prepper industry – noble or just marketing s~~~ to gullible fools?

[X11Spectator 4520]

Have some hard core prepper friends. Went to a few info nights. Tbh I got bored real quick with all the nutty conspiracies. Remember when jade-helm was Obama going to launch an attack on the US thru tunnels in Walmart because Muslim brotherhood.

Preppers start foaming at the mouth and spend all their money on prepper s~~~, make really bad work decisions because planning for retirement is dumb if the world is going to end next Tuesday.

the way they pick up conspiracies then dump them a week later to go with the next even less probable bulls~~~ just didn’t work for me.

I’m all for safety planning for natural disasters, terrorist attack etc but IMO most prepper stuff is Looney tunes to sell s~~~.

Am I being too harsh?

[Anonymous 7]

A bit of both?
Emergency food and water plus basic camping gear is not a bad idea. I include medical s~~~ in with camping gear.

Even better is to have boom sticks for hunting and protection.

[Secret Agent MGTOWParticipant 22534]

Just like mgtow there are different levels of prepping, and different reasons/scenarios as to what people are prepping for.

Some do it for emergencies, some do it as part of a pantry thing they have going, some are doing it more because they are really rural and power takes awhile to come back to them if they lose it. THen some are the societal collapse to one degree or another, nukes, end of the world stuff.

Gotta go with what you are comfortable with. Having skills and gear to survive without modern conveniences is useful. Having safe food and water and maybe power is useful too.

Women want everything, but want responsibility and accountability for nothing.

[X11Spectator 4520]

I grew up rural, shopping was done once a month and electricity was a diesel engine and carbide lights.

Prepping was not even a word, now it’s an industry.

[chirParticipant]

What you don’t have tinfoil lining your tactical helmet to keep out the thought control waves? Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Most real preppers focus on Local, Regional, National and Global. Fire, Flood, and all natural problems are first on the checklist to prepare for. Other ones such as what is going on in Venezuela and what happened in Argentina are more complex but can be prepared for.

The conspiracy stuff is for people who just want to spend money. I mean they are now saying that energy weapons destroyed the twin towers.

The problem is there have been so many ADMITTED “false flag” attacks in the past that the conspiracy theorists think if these are admitted how many more have been covered up. If you go too far down the rabbit hole you end up in fantasy land which is where many people looking too hard at these conspiracy theories wind up. Then they are marginalized and even if by some miracle they discover all the facts no one would ever believe them because they are seen as conspiracy nuts.

Most preppers fall into two camps. Prepper gear junkies and those preppers who live it. Preppers who are living it, keep an eye out for trouble down the road but don’t invite it in by buying s~~~ for non practical conspiracy theories.

Some prepper forums are full of people discussing their “bug out bags and gear“. Those who have been doing this awhile know that the other half of bugging out is having somewhere to go. I’m already at my bug out location.

It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, it is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning; it is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.

[CarnageParticipant 22113]

Im just waiting for s~~~ to go Down.

I dream of it.

I won’t do s~~~ to fix it, i won’t prepper at all, i don’t wanna survive, I just wanna see the s~~~ fall, and enjoy it.

To those following me, be careful, I just farted. Men those beans are killers.

[X11Spectator 4520]

Buddy mine buys every new survival knife mainly custom and high end mass produced. Literally thousands if dollars. On 5 year waiting lists for custom knives. Me and him both know he will never take a $1000 knife he waited 5 years to get built out of his home ever. Will never be used, only shown to other dumb f~~~s wearing silk gloves to handle it.

My $20 Chinese no name knife does more work in a week and does everything his is supposed to do if he actually took it out of his knife safe.

[SkeptiskParticipant 3679]

Seems some preppers are LARPing (Live Action Role Playing), just for the fun of it. Others make money through selling stuff, or being television-personalities; like Bear Grylls.

So, the best advice is to separate the wheat from the chaff, make sensible preparations (as they’re never bad), and keep an eye out.

The “conspiracy nuts!”-shaming is just that, shaming. Some of the theories are pumped by people having an interest harming the reputation of preppers (energy weapons? come on!), tricking people thinking this is how preppers really are.

Anyway, if you have your gun and ammo, you’re already good.

"Expecting to find a decent woman on a dating site is like dumpster diving and expecting to come out with a gourmet meal." Won'tGetFooledAgain

[BritGHOWParticipant 2566]

The mentality I think is sound, after all boy scout motto, “be prepared” The industry? marketing s~~~e.

I look around my kitchen, there’s probably a week’s worth of “fresh” food, with another month to six week’s worth of tinned/dry and a dozen 5litre water bottles, a setup sufficient to get me through two major events in the past. I had considered a larger water store but the faff involved with setting that up doesn’t seem worth it combined with the thought process that any event that outlasts what I’ve already got means we’re probably f~~~ed anyway.

[Jim01Participant 6678]

As with all things, some people take it to the extreme. I have some extra water and tinned goods in my flat but that is it.

My flat is small so I don’t have room for massive bags of rice or water tanks. Plus if it all went to s~~~ – like end of the world stuff as in The Road film then would I want to just exist, eating rich and drinking warm water? Probably not

[X11Spectator 4520]

I heard most large US cities have 3 days of fresh food in them.

[Ranger OneParticipant 16836]

I’m a hedge-your-bet kind of guy. There is so much s~~~ that could happen to bring Western civilization down. Some are things that are slowly grinding forwards, such as soil depletion, aquifer depletion, ocean rise, and Islamic immigration. Other things would be fast Black Swan events, such as another Carrington Event, Yellowstone Supervolcano eruption, or EMP attack by a rogue actor.

The lower probability events could happen tomorrow or in 500 years. The higher probability events could cause collapse in 15 to 50 years. So most of my preps are focused on being affordable, balanced with money being invested in non-prepping areas such as retirement or model trains. And I try to make a lot of my preps “dual purpose” where as I will derive benefit from them even if the s~~~ doesn’t hit the fan.

For example, planting perennials, like dozens of blueberry bushes and dwarf fruit trees. Many, many chives around the fruit trees. I will have quality food in my future retirement, and easy to pick and maintain.

If SHTF I will ramp up the production of annual crops with Bio-intensive agriculture using raised garden beds and a U-bar, with the help of my two boys.

It pays to have a large supply of canned foods to rotate. For power-out situations like a hurricane, I have an inverter for the pickup truck that can output one line to sump pump and one for the fridge. Also 1+ acre of woods and a woodburning stove in the basement. (quite nice to heat pea soup and tea on in the winter)

I have guns in all of the most common ammo types, and for many rifles/carbines I have a pistol of matching caliber. (for example I have a 40-caliber folding Kel-tec Sub2000 carbine that takes the same mags as my 40-caliber Glock 22).

I figure in a scenario where government troops are handing out bags of rice or such, walking up to them carrying an AK47 could be misinterpreted, so you carry the folding carbine concealed in a backpack, and an easier to reach concealed G22. If traveling away from that location with food, and someone feels like thuggery, you pull out the G22, move to cover & switch to the folding carbine when you can. (carbine fits in a laptop bag and folds out into firing position in less than 2 seconds)

There is some overlap between weapons, but in general there is a focus on different roles (hunting/DMR=7.62×51 rifles like the SCAR), as well-as different environments (AK47, Mossberg 500 Marinecote shotgun etc for an extended trip away from home where exposed to more elements).

Lately, I’ve been filling in the obvious gaps in my preps. AR500 body armor plates and plate carrier, radiation detectors, IOSAT tablets, gas masks, water purification, portable solar.

All my life I've had doubts about who I am, where I belonged. Now I'm like the arrow that springs from the bow. No hesitation, no doubts. The path is clear. And what are you? Alive. Everything else is negotiable. Women have rights; men have responsibilities; MGTOW have freedom. Marriage is for chumps. If someone stands in the way of true justice, you simply walk up behind them and stab them in the heart-R'as al Ghul.

[chirParticipant]

X11 wrote:

I heard most large US cities have 3 days of fresh food in them.

You are correct.
Even the distribution centers only have perishables 3 days out and non-perishables to 10 days out.

Someone once said: “Western civilization is only 9 meals away from total anarchy.” Personally… That’s being generous.

If all the trucks stopped for a year, the USA would drop to a population of about 50 million in that year. In this order: Thirst -> Starvation -> Disease

That’s how dependent the world has become on “just in time” deliveries.

It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, it is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning; it is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.

[LurchParticipant 3866]

X11 wrote:

I heard most large US cities have 3 days of fresh food in them.

“There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” – Alfred Henry (1906)

Even over 100 years ago, people saw the value in prepping. As do the people down in Texas today!

HARVEY SLAMS TEXAS

Blue-Pill Virgin: Women hate me! That's what it is.
MGTOW Man: Hate them back; it works for me.

[Ranger OneParticipant 16836]

Addressing the marketing stuff. I usually just laugh at that s~~~.

Once in a blue moon, it gives me an idea or brings up a twist I hadn’t thought of, but I haven’t so far purchased anything based off of prepper marketing.

I tend to grindingly research stuff before buying anything, and I do stuff in specific sequences.

All my life I've had doubts about who I am, where I belonged. Now I'm like the arrow that springs from the bow. No hesitation, no doubts. The path is clear. And what are you? Alive. Everything else is negotiable. Women have rights; men have responsibilities; MGTOW have freedom. Marriage is for chumps. If someone stands in the way of true justice, you simply walk up behind them and stab them in the heart-R'as al Ghul.

[EyeswideopenParticipant 2930]

I take basic preparations. I have food and water for about 4 months. Nothing special – just canned goods, dry rice, lentils, spices and canned meats. MREs and the like are hype, IMHO. I buy what I like to eat, and eat what I buy. Nothing goes to waste.

This stems not so much from an impending disaster, but from living with the war generation growing up. Just in time delivery models did not exist.

If I had to pick a most likely disaster, financial collapse is highly likely. After the initial disruption and social unrest, a new system will come into play. The goal is to survive that vacuum.

What a lot of preppers fail to realize is that regardless of the origin of the disaster, if you are near an urban centre, within days some form of rule of law will be established; either by existing authorities or roving gangs. It’s very hard to hide 5 years of food – those goods are going to be confiscated.

I take a hybrid approach. I place a small amount of my money in SHTF type commodities- supplies as described above, gold + silver, property (I own 20a of vacant undeveloped land; cost me almost nothing), I own my home so I have a roof over my head, and I have a dividends based stock portfolio that has a high yield in aristocrat type companies. If the financial system collapses, these companies are the most likely to survive because they provide essential goods – toothpaste, gas and creature comforts like booze.

- Marriage is described as an institution. You would have to be crazy to be commited to it. -"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal. Not people or things" Albert Einstein

[Anonymous 11]

I store one month of emergency food. I have a Berkey filtration system so I can draw water from any freshwater source and clean it so no need to store much water.

I’m one to hunker down and defend my home. IR motion sensing cameras guard all approaches day and night. The Honda EU2000 can power me for many days on five gallons of gasoline.

Living in a hurricane zone, you have to have a prep plan. I think some people go overboard with them though.

[RealityBitesParticipant 2198]

I spent my whole life wondering when TEOWAWKI (The End of the World As We Know It)was going to hit. For my generation it was primarily a worldwide Nuclear Holocaust.

It never happened. It did however come very close to happening on a number of occasions.

In short it is a highly improbable scenario but once it does happen then WATCH OUT!!!!!

I would highly recommend that a MGTOW saves and invests in his future. That he pays down his debts, buys some property somewhere and becomes totally self sufficient or as self sufficient as he can under his own circumstances. Odds are he will NEVER live to see the day of a “Mad Nax” scenario. But if he does…he has made some modest preparations.

Off the Grid Housing, 6 months store of food (dry goods), some guns and ammo, a bug out vehicle, and bugout bag, a second place he can go to, with caches along the way. As well as enough money to live out his retirement.

[RusskyParticipant 13503]

I lived through crises, and there are two most obvious problems US preppers don’t realize: any major crisis will be a prolonged one, so stocking up only makes limited sense; gold bugs must realize how easy it is for the government to ban gold transactions.

proud carrier of the 'why?' chromosome

[sidecarParticipant 35837]

What you call “prepper supplies” I call “camping gear”.

X11 wrote:

Buddy mine buys every new survival knife mainly custom and high end mass produced. Literally thousands if dollars. On 5 year waiting lists for custom knives. Me and him both know he will never take a $1000 knife he waited 5 years to get built out of his home ever. Will never be used, only shown to other dumb f~~~s wearing silk gloves to handle it.

Meanwhile they guy who knows how to knap an old bottle into a functional blade just sits back smugly silent.

[Author]

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