Endgame: how Australian preppers are bugging out and hunkering down
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
> As global anxiety takes hold, an increasing number of people are preparing for the worst-case scenario
Am I the only one not in the loop whith this?
And if we're really facing 'global nuclear annihilation' I don't think grownup men running around the bush with plastic compass and god damn bow, roleplaying Metro 2033 are solution to this.
Luckily, the article differentiates here and doesn't feature hardcore fatalists only. And in my view, just thinking about what living outside modern society encompasses will actually help people understand what they got. And why they should fight for it.
Personally, I need insulin. So I'm committed anyway. I can't just go hide in a bush for years on-end.
It comes off like you're saying "well if shit really goes south I'm screwed so these people should be too". A few thousand preppers who are too busy prepping to "fight for a solution" isn't gonna make the difference between shit going south or not.
Not to be an ass but the kind of people I picture saying something like that are stuffy politicians who likes to use phrases like "antisocial behavior", "community norms" and "if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem" and who is completely out of touch with what shapes the decisions of everyday people.
If someone wants to prep for something that's highly unlikely to happen then I see no problem with that. If anything their prepping stands to be useful in a hurricane Katrina type situation. What's the problem with that?
I think it's more a recognition that we are social creatures, and that the minimum-viable unit of social reproduction is the village cluster, not the lone-wolf individual.
The notion that these folk are going to "survive" in any meaningful sense is a fantasy.
If we all disagree what the solution to societal problems is, it is tempting to think I can have my solution independently of others. With this convenient illusion, it is easier to walk into societal collapse. Just live the sweet life now, and when it hits, I run off.
And hurricane Katrina? You realize that many deaths would have been prevented if the levees had been constructed properly? Sure, in hindsight that is easy to say. But that's exactly the issue here: The prepper mindset does not include collective protection. It doesn't scale.
You can't be sent to the antarctic if you have one, because the risk of suddenly dying is small but very real and the extraction times impossible.
Given that, having your appendix out would probably be pretty far down the list.
There was a Soviet doctor there in the 60's who successfully removed his own appendix, but I think in general that's a situation that you want to avoid.
Every person who has adequate preparations for themselves and their family is a person who who's allowing societal resources to go to someone else in greater need. It's one less person standing in line for water and food after a disaster.
Far from an anti-solution, it provides distributed herd immunity.
The people hiding in their shelters will live just a bit longer. If that means they survive: great. But they could also die alone instead of having defeated the danger together.
My favorite though are the billionaires who think that they wouldn’t be the first against the wall if civilization collapsed, and really believe their holes in New Zealand will be more than their graves. Still, if it makes people feel better and they’re unable or unwilling to address the roots of their fear and anxiety, it’s pretty harmless in most cases.
At best, they get left alone till they run out of supplies, but most likely they get wiped out (if they try to not be absorbed) by the most successful group that adopts a mobile strategy.
I mean ISIS literally proved this model works for a very long time: advance and expand using the resources in the areas you take over, and pacify local populations with equal parts savagery and the spoils of war.
A sustainable version still looks the same - join the largest mobile group, and rapidly absorb territory and people until you become self-sustaining hopefully. And then defend if the same way - by staying mobile, but and having reinforcements to call upon.
The US adopted maneuver warfare as a tactical doctrine for a reason.
World annhiliation is difficult to assess. Local political disaster .. well, it feels closer than a few years ago. But I don't think it will be the big nuclear one.
Switzerland "preps" on a society-wide scale: every apartment building must have its own nuclear shelter, and the mountains are riddled with more military and civilian shelters and stockpiles. They're completely prepared to blow the bridges and lockdown the country if it's required.
Meanwhile I'm wondering what level of "prepping" is appropriate for Brexit. The government alternates between announcing the issue of commemorative coins and announcing plans to requisition ships to deal with the Channel transport fiasco. I've already experiences not having any fresh food (milk, bread etc) in the shops for 5 days this year - and that was down to two feet of snow.
Individualist survival is always going to be terribly limited, and not possible for vulnerable individuals. The best solution is a society that takes the right threats seriously and looks after its vulnerable.
This is just enjoying my hobbies combined with good sense preparedness for living in Florida.
As for plastic compasses, they work fine and are hard to break, orienteering is a fun hobby, and bow hunting is a popular sport here.
Also every person you pass on the street can end your life in minutes or less with few dollars worth of steel. Yet we go about our business.
That possibility is just the cost of living near people. With nukes "near" means "on the same planet".
Articles like this, however, make me wonder if there is a strategy that will leave me more prepared than the average person, but not involve devoting my entire life & pool of resources to a bomb shelter in the outback. We insure against other unlikely but catastrophic events through various types of insurance - are there any demi-preppers out there?
That way you're more prepared than 95% of people if something catastrophic were to go down, but you've only spent a weekend's worth of time and $20 on a pack of walkie-talkies. There seem to be diminishing returns where you're giving up current quality of life/free time for increasingly smaller 'preparedness' value.
There's a reason most state-level disaster relief advice starts with "stay in your homes" unless there's actual flood waters rising or something - because masses of people suddenly moving about is a pretty good way to create a whole bunch of disruption and disaster.
Generally you aim at basics.
* About 3 weeks worth of food (2000 kcal/person/day)
* Week of water (gallon/person/day), some basic water filtration (Sawyer squeeze)
* Some preps may be more in line with local climate (backup heating for cold environments)
* Evacuation bags are very common and are also known as BOBs (but most are garbage with lots of guns and no water). Still good to make some with copies of important documents, some water and spare clothes. Just get your old spare bag and unused clothes, no need to overthink it.
* Think about having more first aid material and skills
* Hygiene can be pain once your toilet does not flush anymore and you can't wash your hands, make some arrangements for that too (ie. bucket and plastic bags are way better than nothing)
* I'd also consider tools, such as headlamp per person, other depends on location and needs. Axe can be useful even in city in case of earthquake. Fixed blade knife is probably most versatile tool and Morakniv companion for 15 USD is usually sufficient. But I would suggest some practice here too, you don't want to get cut during temporary service disruption.
Good luck. As German governmental pamphlet states "Germany is ready, when every German is ready". Replace with your own country :).
In any “without rule of law” scenario you need a real means of protection. While this may be a shocker to some people if you try and fight with a knife, even if you have edged weapons training, there is a great chance you are going to bleed as well.
I hope people who have had the state tell them they don’t need a firearm never have to figure out that should have been their own choice to make.
But for the US, I agree, I don't trust Americans to be civilized when the shit hits the fan - it's every man for himself there. Which is why the country is failing.
Focusing on guns just make it look like prepping is just for "gun-nuts" (as much as I don't share that opinion).
In a without rule of law scenario there is no one coming to help, say to protect you from someone bigger stronger faster or more clever than you that did not have a prepper foresight.
Que the famous Samuel Colt quote, right?
Guns aren't very common in my country so I'm not worried about gun-toting locals rampaging around. Sure, a few might raid a military base or a farmer's shotgun cabinet, but statistically I think my family would be under far more threat from hypothermia, cholera or an infected scratch.
I’ll give you a hint, there’s a reason the Taliban was walking around with Soviet era AK-47s, and Isis was walking around with US-made M-16s.
"Guns and weapons helped no one directly and were even of little to no use in the defense of Sarajevo, since they were toys compared to the shells, bombs and high-powered armaments of the attacking forces."
Guns really are also not "get and forget" kind of think. They can help or get you killed.
They might get you killed by mismanaging them (basically you shoot yourself by accident), by making you overconfident and not escaping in time, by making you a target "to get your guns", by making you suspicious (imagine checkpoints in now occupied parts of Ukraine) and getting killed in interrogation.
Guns are not all advantages in real world situation.
I wish I could explain how ridiculous it is to remove an option from yourself before a situation arises... but if you don’t already understand that, how could I explain it?
I also think having a fire extinguisher and jumper cables / jump box is a disadvantage in your bizarro scenario where “you might shoot yourself” comes up.
It’s a little funny low obviously little experience you have with firearms - but absolutely trust agents of your government who have maybe 2-3 weeks training once during accedemy with them. Those agents are the ones not coming to help though.
With that said, the reality is that clean water, sanitation, and heating are pretty darn boring. It's like prepping 101 to have some available water, a shovel, and a barbecue or a fireplace or a basement to keep warm. If preppers do seem to you (apart from media misrepresentation) to focus more on guns, it's likely because they're long past having basics like food and water taken care of, and guns are more varied than any of the other basic needs.
Every place is different, and maybe guns are less important in your country, but they're very important during collapses in America, whether we want the world to be that way or not. Look back on the social breakdowns in America over the past--the LA riots come to mind--and look at how locals used guns to defend their stores and homes from looting. And those looters were just rioting; they weren't hungry or fighting for survival.
You're right the basics are boring, but it's the basics you'll spend 24/7 trying to obtain long after your weapons and ammo have gone rusty. And if you think you'll be making your own ammo, I'd say no-one at all will have the luxury of that kind of engineering time when they're trying to get the ground to grow enough food to eat.
In many places, there are quite heavy restrictions on firearms, and obtaining one without breaking the law might simply not be legal for everyone. Most such countries don't outlaw the use of bows and arrows though...
- [ ] water: a LifeStraw or some kind of filtration system and a couple storage containers (maybe 2 7-gallon containers)
- [ ] food: dried fruits, beans, rice, whatever other dry food you want to pack. if you keep it in a container in your pantry you can just eat it whenever and try to keep it replenished
- [ ] shelter: a tent
- [ ] tools: fixed blade knife, solar flash-light/lantern, fire starter, shovel, axe, rope, tarp, compass, whatever you want to grab from REI or Home Depot.
- [ ] first aid: they sell kits at REI or you can assemble your own
Keep these things in a reliable place, maybe a tote in the garage; and keep your car in good shape (gassed up, tires are good, have a flat tire kit, jumper cables, maybe a spare battery, spare gas); and you'll be pretty reasonably prepared.
Some bonus items:
- [ ] a gun or bow for hunting
- [ ] some seeds for gardening
- [ ] some dry fertilizer for gardening
If you've never had to survive in the wild before, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
All fancy tools and no common sense.
Personally, I find it very likely that there will be some kind of short-term (less than 30 days) disruption here, within the next ten years. I live on the countryside and in the north so it's really just a matter of time before the climate changes screws up the weather to such an extent that we get snowed in. Likewise, it's not really that far fetched to expect an extended power outage or flooding.
Medium to long-term disruptions are much less likely (although still possible), but in those cases it's much more important to make sure one's local community can co-operate to make sure actual food production and maintenance of critical infrastructure is handled.
Once that part is handled, prepping for nuclear war, uprisings, alien invasions, zombie apocalypses and so on will be easier (as the basics are covered) and quite a fun hobby. It will also be useful as it will keep skills, that would otherwise be lost to time, alive and well.
I keep about two weeks worth of supplies (food, water, wool blankets, etc) around, because its going to take a long time for federal assistance to arrive.
Congratulations, you've bought insurance for the medium-term societal collapse for about $600 or so.
[0] http://a.co/d/cT00rup [1] http://a.co/d/eroGWNy [2] https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/Mossberg-Maverick-88-Securit...
If you don't have a filter -- and even if you do, depending on what your water sources are -- be aware of how much water your planned foodstuffs will consume. Stuff like dried pasta and flour holds very well, but also consumes a pretty large amount of water to get to a usable state. Canned beans and vegetables and such come with their own water in the package, so they don't use your stores.
EDIT: Don't forget that energy will also be constrained, not just water! Presoak your dried beans and pasta to drastically reduce the amount of energy necessary to cook them.
https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/05/ask-the-food-lab-can-i-s...
If things go wrong you will be far more likely to get by if people know you, like you and are prepared to look out for you or throw you a bone. Your neighbours probably won't look after you unless you are an exceptional person, but they may well feed your family once or twice, help you board up or fix a roof (on the tacit understanding that you will do the same for them) or trust you more than the scary bunch in pickup trucks.
Really - social ties would count more than anything. Collective action is much more potent than machine guns.
Just buy some canned food(that you like) and few packs of bottled water. You're now more prepared than 90% of people. If you expect to evacuate from a local event, make some backpacking gear fitted with necessities and important stuff you need - tools,drugs/first-aid, documents,high-density foods. Like preparing an unexpected camping trip.
Bomb shelters and bunkers are for truly paranoid expecting doomsday scenarios occurring right on top on them, but basic preparedness is not particularly costly, unless you hoard tons of supplies that you can't use.
You don't have to be a nutcase to prepare for disasters.
* I am thinking Katrina, Iraq, Syria-- modern places where things have really fallen apart.
In the US, at least, I recall the term 'prepper' coming along relatively recently, as a softer, more friendly-sounding replacement for the previous term, "survivalist," which had acquired a connotation of "irrational, paranoid gun hoarder type."
Is this a case of the "euphamism treadmill" in action?
I don't know if it's a case of euphemism treadmill. The older term, "survivalist" doesn't seem to have the same negative connotation (but does have the different connotation of focusing more on survival in nature rather than survivng disasters in society).
I am sure some preppers will in fact be ready, guns loaded, and should not be approached. These are also likely to be the ones avoiding urban areas anyway. But the ones I know (fortunately none of whom read HN AFAIK) well enough to know their prep...are unlikely to actually have their guns readily available.
I live in the country already. We have chickens, and a well. We won't get murdered in the urban panic. We will probably last a few months... and then die of disease or starvation like the rest.
The fun of picking, buying, storing, so many fun little decisions to make and so, so many scenarios you can occupy your head with till you die or get bored.