LOL and they even have a National Geographic special on them

[The Rifleman]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Although the apocalypse might seem like a lot of fun- no boring nine-to-five, no cash economy, camping out, getting to shoot stuff- it would get really old really fast (no movies, no internet, no restaurants, constantly trying to avoid the crazies, etc.). I'm not sure that preppers realize this.

But it some ways, prepping is a rejection of modern society. Any time there is a major social change, like the industrial revolution for example, you will see utopian movements spring up. In U.S. history, the market revolution of the early 1800s led to a wave of groups (Mormons, Shakers, socialist communes) who "coped" with the social and economic changes of their day and age by attempting to completely withdraw from the rest of society. A lot of modern preppers seem to be people who can't handle the changes in modern society and the economy. Listening to preppers, this becomes pretty clear- they don't trust the power grid, they don't trust the government, they don't trust their new neighbors. In extreme cases, it's a behavioral manifestation of paranoia.

Yes, also its quite dangerous. I cut on the arm could lead to infection and death. A bad crop or not being able to store your food could mean starvation for a family and death. People tend to forget that even into the 40s, there were many families that just didn't have enough to eat. There weren't food stamps, food shelves and other things on nearly the same scale there are today.

[weswood]

Is it just me that finds talking about Doomsday Preppers on a forum for a game that ends of the world as we know it ironic?

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by weswood

Is it just me that finds talking about Doomsday Preppers on a forum for a game that ends of the world as we know it ironic?

If the shtf and there where no more electrical aplpliances etc would pen and paper games make a comeback ? And would t2 k be played? A game about teotwawki during the shtf ?

Hmmm

[Targan]

Originally Posted by headquarters

If the shtf and there where no more electrical aplpliances etc would pen and paper games make a comeback ? And would t2 k be played? A game about teotwawki during the shtf ?

Hmmm

I guess they'd play RPGs where their characters are normal people living in houses with climate control and working appliances

GM: "Your characters meet in a bar. It has electric lighting, recorded music being played through speakers and most of the customers seem clean and parasite free."

Player 1: "Cool. Do they have cold beer on tap? I'll order one of those. I remember what that was like."

Player 2: "I'll sit on a bar stool, lean on the bar with my elbow and talk about how tough my day at the office was."

LOL. Suspension of disbelief.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Targan

I guess they'd play RPGs where their characters are normal people living in houses with climate control and working appliances

GM: "Your characters meet in a bar. It has electric lighting, recorded music being played through speakers and most of the customers seem clean and parasite free."

Player 1: "Cool. Do they have cold beer on tap? I'll order one of those. I remember what that was like."

Player 2: "I'll sit on a bar stool, lean on the bar with my elbow and talk about how tough my day at the office was."

LOL. Suspension of disbelief.

LOL. Truth.

[HorseSoldier]

Although the apocalypse might seem like a lot of fun- no boring nine-to-five, no cash economy, camping out, getting to shoot stuff- it would get really old really fast (no movies, no internet, no restaurants, constantly trying to avoid the crazies, etc.). I'm not sure that preppers realize this.

Boring and depressing to the extent that there would probably be a very significant spike in suicides, even among people who were having their caloric needs met. Going from comfortable living and ample leisure activities in the developed world to the stress of living precariously as a reinvented medieval peasant or hunter-gatherer or whatever is just going to be too much for some people to deal with.

[TrailerParkJawa]

I went on a mini vacation to Mono Lake this weekend. While sitting in the hotel I got to catch a few episodes of the show. Watching was interested because there are interesting tidbits you can pick up an apply in your own life. But most of these folks seem paranoid and I do consider myself a prepper. I just prep for earthquakes and social unrest as best I can in a urban environment

One thing I did hear is that the show makes the prepper identify one reason. Tha sorta makes them look more paranoid then they may really be.

[Snake Eyes]

I'm prepping for the eventual heat death of the universe.

[mikeo80]

Originally Posted by weswood

Ya'll are all nuts. Econmic collapse? Seccession? Civil unrest and anarchy? Better happen in a hurry, Dec 21st is just over a month away and we're all going to die anyway and the dinosaurs will come back.

Maybe, just maybe weswood has something here????

Hostess Baking is going into bankruptcy.

This means NO MORE TWINKEES!!!

Can TEOTWAWKI be real? Is this what the Mayans saw at the end of their great cycle? Can civilization survive with out Twinkees???

I am surfing my way over to E-Bay to buy up those $5.00 a PIECE twinkees!!!

My $0.02

Mike

[Targan]

I've never eaten a Twinkie but I've known what they are since I was a kid because they had advertisements for them in American comic books

[weswood]

Originally Posted by Targan

I've never eaten a Twinkie but I've known what they are since I was a kid because they had advertisements for them in American comic books

I'm sorry for your loss.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Here's a question...

I remember reading the online book "Surviving a Nuclear War" and one of the prep things it said was to not only make ready for yourself and your family, but for one neighbor as well.

Clearly we're not in any immediate threat of a massive, 2500-missiles-over-the-Pole type exchange (I pray...) but as we've discussed, some of us have your Katrina or Sandy level event prepping down or ongoing - anyone here doing the "...and a little for the neighbor, too" thing?

[mikeo80]

Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer

Here's a question...

I remember reading the online book "Surviving a Nuclear War" and one of the prep things it said was to not only make ready for yourself and your family, but for one neighbor as well.

Clearly we're not in any immediate threat of a massive, 2500-missiles-over-the-Pole type exchange (I pray...) but as we've discussed, some of us have your Katrina or Sandy level event prepping down or ongoing - anyone here doing the "...and a little for the neighbor, too" thing?

I have not. Which neighbor do I choose? The single hardworking mom with two kids? The married couple where the man is in the USAF and the woman works at the local hospital as a respitory therapist? Etc.....

How do I tell one "Here is food and water" and the other "Sorry, all gone"?

I am afraid that my altruistic side would shrivel and DIE if SHTF. In all probabilty, I would do a "duck and cover" and wait....

It was Heinlein in his Starship Troopers that had Juan Rico state the following observation during his tour in O.C.S. Rico was reflecting on the H&MP course he was taking during OCS. "Man is what he is, a wild animal with the will to survive, and (so far) the ability, against all competition."

Pretty graphic. And I fear, all too accurate.

TO conclude my rambling on this subject. I like to think of myself as a moral being. However, if push comes to shove, the animal that lives inside will emerge.

My $0.02

Mike

[The Rifleman]

Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer

Here's a question...

I remember reading the online book "Surviving a Nuclear War" and one of the prep things it said was to not only make ready for yourself and your family, but for one neighbor as well.

Clearly we're not in any immediate threat of a massive, 2500-missiles-over-the-Pole type exchange (I pray...) but as we've discussed, some of us have your Katrina or Sandy level event prepping down or ongoing - anyone here doing the "...and a little for the neighbor, too" thing?

I am. You never know who's going to show up and I just might not have the heart to turn them away. Not only that, I came to the conclusion that I cannot defend my home, fruit trees, well and garden from attack on multiple sides without at least 9 shooters. Also, you've got to think about occasional night patrols and ambushes as well as 24 hour security. I have 7 adult "family" and I'm planning for 1 friend and his gf/wife.

[HorseSoldier]

Clearly we're not in any immediate threat of a massive, 2500-missiles-over-the-Pole type exchange (I pray...) but as we've discussed, some of us have your Katrina or Sandy level event prepping down or ongoing - anyone here doing the "...and a little for the neighbor, too" thing?

In places where there is a coherent sense of community and people know their neighbors this will tend to happen anyway. I think these days, though, that most neighborhoods are not especially coherent communities, with modern technology meaning we tend to socialize primarily with people that we share interests with, rather than those we share geography with.

[The Rifleman]

Originally Posted by mikeo80

In all probabilty, I would do a "duck and cover" and wait....

It was Heinlein in his Starship Troopers that had Juan Rico state the following observation during his tour in O.C.S. Rico was reflecting on the H&MP course he was taking during OCS. "Man is what he is, a wild animal with the will to survive, and (so far) the ability, against all competition."

Pretty graphic. And I fear, all too accurate.

Mike

I agree with ducking and hiding. I would certainly not be out looting and I would also not have ovens baking great smelling bread. Best course of action is to lay low and let things run their course. Nature would take its course.

As an aside, starship troopers was required reading when I was at OCS. Can't remember who wrote it, but its a guy who really was a good soldier and NCO and must have gone on to be a great officer.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Originally Posted by The Rifleman

I agree with ducking and hiding. I would certainly not be out looting and I would also not have ovens baking great smelling bread. Best course of action is to lay low and let things run their course. Nature would take its course.

As an aside, starship troopers was required reading when I was at OCS. Can't remember who wrote it, but its a guy who really was a good soldier and NCO and must have gone on to be a great officer.

Robert A. Heinlein wrote Starship Troopers and served in the U.S. Navy on the first incarnation of the carrier Lexington. He was discharged for tuberculosis.

[Targan]

If the fertilizer really hits the ventilation I'll be doing my best to shepherd all my family members and their partners up to my mum's place in the hills outside my city. Then my guess is that we'd all head to my mum's other place in the far south of the state. My mum and her husband are scientists who spend most of their working lives doing field work in remote parts of my state. Mum's a botanist with an incredible knowledge of growing and preparing edible plants and her husband is a marine biologist. They have the vehicles, equipment, stores and skills that would certainly increase our family's survival chances greatly. They both have pretty deep-seated pacifist beliefs though, so my brother and I would be handling all the tasks requiring violence, brutality and "big boys' rules", I suspect.

I would do just about anything to protect my family, including sacrificing myself. That's not even really a conscious decision, it's instinctual, so I'm not claiming to be the most brave or heroic dude ever born or anything. Obviously I'd prefer it not to come to that, but I'd prefer death to living with the knowledge that I could've saved a family member but didn't act when I should've.

[The Rifleman]

Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer

Robert A. Heinlein wrote Starship Troopers and served in the U.S. Navy on the first incarnation of the carrier Lexington. He was discharged for tuberculosis.

He must have been one tough old guy. He made one heck of a book. My father told me that back in the day, the navy went to marine corps basic. Explains how he understood both branches.

[The Rifleman]

Originally Posted by HorseSoldier

In places where there is a coherent sense of community and people know their neighbors this will tend to happen anyway. I think these days, though, that most neighborhoods are not especially coherent communities, with modern technology meaning we tend to socialize primarily with people that we share interests with, rather than those we share geography with.

So true. You could probably argue that this very lack of community and sense of team play is what caused the decline of our society.

[Graebarde]

Quote:
Originally Posted by HorseSoldier
In places where there is a coherent sense of community and people know their neighbors this will tend to happen anyway. I think these days, though, that most neighborhoods are not especially coherent communities, with modern technology meaning we tend to socialize primarily with people that we share interests with, rather than those we share geography with.

Originally Posted by The Rifleman

So true. You could probably argue that this very lack of community and sense of team play is what caused the decline of our society.

I feel this is very true. It is something I have witnessed in rural areas as well as the young farmers 'play' the 'I own more than you do' game. Our society has become a 'me first', 'you owe me' mindset. Is it 100% that way, no, but I feel it is more than half whether they would admit it or not, their actions do.

[The Rifleman]

Originally Posted by Graebarde

Quote:

I feel this is very true. It is something I have witnessed in rural areas as well as the young farmers 'play' the 'I own more than you do' game. Our society has become a 'me first', 'you owe me' mindset. Is it 100% that way, no, but I feel it is more than half whether they would admit it or not, their actions do.

Look at stores, trying to stay open on thanksgiving. I mean really? In the long run are they going to make any more over the "Christmas" season? Its just too much greed. That and the sense of entitlement are outrageous.

[TrailerParkJawa]

I don't know any of my neighbors. I've lived in this place since 2004. Of the 8 townhouses in our little row only two other families were here when I got here. I talk to them from time to time but that's all. Anyone I would want to help in a disaster lives anywhere from 5 to 45 miles away. I've wondered what I will do, I have 2-3 weeks of water for me but not for all of them. Would they try to come and take it? Could I just shut myself in and try to be stealthy?

[weswood]

Originally Posted by TrailerParkJawa

I don't know any of my neighbors. I've lived in this place since 2004. Of the 8 townhouses in our little row only two other families were here when I got here. I talk to them from time to time but that's all. Anyone I would want to help in a disaster lives anywhere from 5 to 45 miles away. I've wondered what I will do, I have 2-3 weeks of water for me but not for all of them. Would they try to come and take it? Could I just shut myself in and try to be stealthy?

That's a shame. Not you specifficaly but that society in general has become so reclusive people don't know thier neighbors they live next to. My little neighborhood isn't that bad, out of the 20 or so houses, I know about 7 families. But I live in a stable neighborhood. My family is maybe the 5th newest and we've been here since '82. And so far it's been a quiet, trusting hood for the most part. Even after hurricane Ike hit, when I was working 16 hour days for the electric company, I came home one night to find someone had cleared a huge limb that had fallen from one of my trees.

But would I share what little I have? Maybe. Hopefully. I try to be a good Christian but deep down I don't believe in the natural kindness of humanity. And I know for a fact I can be a vicious asshole at times.

[Snake Eyes]

I wish I knew more of my neighbors, like in the old school block party and PTA kind of way. Most of us are just in & out on our way somewhere else. I got involved in my city's CERT mostly just to meet people. Because my safety is less dependent on my own preparation than it is on that of my neighbors. It doesn't matter if I can last three days or ten without power, gas, water, police & EMS if my neighbors are just going to riot and burn the place down on day two.

[Graebarde]

Originally Posted by The Rifleman

Look at stores, trying to stay open on thanksgiving. I mean really? In the long run are they going to make any more over the "Christmas" season? Its just too much greed. That and the sense of entitlement are outrageous.

News this morning said that a lot of the big box stores make up to 50% of their gross over the holidays. Best Buy was high on that list. I laugh when I hear these companies talk about family values.. only for those in the corprate offices.. retail ppl have to work rather than be with their families. I remember when it was nigh impossible to get GAS on Thanksgiving much less buy anything else. That was the day of the Mom-n-Pop stores, not the corporate convenince 24/7-365/366 we could care less about you, just send us the deposits.