Things sheeple say

Just stumbled across this on youtube, pretty funny. I'm sure none of us have ever heard these things said to us...

That one was well done, Brad! I'm not a homesteader (yet), but I still do things differently enough that I get all kinds of "just kidding" or out-right disparaging comments from family, too.

The part about the eggs really cracked me up! Priceless

Related video links can lead to strange places.

I watched her comments on doomsday preppers and then watched an episode of a show dedicated to that. There are a lot of heavily armed yokels waiting for the oportunity to shoot at their fellow citizens. The food storage seems to occupy a lot of time but weapons training puts a special gleam in their eyes. Some of them are raising kids completely seperate from society and reality. I expect to watch some of those kids on tv in a few years as they crack and resort to shooting from bridges and church towers. Swat team reality shows could be the next generation of entertainment based on these folks. Considering the level of fortifications, the seige could be quite drawn out.

The next Timothy McVeigh may be one of these guys or their progeny.

Dale, first off I have to say that I really respect you. Your one of my favorite people to read posts from on this forum, always thinking outside the box and actually doing rather than talking. That being said I think your characterization of preppers is a little off. Don't get me wrong that show is full of lunatics, but those people are the lunatic fringe of that group. Being a "reality" show they have to make it interesting so they seek out some of the most F'ed up crazy's they can find. Then they take it further and coach them to say and do things for the camera, and edit it to make it look even worse. One of these people came onto Jack's site, The survival podcast, and gave his account of what had really gone on behind the scenes and it was nothing short of slimy sensationalism. I had never heard of prepping until Paul and Jack did those cross over shows, I liked what I heard and headed over there to check it out.

Then I took a look at what they advocate, and what I already do:

I hunt.
I fish.
I raise my own veggies.
I raise my own meat.
I can food.
I own guns and enjoy plinking with my .22
I train MMA.
I have entered and placed in national Jujitsu competitions.
I avoid debt, and pay in cash.
I am working on gaining energy independence.

By all accounts I would be considered a prepper, even though I had no idea there was such a thing. I think most people that are living or moving towards living a homesteading lifestyle would be considered preppers as well, even if they don't consider themselves to be. I would highly recommend listening to a couple of Jacks podcasts to get a feel for what prepping is really about, I wouldn't say it opened my eyes, but perhaps helped me see things from a different perspective.

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/
"helping you live a better life, if times get tough or even if they don't"

I realize that they seek out the weirdos. This makes the shows more provocotoive and entertaining. If I were watching a show on renegade Christians, I would want to see snake handling, witch hunts and preachers who know the hour and day of the rapture and apocolypse. Anglicans having a good time at the church picnic potluck just wouldn't make the cut.

I suppose anyone who invests in their future is prepping. I suspect that the militarized American version has more to do with the mental health fallout from America's recent foreign adventures than about actual risks as asesed by rational people. Many Viet Nam vets had mental trouble after the war was lost. I believe a similar situation could occur now, so in that way, I also see threats on the horizon. But I expect them to be home grown threats based on heavily armed, mentally unstable clusters of the damaged and the fearful. I don't expect society to fall apart, but it is inevitable that certain individuals will.

As for participants being coached, it seldom takes much prompting to get the paranoid jaw flapping. I have a relative who buys into every conspiracy theory his nimble fingers can locate on the web. Each new "revelation" is added to the paranoid stew swirling around his head. At family events, he talks non stop as others turn their backs, walk away or laugh in his face. Christmas leaves him hoarse. He is heavily armed and he's an awesome fighter. I've watched him lay 5 of his druggie associates flat in 30 seconds.

I agree with pretty much everything you wrote. There are many shades of crazy and many "threats" that some people are sure are going to happen. There are also many threats that some people never consider till it hits them. I know for a fact that I will lose my job in 2 months, knowing that I am preparing now. I am saving $ like mad, buying extra food I already eat when it's on sale, and securing secondary streams of income. Stockpiling guns and ammo, OK, maybe, I don't know, if that's what that person feels is important to them, then go for it. I personally have never had to defend myself in that manner, but I have to eat every day, and I have to pay my bills so that takes precident over the "tactical" mentality.

I really like how Jack calls it practical preparedness and approaches it in a rational manner.

"6. Plan for disaster in the following order of priority – Personal-Localized-Regional-State-National-Global. Despite the real possibility of a true economic melt down or catastrophic terrorist attack or some other major global disaster the most probable “disaster” for any individual is personal. Loss of a job, loss of a family member, a fire or localized weather event are the most probable threats to impact any individual. So plan and prepare for those first, then continue to build going forward."

If you have an extra minute check out this link. He has his list of 10 values of modern survivalism.

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/articles-by-jack/modern-survival-philosophy-2

While not everyone approaches it from a rational manner, for the most part his community does. Not saying there arn't a few tin foil hatters mixed in, everything is always a spectrum. Different strokes for differnt folks, different horse different courses, and all shades of crazy.

I don't think that the people on "doomsday preppers" are regulars at the forum or listeners of the show. In your example they would be more like tha Anglicans who are pissed off at the renegade Christians for making people associate them with being kooks.

I totally agree that our greatest risks are personal. My work has fluctuations. 3 years ago most of my work came from a house moving company. I was their go to guy for slicing buildings in half or making ugly problems go away. On Friday, I cleaned up some crap at their Victoria site in preperation for leasing the space.

I can roll with this but several of their guys have moved on to lesser jobs. One guy started there 10 years ago as a grunt. He trained on the crane, the barge, the lift truck and other specialized equipment, making himself indispensable. Now he drives a dump truck at just over half the pay that the house movers paid. A generous benefits package is also gone. None of us are mad at the owner. He kept things going longer than he should have, in an attempt to revive things and this cost him dearly.

Dale Hodgins wrote:I don't expect society to fall apart, but it is inevitable that certain individuals will.

I don't expect society to fall apart tomorrow, but no society lasts forever. I think about that at this time of year as I "prep" for my ridiculously large passover (next week, nooooo). There's a song we sing which symbolizes all of the societies we've been members of that have collapsed: Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Assyria, Persia, Macedonia, Rome, Ottoman Empire. The song predates the pogroms and WWII.

Expanding the view a bit, it's mind boggling, the various collapses of the 20th century. Narrowing the view, the last decade in America has seen quite a few "temporary" collapses. Many communities in Vermont were totally isolated for at least a week by TS Irene. I had a friend who ran out of food due to a bare pantry and then her generator didn't run (or ran out of gas) and all the food in her freezer went. Katrina isolated people for a week.

If you don't have 2 weeks of food and medicine you're courting trouble. That's the kind of thing everyone should prep for, minimum.

I laughed and laughed at that video. People always tell me they know where to go when TSHTF. And then I tell them that's fine if they want to be my serfs...

Cj, you mentioned passover. I'm sure I read one of your posts where you mention pork, lard or bacon. The relatives will have your head unless they're a very liberal bunch.

No pork for the Jewish holidays. This one is extra tough! Feed 40 without a ham or bread or rice or dairy products or...
I do have 3 gallons of chicken soup and brisket from my own cow and chickens I killed myself. The chickens are finally laying again so plenty of hard boiled eggs too.

Like I said - I laughed & laughed at that video! I don't have enough of my own lamb this year but next year will be the first time lamb has been served on passover in my family in at least 4 generations!

Dale you have to recognize:

Preppering and Permaculture are two sides of the same coin, kind of a negative "I want to be prepared to survive the hiccups or the rapid collapse of this society/economy" versus "I want to start creating the type of society/economy we need to move towards as this current degenerates."

I became interested in Permaculture as a teenager from an environmental / connect-to-nature / connect-to-food perspective. Over time I became aware of how dependent our society is on things like cheap oil, and became concerned with wanting to "prepared" to thrive after Peak Oil. Then I realized there are ways that a collapse of our economy could happen very very quickly.

Many people are both preppers and permies, with or without knowing it. It all has to do with resilience, self-sufficiency, homesteading, being able to sustain oneself/community. Sure some people come at it from fear and desire to survive. Some people come it from "even if things didn't collapse, I want this lifestyle."

The average "prepper"/"survivalist" includes the gun because if-ever there were a rapid collapse of our modern economy / grid / supply-chain, hungry and unprepared people might do desperate things to feed themselves - - and self-sufficient homesteaders should be aware that they could need to defend their lives someday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_i20xnlHTQ&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGj92B5BzvI&feature=relmfu


The follow-ups. I am loving these videos!!!

Brad Davies wrote:I agree with pretty much everything you wrote.

Hi Brad, isn't editing a wonderful tool ? I thought it would be fun to quote this little snippet, which implies that we are in total agreement.

I've seen Jack Spriko before and he's not a nut. His first rule which concerns doing things that improve your life, even if "nothing happens" would serve everyone, including the nuts.

My favorite quote from Jack comes from something he said to me in the thread I started about unbridled greed. I had no idea who he was at the time. I would encourage all members of the forum to adopt a similar fondness for everything I say. Not only would this foster peaceful discourse, it would feed my fragile ego and possibly reduce complaints and deletions which sometimes occur when I speak the truth or find humor at inappropriate times.

Here is Jack's quote and my response.------------ Dale, ask Paul and he will tell you the following words are something I almost never say.

I am 100% completely in agreement with you on every word of what you just said.

Man that almost never happens if there was a smilie for standing applause here I would have inserted it for you.

My response --------- Thank you Jack. You are obviously a man of taste and intellect. I enjoy pontificating on various subjects and it's always nice when someone agrees.

Sometimes I start a thread so that I may provoke thought and discussion which may be outside the comfort zone of many. This has led to some deletions but in this case it has led to an important discussion of personal and financial priorities. I hope the civilized nature of our discussions can continue.

I do think our culture is shifting a bit. We might have more general awareness of what's wrong with our food systems.

Though I think this video is where it's at now. Soooo funny! And spot-on!



NOTE: this is in meaningless drivel for the HUMOR only. To discuss the politics of this in ANY way - move those comments on over to the cider press.