to meet growing demand
It went to the way side of false charts,graphs,CNBC bull shit,CEO parachutes,walk free no hand cuff mother fuckers.What's your fuckin question?
Doomsday sells. Insanity has become ZH's niche market. It just makes it hard to sort through the drivel to get to what is still some very good stuff.
Amusing from a guy tagged "madridisburning".
I really like the ZH is evolving. Keep it up!
Myopian
If by reading said charts, trends, intelligence and history, you don't gravitate towards the latter, there is likely something truly wrong with your logical capabilities. Anyone who has even a superficial understanding of history, and understanding of where we are now, will understand the importance for planning for contingencies. Will the worst occur, perhaps not, but probabilities in these situations aren't a game anyone wants to play with their own life, or the lives of their family when said probabilities become larger than single digits.
For God's sake what direction is ZH heading? Gun postings - Survivalist postings - Economic collapse postings. What happen to the good old days when ZH posted charts, trading strategies, and financial scams?
_________________________
That is the drawback of denouncing econometrics and relying on them to time a so called incoming collapse.
After a while, even if blind faith is twin to US citizens, some grow weary of seeing a timed collapse being repelled with the underlying statement next time will be different.
So you have to address another segment of population, even deeper in blind faith, one that could accept to prepare for an incoming event all their life without it coming and even better urge their children and grand children to do the same because it is predicted, the collapse will come during their lifetime, just as it was supposed to come during the lifetime of the grand parents.
Profits, profits, tap the right audience...
If one held up a kaleidoscope to a dictionary, and twirled it madly, they could probably just about duplicate your postings here --- with the addition, of course, of your gratuitously bigoted anti-Americanism.
Then go the fuck away and never look back.
Sadly... fear sells. Sex also sells, and would be more welcomed than prepper nonsense.
Here's a investment book many here would love to take to the bomb shelter with them: The Coming Deflation: Its Dangers--And Opportunities
http://www.amazon.com/The-Coming-Deflation-Dangers-And-Opportunities/dp/0870003569
Of course, it was published in April 1976.
Debt forgiveness is the only solution to complete and total societal breakdown.
A debt Jubilee was common practice throughout the middle ages, perhaps we see the wisdom of that now.
A debt Jubilee will solve none of the problems without a return to justice, making government debt illegal worldwide, outlawing fractional reserve banking and the removal of debt money permanently. We will be in the same boat 30-40 years down the road with the same elite pulling the strings.
Agreed, but today the debt is unplayable. Are you holding a bunch of paper?
You need a debt jubilee because the debt is invalid.
You also need reform...not just law. But people reform.
That's the hard part. It's easy to write off debt (and the people who are sticklers about it, eventually). It's easy to redo laws (hell, I'd wish they enforce the laws they have NOW). But you will, I think, never reform people.
Humans are organisms, and organisms are complex and unique and centient entities which have similiar characteristics. Mathematics just dictate that we aren't all gonna be the same, or act in the most noble matter, when the chips are down. It doesn't help when the people running things, are exacerbating the effort for profit.
I can't count on the government NOW, when things aren't SO bad. Imagine if SHTF.
Mathematics (and history) dictates, that when that does, it's everyone for themselves. Easter Island taught us this; if shit gets super bad, people WILL lose God. And what happens then, when the brainwashing holding the primal encarnate urges in our souls are unleashed by a bunch of those who AREN'T really that smart and/or reliable?
The people who understand this......that's why we're liberatians. We know this, man.
Atreides, you are almost there... Debt jubilee IS IMPOSSIBLE without FIRST eliminating the current banking practices. Money is debt. Therefore, debt cannot be forgiven without vaporizing money itself.
The system will have to crash before a new one can take over. That is merely the nature of what we're stuck with here. If the same rules dominate the new system, then yes, history will repeat every 30-40 years. A handful of people with names like Rothschild will determine that. The rest of us will have no say.
The banksters hold the debt and they will want to be paid.
That is why they will be the first to hang.
hopefully they do it while there is some small sliver of freedom... if they do it after everything is locked down, then it doesn't really matter.. it is a canard to keep people enslaved
what freedom are you talking about?
you must not live in America.
Christ you're tedious.
I take it you owe a lotta money.
And I take it you want people holding bonds to be destroyed.
Fuck the bond holders, the majority are central banks and hedge funds anyways. Are they more important than the well being of our humanity? NO
Public bonds and government debt are the shackles of the taxpaying masses. Debt free government, debt free money and the issuance of credit by and for the people are the only path to freedom.
Please stay off Eisenhower's superhighways. More government duplicity.
The bond holders deserve what they get for buying that crap debt.
Guess what, stupid ass? Unless you are 100% gold then you are holding paper debt. Money = debt, so we are all in it together with the bond holders. And no, I'm not talking my book - except like EVERYONE else I hold a certain amount of fiat.
No matter who you are, your government has pledged trillions to pay for shit you didn't ask for and don't need. We need a debt jubilee AND a repudiation of government by coercion and taxation and endless foreign wars.
I guess I should stop smoking.
I guess I should start smoking.
I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue...
Try paint, it comes in larger quantities and there's always enough to share to friends and family. One more SHTF item to stock ..
You can prepare or don't the choice is up to each one of us.
body armor...check....geiger counters...check....night goggles....check.....give up my weekly case of beer.....umm no......this prepper guy has gone off the edge with that last one....
And then you could always go on a shooting rampage and kill innocents. Just for fun.
apparently, a bullet is a terrible thing to waste, says the choir.
Toliet paper
I'm sure there will be plenty of Benny bucks to fulfill that need.
Plumbing will be a problem, just ask Zimbabwe:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/pictures-zimbabwe
Watch the Road instead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_(2009_film)
the road scared the shit out of me. why live at that point?
You'd finally get to be king!