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The main thing for me is that prepping only work if there is a transitory situation where a buffer can make it easier to navigate. If we are going full steam a

• foogazi 4y ago
  > If we are going full steam ahead towards the collapse of civilization your prepping just delays the inevitable. We all die in the end - isn’t a delay of then inevitable all we do everyday ?
  • etrautmann 4y ago
    Yep, although I think the spirit of that point is that surviving the apocalypse may not be all that desirable.
    • foogazi 4y ago
      I’d rather find out and decide for myself
    • xboxnolifes 4y ago
      Society only exists as is today because people went through that "undesirable" period.
• SnowHill9902 4y ago
  Exactly. Prepping is not just stocking tuna cans and staying a nerd. It’s being physically fit, having a network of neighbors, and so on.
  • x86x87 4y ago
    now we need to workout? booooo /s
  • cykros 4y ago
    Lol, cans of tuna. I laugh because the was a brief while that I was eating far too much tuna, having realized how cheap and lean a source of protein it was -- only to realize a few weeks later that you really are advised to avoid eating it more than once a week or so, at least with any regularity, thanks to the presence of high levels of mercury these days. Now I really want to see a post apocalyptic film featuring mercury poisoned lunatics running around in a Cormack McCarthy landscape.
• candiddevmike 4y ago
  In my experience, preppers miss or outright avoid the last part. Humans survive as communities. There's too much work involved and not enough redundancies with just a few people. Extreme preppers are anxiety induced hoarders.
  • protomyth 4y ago
    I think there are different varieties of preppers, and some have communities. Frankly, by some definitions, I'm a prepper which is rather surprising. I think if you live rural you tend to have a lot more supplies on hand. I used to keep 3 full days, but I now have a 7 day supply, and friends feel fairly justified in have a year's worth of goods. Heck, some of the base prepper playbook are rural hobbies (micro-farming) or just basic winter prep (generator). Now, solar and wind have gotten a lot more convenient with people doing battery walls. I get the feeling that those folks just got tired of listening to the power company say wait.
  • mikhmha 4y ago
    Coincidentally most preppers are American.
    • giantg2 4y ago
      Source? I find it highly unlikely that people in Europe don't plan for any events, especially given the current situation in that region. I would guess many have a month worth of food and some sort of plan is the heat goes out.
      • mikhmha 4y ago
        No source. I'm not referring to the act of prepping itself. That's not limited to America lol. I'm referring to the "prepper" culture that is most vocal on the english internet. The american prepper who fantasizes about living in some remote bunker stocked with foods and guns.
        • giantg2 4y ago
• delecti 4y ago
  Isn't the point of the guns that kind of person stockpiles specifically to prevent people taking them? If you're already at the point where you're violently taking things, then they've pretty effectively made themselves much less appealing targets than like, supermarkets or great depression survivors.
  • Retric 4y ago
    The gun stockpile itself is a valuable resource and being armed is of little use defensively.
    • locutous 4y ago
      Being armed is a dramatically effective way to improve defensibility. How many effective defensive fortifications can you name that ran intentionally without any arms because they are of "little use"?
    • Anderkent 4y ago
      how do you figure it's of little use? big difference between breaking in to loot a house you know is unarmed, versus one known to be armed and possibly keeping watch
    • mgarfias 4y ago
      Source for the latter statement?
      • Retric 4y ago
        Vietnam ambushes, WWI trench warfare, etc. It seems very counterintuitive casualties where often lower for the attackers and counter offensive than the defenders.
        • locutous 4y ago
          First, an ambush is not a traditional attacker role. The ambusher has the pre-prepared position and is leveraging an intelligence advantage. A counter attack similarly isn't assaulting a prepared position. Otherwise this is an ignorant view. Attackers can have advantages because of initiative. They can pick their place, time, and methods, find the weakest point, etc. They can also choose to not attack at all. Which they do all the time. The number a times attackers have been repelled and destroyed despite possessing the initiative is innumerable. Assaulting a prepared defensive position in it's strength is widely acknowledged to be a really stupid idea and you don't do it unless your other options are worse.
• brunoqc 4y ago
  Like Bill Burr said, you are just gathering stuff for the biggest guy on your street.
  • dclusin 4y ago
    Which special was this from?
    • brunoqc 4y ago
      https://youtu.be/x9iYvyffAh4?t=35 https://youtu.be/x9iYvyffAh4?t=35
  • protomyth 4y ago
    I think Bill seriously underestimates the value of defensive fire. Or, most people actually prepping will also think of defense.
    • hotpotamus 4y ago
      I once watched a youtube video of a guy talking about the offensive uses of flamethrowers who said they actually kill most people via carbon monoxide poisoning in bunkers rather than burning them to death. I think it was meant to try and make them seem less macabre, but it had the opposite effect for me. Certainly didn't make a bunker sound all that appealing as a defense.
    • giantg2 4y ago
      I mean, he's a comic. Often time comics make fun of the very beliefs they hold and exaggerate points of reality.
      • brunoqc 4y ago
        Yeah, their goal must be to make us laugh. If it makes us think, that's just bonus.
• specialist 4y ago
  > work together will more likely do way better Yup. My then teenage son was obsessed with the zombie apocalypse and therefore prepping. I tried to convince him that being handy and not being an asshole were the two best survival skills he should focus on. At least he's handy. Maybe that'll be enough.
  • toomuchtodo 4y ago
    Good advice to give. https://boingboing.net/2015/12/21/a-survivalist-on-why-you-shoul.html https://boingboing.net/2015/12/21/a-survivalist-on-why-you-s... (Cory Doctorow: A survivalist on why you shouldn't bug out) https://boingboing.net/2008/07/13/postapocalypse-witho.html https://boingboing.net/2008/07/13/postapocalypse-witho.html (Cory Doctorow: Post-apocalypse without the militias: The Outquisition)
• jerf 4y ago
  Everyone should do some basic prep, because you are virtually certain in your life to experience "a transitory situation where a buffer can make it easier to navigate" at some point in your life. This meme where if you prep at all, you must be worried about the zombie apocalypse is harmful. I do quite a bit of basic prep, but I am fully aware that in a total collapse situation it may not matter much. I prepare because I have been in situations before where a buffer is helpful. I've been without power for 5 days before... and I live in a reasonably dense area, not the rural backwaters, a storm just hit me three different ways and there were repairs blocking the necessary repairs. I've been unable to get to the store for a couple of days. My furnace has gone out in the middle of winter. I've been in a "boil water" advisory. Who knows what else may happen? I don't prepare to live my life unchanged in these scenarios, but because I prepared I was not uncomfortable, and no social resources had to be expended to bail me out. I particularly think every socially-aware person ought to have basic prep on hand for that last reason. Be ready to live in your own due to some disaster so that the people who really need the help can get it. Having a couple of weeks of food,a few days of water, backup heating plans, and whatever else you need to survive for a couple of days is not paranoia. It's preparing for things that have happened all the time, and will continue to happen. Don't pass up on cheap, basic, pro-social readiness because you're worried someone will accuse you of being crazy and worrying about the Alien invasion. Be reasonably ready. Be reasonably resilient. Don't be totally dependent on a day-by-day basis on everything going perfectly that day. That's all. This is cheap, easy, effective, and very likely to be helpful at some point.
  • x86x87 4y ago
    yeah that's fine. i have food and water to last me 3 months. it's not the type of stuff I want to eat (classic emergency food that lasts for 30 years) but it's there. i also stock up on food regularly and i have a buffer where i could cook 2-3-4 weeks out of food that has a reasonable shelf life (think flour). but this is just to absorb small bump. and i think it technically is called an emergency plan, not prepping.
    • molotovh 4y ago
      You're a perfect example of what jerf is talking about. "I'll get the dog and you get the kids and we'll meet at Aunt Sue's place" is "an emergency plan." Stockpiling 3 months of rations is more prepping than 90% of Americans are likely to have ever done. But because of the stigma of "crazy preppers", you don't want to call it prepping. That stigma is a problem. People need to be prepared for both short-term emergencies and long-term disasters, and they need to stop being made to feel that doing so makes them social outcasts.
• locutous 4y ago
  Were you never taught that it is wrong to steal? It's attitudes like this that make the collapse of civilization even possible. People who willingly, even eagerly, go feral and abandon their civility. Taking by force, stealing from others, is a great way to dramatically shorten your life expectancy. Live by the sword, die by the sword.
• giantg2 4y ago
  "Also, if shift hits the fan, communities that are able to band together and work together will more likely do way better." I'm not sure if you're just using prepper in a derogatory way, or general way. If people aren't practicing some self reliance before an event happens, then it's unlikely they can contribute to the group survival.
  • x86x87 4y ago
    It's not derogatory. Also there are various degrees of being prepared. My point is that past a certain point having some sort of community (other people that have prepped somehow) is key
    • giantg2 4y ago
      I don't know many preppers, but it seems the shows and articles I've seen showed that preppers know they need a community. It seems that this thread is mostly discussing a characture.
• antisthenes 4y ago
  > The main thing for me is that prepping only work if there is a transitory situation where a buffer can make it easier to navigate. Everything on this planet is a transitory situation. A buffer will always make situations easier to navigate. Case in point: having a social or monetary safety net is a buffer against e.g. unemployment. > I don't care how much food and guns you have stockpiled if I can just take them away from you when I need them. You need to have at least your own guns in order to take away resources from people with guns. Ideally though you would just have skills that are valued, so you can trade resources for skills and not shoot each other. People (grown men of sound mind, especially) tend to go to far lengths to avoid violence, especially if they've been exposed to it in the past.
  • x86x87 4y ago
    Sure. Everything is transient but if something lasts for the rest of your life is it though? Especially if it impacts everything around you. I get the meta point but people are just not wired this way.
• cykros 4y ago
  Many preppers DO work to create parallel structures -- the "bomb shelter" approach is pretty plainly just a way to buy a little time in the event of catastrophe (but it does come in quite handy in the event of the far more common blizzard, hurricane, tornado, or heck, pandemic). Prepping on basic skills will likely outlast any stockpile of Chef Boy-ar-dee (and besides...after 6 months of that stuff and nothing else, do you really WANT to survive?). But all that aside, the issue is, nobody is quite sure what exact scenario they're prepping for. Simply having a buffer so you can avoid needing to panic while some direction is felt out is worth having, but the limitations of it are worth being aware of as well.