Doomsday Preppers is a popular show on the National Geographic Channel that profiles people that are preparing for what they believe is going to be a major disaster that will lead to the end of civilization as we know it. Most of the people on that show tend to have many common traits amongst them.
Here are five things I've about people on the show Doomsday Preppers:
5. They love guns
Almost everyone on that show seems to own several guns (and lots of ammo too), usually ranging from hand guns to semi-automatic assault rifles. Even the ones that don't own any guns still tend own other types of weapons, and even make their own weapons as well.
4. They are very disaster specific
Almost every prepper on that show not only believes that some world altering disaster is going to happen, but they are also very certain what type of disaster will be, many of which (but not all) tend to be highly improbable. Because they are so disaster specific, whatever supplies they get tend to be what they believe will allow them to survive that disaster that they believe will happen, while ignoring the fact that if a different type of disaster were to occur, their prepping efforts might not save them.
3. They almost seem to want Doomsday to occur
Not only do these people believe that a disaster is going to occur, many of them act like they want it to occur! Some of them even even toast what they believe is the coming Apocalypse!
There are probably a couple reasons why they want the Apocalypse to occur: One, they don't want everything they have been working for and what they have believed in for so long to have been a waste, and two, they want to rebuild the world.
2. They are arrogant
From being so sure of what type of disaster is going to happen, to believing what they are doing will allow them to survive that disaster, everything about these people just screams arrogance to me. Even when they are given advice at the end of each segment on how to improve something, sometimes they will ignore that advice, and those that do usually have already pre-identified that certain weakness.
1. They're selfish
Besides the fact that many of these people make it very clear will only be fending for themselves (and maybe a few others) in what they believe is a coming disaster, that they will not be helping anyone else (except those within their group, if they are in a group to begin with), and that they will kill anyone whom they feel is a threat to them or their stash or anyone else in their group, they often times drag their families into their prepping lifestyle as, which includes their children.
Sometimes these children (along with their spouses) have been obviously indoctrinated into this prepper lifestyle, while other times they remain resistant to their parents beliefs that the world as we know it is going to end, and that they are only going along with their parents because they have no choice.
I think this is a bit skewed, perhaps because of the "preppers" selected for this program. NatGeo is, to say the least, more than slightly left-wing and seems to enjoy picking the stranger candidates, usually the rural (and often Southern) ones. Like the reality shows that almost exclusively focus on rural Southerners (anything with "swamp" or "gator" in the title) and their "peculiar" ways. Any other ethnic or sociological group would be hands-off, of course. And naturally they select only the preppers with weird beliefs, like pole-shifting, sunspots, etc.
ReplyDeleteI probably qualify as a prepper, though my reasons are more pedestrian: I was an intel officer for 25 years, specializing in potential terror attacks. Few Americans realize how fragile our infrastructure is, or how even a minor attack against the electrical grid or water sources could wreak havoc & likely cause urban riots & widespread disease or death in most any area targetted. Even basic needs would be unavailable for many weeks or months at a time, and FEMA has little chance of even minor relief. Whether one chooses to believe it or not is irrelevan -- it's still true, and we have prepared for it for over 30 years.
It's not particularly difficult if it's approached sensibly, and costs little. We simply have a lot of food, prescriptions, medical supplies, etc that we rotate as we use them.
Since I had a military background and my wife was a competition shooter long before she met me, we already had a fair number of firearms & reloaded our own ammunition, so simply stocking more than usual took little effort. Your characterization of preppers as gun nuts is silly, considering that arms are a rather basic part of defending yourself when the "unprepared" are obviously (and naturally) going to be on the prowl for food, water & other basics. Why you would assume we should simply "give up and share" with everyone sort of beggars belief. In our County of 250,000 people, probably less than 2% could even feed their family more than a few days, even assuming they could cook it, find safe water, or somehow stay warm in winter temperatures. I would share water from my pond, and a small amount of fish, but beyond that only our firearms would prevent nearly a quarter-million people from taking everything we've stockpiled.
I'm a northern-bred atheist with no strange beliefs, just a lot more knowledge of likely terrorist targets & methods than most people are cursed with. I plan accordingly, since it's the responsible thing to do, and since I buy in bulk I actually save money. I have a year's worth of necessary medications, including antibiotics & painkillers, and enough basic food to last longer. Purifying my pond water or well water is simple enough, and the fish, deer & chickens could stretch that much further. I heat with wood & keep a 2-yr supply of cordwood anyhow
Those that don't bother to even think or plan for a computer attack on electrical grids, destruction of local reservoirs, or interruption of consumer good deliveries ... well, that's their choice -- but not my problem. "Sharing" is such an idiotic concept that it doesn't withstand examination. I've lived in countries with huge disasters and/or martial law, and I have a pretty good idea what people turn into when they & their families are starving, or freezing -- it's the Mob Mentality, writ large, and it's not pretty.
Some "preppers" are pretty odd and often believe strange, illogical things -- but then one could easily state the same about the author of this article.
These people can't really protect anyone from a real collapse, no matter what they say. I can clearly see that a real American Blackout would quickly make End of Evangelion look like Blue's Clues.
ReplyDeleteHelp us prevent it from happening in the real world:
http://www.securityweek.com/how-stop-cyber-attack-it-happens
http://www.shieldact.com
http://www.icanw.org
http://cutnukes.globalzero.org
What's at stake:
-Video games
-Movies
-Anime
-Cartoons
-Hygiene
-Personal safety
-Safe streets (the blackout would cause people to become violent)
-Peace of mind
-Education
-Energy
-Water
-Sanitation
-Food
-Grocery stores
-Hundreds of millions of stories
(I could go on and on, but we'd be here forever.)