Preppers Were Right?

[Zardnaar]

On another forum I post in a virus thread was started. He didn't seem like one of the crazy ones but he had 3 months of supplies.

We have approximately a months worth.

Hand sanitizer sold out, toilet paper is selling well.

Not going to crazy but thinking of getting some extras sooner rather than later. Wife said no when I suggested a 25kg bag of rice.

Workmates partners hours have been cut to 4 days a week he's in forestry.

This is NZ. Last I heard we have 5 cases, none locally.

I don't think we'll be hit to hard except economically. Tourism is our second biggest earner.

But yeah preppers aren't looking so crazy atm imho.

 

[Arwon]

Well, there's people being prepared in response to a specific unfolding situation that may require a period of isolation. And then there's prepper culture, I'm not sure those are the same thing.

 

[Zardnaar]

Well, there's people being prepared in response to a specific unfolding situation that may require a period of isolation. And then there's prepper culture, I'm not sure those are the same thing.

He said he was a prepper. Some go a little bit far.

 

[Arwon]

Yeah but do they have bog rolls

 

[Zardnaar]

Never understood why preppers get mocked so much. Are they really so crazy for preparing for the collapse of civilization? Sure it may not happen in their lifetime, but it is bound to happen eventually, so I don't see what's so crazy or laughable about preparing for it. Especially since preppers are certainly going to be the ones laughing when civilization does eventually collapse and they are sitting pretty while millions of the unprepared who so mercilessly mock them now starve to death.

Civil defense here says to keep a few weeks supplies on hand.

The ones who have nuclear bunkers and the like.

 

[Hrothbern]

Civil defense here says to keep a few weeks supplies on hand.

The ones who have nuclear bunkers and the like.

With so many people living urban nowadays and everything in the food supply chain just in time that advice of Civil defense is pragmatical.

But what does it include besides the sacks of rice and dry beans, some bottles of vegetable oil and perhaps some spices to prevent eating exactly the same bland taste every day ?
Is your water supply at risk ? Is your energy supply at risk ?
If both are at risk, things become more cumbersome.

During WW2 occupation here chocolate, cigarettes, salt and soap got the highest prices on the black market.

 

[Zardnaar]

With so many people living urban nowadays and everything in the food supply chain just in time that advice of Civil defense is pragmatical.

But what does it include besides the sacks of rice and dry beans, some bottles of vegetable oil and perhaps some spices to prevent eating exactly the same bland taste every day ?
Is your water supply at risk ? Is your energy supply at risk ?
If both are at risk, things become more cumbersome.

During WW2 occupation here chocolate, cigarettes, salt and soap got the highest prices on the black market.

They used to be in the back of the phone book. I'll see if there's an online version.

Here's the main site.
https://www.civildefence.govt.nz/

In going with the assumption power and water keep running. If not we'll have bigger worries anyway.

I expect panic buying this weekend. Apart from toilet paper.

 

[Hrothbern]

They used to be in the back of the phone book. I'll see if there's an online version.

Here's the main site.
https://www.civildefence.govt.nz/

In going with the assumption power and water keep running. If not we'll have bigger worries anyway.

I expect panic buying this weekend. Apart from toilet paper.

If not prepared and ambushed by a disaster... water is the only real issue for the first weeks. And with a bathtube filled you have some buffer immediately.
You can always ration whatever food you have. Unless you have physical issues, semi-fasting a couple of weeks with some snacks, not really for calories, but to break the boredom, won't hurt most of us.

For cooking (and also some heating and a bit of light) the Aladdin blue flame heater is really great !
Just like a Hurricane Pressure Lantern, the Aladdin Petromax on the picture (giving the same amount of light as a traditional something 300 Watt bulb) when you really need light and some smaller hurricane lanterns for not sitting in the dark.
We used both a lot, when needed, in freshly squatted appartments before we had utilities up and running again.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Never understood why preppers get mocked so much. Are they really so crazy for preparing for the collapse of civilization? Sure it may not happen in their lifetime, but it is bound to happen eventually, so I don't see what's so crazy or laughable about preparing for it. Especially since preppers are certainly going to be the ones laughing when civilization does eventually collapse and they are sitting pretty while millions of the unprepared who so mercilessly mock them now starve to death.

I don't think anyone is going to be sitting pretty if civilisation collapses.

 

[Zardnaar]

I don't think anyone is going to be sitting pretty if civilisation collapses.

Well preppers have an advantage.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Well preppers have an advantage.

A cellar full of tinned food is just delaying the inevitable.
If someone buys a smallholding in as remote an area as possible and sets about making themselves as self-sufficient as possible then they are serious.
Otherwise prepping is just a hobby.

 

[Synobun]

A cellar full of tinned food is just delaying the inevitable.
If someone buys a smallholding in as remote an area as possible and sets about making themselves as self-sufficient as possible then they are serious.
Otherwise prepping is just a hobby.

This is what I was going to say. Prepping for a temporary disaster and prepping for total societal collapse are two different things, and simply hoarding supplies just delays the inevitable for the latter. A "real" prepper will develop skills to survive a world without modern amenities, and their supplies will function as a fallback or rationing.

With simple hoarding, you might luck into being absorbed by a reasonable quasi-state in a post-civilization world, but your usefulness will be in that stockpile and not in your actual labour. That'll become a problem quickly.

Survival in an anarchist/dangerous environment is reliant on being useful. An idiot with supplies is a dead idiot.

No judgement from me on that point, as I'd be one of the first to die in a post-civilization world if the disaster itself didn't end me. But prepper culture is rife with idiots with supplies. Even the ones with a gun fetish wouldn't survive long.

 

[Zardnaar]

They'll be sitting pretty relative to the situation those who didn't prepare would find themselves in.

In that type of situation anyone who gets to eat after a month wins.

 

[Synobun]

They would also likely become the new political elite in any attempt to rebuild society due to the fact that they would be the ones in control of all the vital resources as well as all the guns (at least in the US).

If they have friends, maybe. Otherwise they're just an idiot with a gun who'll get killed by another idiot with a gun... who has friends.

 

[Hrothbern]

In a RPG you wake up in a dungeon and find an old rusty dagger... and it is all up to you where you are going to end up

The romantic notion of a full disaster and prepping is the total reset with existing powers shredded... where everybody can start all over... and preppers having the bonus of more than that rusty dagger.

 

[Synobun]

Most preppers do have a group they plan to survive with. Usually it's just family members, but there aren't that many preppers out there that plan on going it alone.

Hmm. Every prepper I've personally known has gone the isolationist route. But then again, every prepper I've known has also fallen into the "idiot with supplies" column. If they have a group plan, that seems ideal and far more viable.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

A cellar full of tinned food is just delaying the inevitable.
If someone buys a smallholding in as remote an area as possible and sets about making themselves as self-sufficient as possible then they are serious.
Otherwise prepping is just a hobby.

Depends what you're prepping for. With hurricane/other disaster fallout ~1-3 months supply makes a big difference. Even more so if everyone does it, would likely save lives. It won't save you from collapse of civilization or something, but it's a much smaller investment bar than being prepared for such an extreme too.

 

[innonimatu]

I don't think that lack of supplies is the current problem. Countries should prepare, as in making sure that they either produce or have multiple sources for critical goods. Doing that individually doesn't really work except if one prepared for the exact scenario, and does not scale.

 

[FriendlyFire]

They would also likely become the new political elite in any attempt to rebuild society due to the fact that they would be the ones in control of all the vital resources as well as all the guns (at least in the US).

This is pure fantasy
Based on a narrow scenario(s) where people die quickly leaving plentiful resources for the preppers to be the kings of. If the Government ever collapses the crisis will be monumental
Better to face the reality of possible ecological collapse, increasing environmental catastrophes and other major problems as an entire nation with national level resources.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

They would also likely become the new political elite in any attempt to rebuild society due to the fact that they would be the ones in control of all the vital resources as well as all the guns (at least in the US).

"All the guns" will only benefit you if you know how - and have the materials and tools - to make them, plus the ammunition, from scratch when you run out.

Some of the SCA people would do okay in this respect, not because of guns, but because they learned to be real blacksmiths and metalworkers. They do know how to make weapons.


As for me, I'm dependent on medication that requires refrigeration. It lasts about a month without, so at the end of that time, I'm dead.