TexasGal wrote:I see nothing wrong with having food, shelter, and a plan in case something goes badly. It's just that it can be carried to an extreme that overwhelms people and turns into neurosis. Every time we see a natural weather disaster, there are people who need food, shelter, money, etc rather desperately. Even though the weather forecasters warn until they are blue in the face for days beforehand. I am hoping the preppers on the tv show are mostly just playing up the bubba angle with the guns at the direction of the producer.
I moved here from Southern California. I have lived—in intimate detail—through several major earthquakes in my lifetime. In Southern California, having an "Earthquake Kit" is
so common that when somebody says they
don't have one or see the need for it, others will look at them like their hair's on fire.
What's an "Earthquake Kit," you might ask? Well, items commonly found in an earthquake kit might include: enough stored drinkable water for 2 weeks per person in the home, first aid kit, enough canned or freeze-dried food for 2 weeks per person in the home, a gas-meter shutoff tool, a large enough tent for the family, batteries, flashlights, a hand-crank radio, a change of clothing for warm weather and one for cold weather for each member of the family, sleeping bags,
a firearm with related ammunition, etc., etc., etc.
Some variation of this list would be found in almost any home where they bothered with an earthquake kit. Here in Texas, we might call that a "Tornado Kit." It also begins to look like the start of a nominal "prepper" kit. "Prepping" makes perfect sense to me. There is a limit to how much we can predict what is going to happen in the next 30, 60, 90, 180, or 365 days. Certainly we can't be prepared for ALL possible future events. But, we can be prepared for a lot of those things which will be common to almost any kind of disaster, whether it is a weather, societal, or political disaster.........or even a war brought to our shores. In other words, the core of a earthquake/tornado kit might server your family well in any of those situations.
I don't think it is unreasonable, or even something to make fun of, if some people are smart enough and have the resources to prepare the ability to switch to a "shadow life," the same way our government is set up with a "shadow government" so that continuity of government would continue if the nation's capital were attacked. I've been mocked for making plans to live outside of this society's infrastructure. It's not that I want to live
that way, it's that I want to
live if things come to that. The simple fact is that those that don't prepare are going to die off in large numbers if something catastrophic were to happen. Those that prepped will survive in higher percentages. The tale of the grasshopper and the ant is timeless. And if the preparations turn out to be unnecessary in my lifetime, then no harm and no foul, and I'll have left my son a headstart on his own efforts.