Doomsday Prepping

[Dave Gray]

I have somehow gotten it into my ad algorithms that I am an ultra-right doomsday prepper.  I get a lot of ads for patriotic-based, off-grid survival stuff, like portable solar generators and dehydrated food tubs.

And while this isn't my thing at all, I do actually kind of respect it.  Unfortunately, I think it takes advantage of the conspiracy riddled mind, but the concept of being prepared in the face of certain disasters definitely appeals to me.  I'm the kind of person that will have a hurricane box, for example, with basic supplies.  But for me, it's all about risk assessment.  I'm likely to have a hurricane.  I'm unlikely to have to live underground because of societal collapse.


All that said, I do think that the concept of a lot of these things is interesting.  And sadly, I imagine the kind of people that do this are perpetually unfulfilled, because you can never really be ready for the end of civilization, so I imagine it's always nagging at you that you aren't doing enough, if you're truly convinced that the fall of man is immanent.

Off grid living and self-sustaining systems line up with other interests I have so it's all tangentially related.  Do you guys have any thoughts or interests in this?

[Pappy13]

My feelings are that you would only be delaying the inevitable. You could perhaps outlive most or perhaps even all people after the fall of civilization (depending upon what that looks like) but you will still inevitibly succumb which is why the idea of life after death is so appealing to many. It gives them hope or perhaps peace of mind. Not really all that different from you trying to be prepared for a hurricane in my humble opinion.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I agree, prepping for a hurricane make sense.  Prepping for siege does not.  The problem with many of the ultra-preppers isn't that they aren't just preparing for the worst case, they want it.

[Spider-Dan]

I think something like Katrina's aftermath is probably the worst-case "realistic" scenario.  There were people stranded in (on) their homes for days, but those were the people who didn't follow the evacuation orders.  So even if you had a huge bunker in your backyard with months of food... well, that stuff is all underwater now, or you had to leave most of it behind when you evacuated.

In California, the two most realistic catastrophes are earthquake and fire.  Earthquake is uncommon, but more importantly, you don't get warning for an earthquake and you have no idea what will be left standing.  It seems to me like the most practical prep for an earthquake would be something like a tent that you can quickly erect, rather than a fixed bunker.  As far as fire goes, if I get a fire evacuation order, I will simply drive to some area of CA that isn't on fire, where they will still have food for sale... and I'll be leaving most everything behind in my house.  So the only prep I really need (other than a bug-out bag) is money.

In any sort of nuclear war scenario, the people who die in the first strike will be the lucky ones.

[CF DolFan]

Prepping to some degree makes sense to me. Many people can live off the grid perfectly fine but many others are lost if they lose phone and internet from something as simple as EMPs. There are books out there which will help you live off the grid but hunting, fishing, and farming skills would be helpful in many situations. Some sort of stock of food would also be helpful to get you up and running. 

[Phishfan]

I'm not really a pepper. I use sandbags to help with water on my back porch, I  get water,  I get some food supplies but not even a week worth usually. It's been a successful practice for almost 30 years in Florida. Doomsday prepping makes me chuckle a bit. Has anyone ever met a person that does it?

[CF DolFan]

I'm not really a pepper. I use sandbags to help with water on my back porch, I  get water,  I get some food supplies but not even a week worth usually. It's been a successful practice for almost 30 years in Florida. Doomsday prepping makes me chuckle a bit. Has anyone ever met a person that does it?

Yep. I know people who have hand pump wells on their property as well as keep gardens for such a time. Many people have go bags already packed and many, if not most of the people I am close with, have enough ammunition and weapons to overthrow a small government.

I think people would be surprised to know the list includes doctors, lawyers, as well as a bunch of rednecks but it is more common than you likely think. I look at it this way, after a natural disaster it is typically those same people who are first to jump in and help as they have to the tools to perform in horrible conditions. Most often they are the actual first responders to help people. 

After the tornadoes of 98 here in Central Florida we had to escort deputies and others into remote areas to look for bodies because we had swamp equipment and they didn't. I know much of that has changed as police need to be able to suppress a military but the people helping have not.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

have enough ammunition and weapons to overthrow a small government.

That is the thing with a lot of the "preppers", their number one focus is "self-defense"  But if you have more ammo than food stored, you aren't preparing for self-sufficiency you are preparing to become a looter.   

[Spider-Dan]

Given the increasing prevalence of people arming themselves to go instigate confrontations, in a real disaster situation, the people with more ammo than food are likely going to be "defending themselves" from unarmed people who refuse to hand over their food stores to the armed thug shouting at them (what would be called "armed robbery" when not being done by a God-fearing patriot).

[CF DolFan]

That is the thing with a lot of the "preppers", their number one focus is "self-defense"  But if you have more ammo than food stored, you aren't preparing for self-sufficiency you are preparing to become a looter.   

Lol ... you liberals are so short sighted it isn't even funny. We will leave the looting to you the professionals. I have horses, donkeys, a bunch of chickens but I also routinely have deer and bear in my yard or neighborhood. In fact, I can confirm the sandhill crane tastes like a steak and I've also eaten bunny, squirrel, quail, dove, armadillo, raccoon, possum. and gopher turtle. Never eaten bobcat but I've seen a bunch of them too. I live on the edge of the The Ocala National Forest and say all of this because we would run out of ammo way before we run out of options to survive.

[Dave Gray]

I don't really think that hunting with guns is a legitimate survival strategy, long term.  I just don't think we have the animal populations to sustain it.  A bunch of people would need to die off first, which would probably happen.

I think you YOU could survive, but not the collective WE.

I think that ocean fishing would probably be a good method.  The ocean is really big.

[Spider-Dan]

The entire "live off the land" strategy is not viable for anyone who lives in a city/town with more than 10,000 people.  There's no way the area you live in would be able to sustain that many people foraging off the land (or nearby sea): thousands would need to relocate.

Over time, we could build towards a society that would support far more local foraging, with thousands of families having their own gardens etc.  But an overnight catastrophe that sends thousands upon thousands to the forests, swamps, rivers and coastline to forage for food?  Even the people with hunting skills would be screwed by all the clueless people scaring off deer, ruining traps, etc.

We have far far far too many people in concentrated locations to live in a hunter-gatherer society.

[CF DolFan]

If I lived in a big city I would at least try and get prepared to have to take care of my family. I would learn to shoot a bow, how to fish, how to make a fire etc. Having a few weeks of food to get going also wouldn't be a bad idea. Learning to cook those big snakes in the everglades might be helpful as well. hahha

[Dave Gray]

For our area, fishing seems to be the only viable source of meat.

It's basically unlimited.  I don't think you can overfish with fishing poles, especially since there won't be deep sea boats netting thousands of fish. 

[Spider-Dan]

Imagine a beach or river with thousands of people fishing at the same time.  Even if you know what you're doing, you won't catch much.  If you don't have a boat that lets you fish farther out in the ocean, you're screwed.