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Comment by jamestimmins | Hacker News Reader

'Videos for the prepper will “explore apocalyptic scenarios and how to “prepare” for them.”'

Interesting that it seems to suggest that preppers aren't /truly/ prepping for these scenarios, or that the scenarios aren't real. If anything, it seems like Covid-19 has proved a surprising number of preppers right in some sense.

It may not be a zombie situation where people need large stores of ammo, but the modern world can fall apart to such a degree that the ability to survive outside of dependence on normal systems is an advantage.

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> If anything, it seems like Covid-19 has proved a surprising number of preppers right in some sense.

Most preppers I've run into are preparing for scenarios in which they finally get to shoot people that they don't like, and expect that people who don't like them will try to take their stuff and kill them, too. A lot of them are preparing for fantasy situations that they're strangely excited about. Through that lens, prepping isn't very different than live action role-playing.

I don't know. Most of the prepper material I read before the pandemic predicted a breakdown in civilisation type situation. Even through the stress of this pandemic, the world has remained remarkably intact.

A pandemic was consistently predicted as one of the biggest risks to the world by people like Bill Gates. But the preppers were not super interested.

We would all probably be better off if we prepped a little bit for 'everyday' or 'common' emergency situation such ad adverse weathers, with the government prepping for outside-the-norm emergencies.

Also, prepping channels seems to be a bit obsessed with things as opposed to skills.

Things are easier to acquire than skills.

I disagree- the time and money spent on things could be spent on a weekend long (possibly free online) course in first aid, cooking, hygiene and other basic home skills.

First aid skills without bandaid isn't useful. Cooking skills without food isn't useful. Hygiene skills without soap isn't useful.

You need to prep by having the skills, and having the materials. It may be a good idea to know how to make the materials, but that assumes time which means you need a supply

You can stock a 2-year first aid kit and many months or years of food at your local grocery store very cheaply. If you want to last longer, befriend your local farmer's market where you can buy food and soap.

I feel like the preppers were not prepared. Too much ammo and MREs, not enough pasta and hygienic supplies.

There was a great Cracked podcast about this recently. Preppers are basically preparing for some Hollywood doomsday scenario where the hero overcomes challenges by putting himself first and (sometimes violently) surviving by a series of physically demanding challenges that depends on his canny and his wits.

The real life pandemic scenario is 'solved' (in the same sense) by listening to Government advice, being considerate of others and staying at home and watching TV.

Many preppers just want to play soldier and imagine they will get to shoot up marauding neighbors.

The real preppers are Mormon families who follow LDS guidelines for keeping their pantry stocked with one-year's supply of food to provide for their family.

As someone who lives in Mormon country, most families here are incredibly well-prepared for emergencies. It's notable that the LDS-style emergency preparedness assumes that social structures will be available through the local wards and therefore individual preparedness can be planned more practically. For example, emergency food stores are standard groceries rotated through the household's regular diet rather than special emergency foods.

> by listening to Government advice

I beg to differ. The CDC insisted masks don't work until April, the WHO until June.

The Twitter account for the British Prime Minister said that you can both exercise in parks and that visiting parks put lives in danger on the same day. Of course this should be expected from a populist government that needs to put forward multiple ideas to gauge public opinion before implementing policy but then any advice from the (English) government just comes across as contradictory and hypocritical especially when the politicians themselves don't follow the advice.

We had the whole 'masks don't work' song and dance too and by all accounts England is one of the worst countries for mask adoption rates despite a decent majority of the country thinking that they work, adoption rates might change a little when masks become mandatory in shops in a little over a week but for most people it's after the strict lockdown has ended and well past the point of being necessary. So I'd agree with you here, it has been very hard to take the official advice seriously and it's a real shame that a government is muddying the waters for political reasons.

https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/12467792104101437...

https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/12468073039756206...

The UK is wearing masks at a higher rate than many EU countries

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1114375/wearing-a-face-m...

Sorry in advanced for a late reply to an already off-topic tangent. It has been reported on heavily that mask wearing rates in the UK are low compared to Europe [0] although I'll fully admit not doing my due diligence in examining whether the headlines match the claims, those stats don't even include countries like Iceland, or Belgium & Norway which would be interesting to see given the difference in lockdown strategies, but in my defence mask wearing rates in the UK are low compared to similarly sized countries like Italy, France, Spain, or Germany.

The Scandinavian results are interesting but they do seem to be outliers, Sweden is definitely an outlier but maybe if you look at all the Nordic countries and include Iceland the results won't be too interesting.

[0] https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1281638035462004739

One of the underpinnings of many preppers' operating model was "we'll use the MREs to wait for law enforcement to collapse and then use ammo to become king of the hill in post-apocalyptic society". They weren't preparing for all apocalypses, just the ones that would let them use military strength to become unchallenged fief lords. In any scenario where law enforcement is still operating, their stashes are of little use.

The ammo thing is strange. It's as if they estimate their probability of survival in a firefight by assuming their adversaries will be as accurate as storm troopers from Star Wars.

Ammo is useful because if civilization ends you can hunt deer and other wild food with it.

How they survive the end of civilization is something I've never understood. If the world population is in the thousands odds are you are dead.

You'll need at most a hundred rounds. There isn't that many deer around. Yet preppers hoard tens of thousands of rounds.

If you want to be sustainable, get a crossbow instead.

You can burn a lot of ammo in a single fight if you have any kind of fully or semi-auto gun. Human vs human is what these people prepare for the most.

A crossbow is a terrible idea as well. You need specialized machines in order to re-string it let alone if any other part fails. If your plans require zero reliability to civilization then traditional archery or an ~100lbs recurve bow modified with a trigger and a compound aim is your best bet.

Right, but the point is that human VS human isn't very likely.

I'd say it's much more likely that the original suggestion of being in the last few thousand alive

You need to account for practice shots, and misses as well. Though that gets you to maybe 1000 rounds. Though if you are hunting rabbits you need a lot more ammo. Most preppers are hoarding ammo too light for deer hunting, though a good shot works I use more powerful ammo than a typical "assault rifle"

> it seems like Covid-19 has proved a surprising number of preppers right in some sense

Right in some senses, wrong in others. The world went a little crazy, but there wasn't a total collapse of society. Grocery stores still have food in them, the world still turns.

There are commonalities. I had some N95 masks since 9/11 and bought more after California fires. I did not anticipate COVID-19, but that stash still turned out to be useful.

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