Preppers
 

Given the 20/20 hindsight available through the lens of this pandemic, I’m wondering if any posters who have said incorrect, unkind and judgmental things about preppers in past threads would like to apologize now to those preppers? :shocked:

what is a prepper? I'm not familiar with that term

People who think the end of the world is coming--they have enough supplies to live independently for a year and the means to protect themselves if their is a total societal breakdown

And what is a prepper?

My definition of a "prepper" is a person who believes the end of civilization is near and intends to survive no matter what the cost. They horde large amounts of food, water, and any provisions that can be stored for year at a time. They stock up on gas, ammo, guns, and spend time training on how to defend their homes and families against all comers.
They are the exact opposite of a person who will bring in a reasonable amount of food, gas, and necessities needed to get them through a natural disaster such as a hurricane. Normally a little on the paranoid side of the psychological scale!!

Bingo. And I owe them nothing. Prepper, hoarder... really no difference.

Not me. Preppers :1rotfl::1rotfl:

They are unfortunate people plagued with severe paranoia.

Almost like people who survived the depression, afraid to spend a dime and saved all the $$ they could, lived frugally to the extreme and died in a house that looked liked they were impoverished but had several million $ stashed in the walls and under the floor boards

Do you have a bugout car stashed someplace?

So those are the ones who took all the toilet paper and yeast

No, but I should thank them for the laugh.

Must be. I wonder why people care? I have always been able to feed the whole third fleet from my pantry and frig. You never know who is going to drop by and stay to dinner.

“A prepper is a person who takes measures in advance to ensure the economic, physical and emotional well-being of their family during times of struggle.”

Wow, that sounds evil…and scary! Where did that definition come from? It came from Jane, the founder of a 5,000-member Reddit group called “PandemicPreps.”

Preppers are like tennis players (or golfers, if you prefer)…their true nature probably lies somewhere on a continuum anchored by extremes of the definition. One extreme would be (1) someone who occasionally plays tennis/golf for fun and socializing with fellow players who become friends. Another extreme would be (2) those who play tennis/golf every day, to the exclusion of all other activities; they have obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and may be scary when they go off their meds; they are overly competitive/aggressive; they don’t socialize with non-golfer/tennis players and are unforgiving of anyone who isn’t a compulsive golfer/tennis player.

Some replies to this post at least deal with their lack of knowledge by asking the inoffensive question “what is a prepper?” Some replies to this post (and other posts about preppers) deal with a lack of knowledge by making up their own incorrect and offensive definitions. That would be like me (a non-golfer/tennis player) saying “my definition of a golfer/tennis player is”… #2 above.”

Preppers just want to be prepared for foreseeable disasters, like hurricanes (around here), tornadoes (in the plains), snow storms (up north), disruptions to the economy (anywhere), etc, etc. Scary! It’s only scary if you let your disagreeable and repulsive assumptions run wild.

Preppers are just like most of us…except they did not become unprepared, panic shoppers in the past several months…BECAUSE they were prepared. When the stores were slammed by panic shoppers, preppers were home...and stayed home...because they were prepared. All the other offensive elements of the definitions provided by some of our resident conspiracy theorists are just figments of their overworked imaginations.

I would hazard a guess to say you are probably a pickleball player...….just a guess!

Wrong guess! When I was still physically able (no longer true), I was an avid golfer and occasional tennis player; have never been a pickle ball player.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am not now, nor have I ever been a prepper.

It just strikes me as wrong-headed when someone admits they know nothing about a subject (the subject being a group of people) and then makes up their own definition that describes this group of people that is wrong and offensive. They go on and confidently describe this group's motivations and actions.

Come to think of it...it reminds me of why politics has descended to the endless mud-slinging we see today. "What they want to do is..." "They are motivated by..."

AND I'm really curious...if anyone posts on TOTV, they have at their disposal a wonderful google-machine that can cure their ignorance...yet so many do not take advantage of this capability. It reminds me of an old friend -- who was frequently wrong but NEVER in doubt!

Preppers are the ones you won't see hoarding or rushing to the supermarket because they don't have the necessities to survive. They will already have everything they need. I commend them. They will be prepared.
Steve

I've never knocked people with the extreme desire to survive events. Some have made this a career over the years. Well. Excuse me for now. Today is gun cleaning and ammo count day. Have a goid one.

"Preppers" are for the lack of a better word, nuts. No apology necessary.

Nailed it.

I can't help but wonder, how many of those protestor's shown recently all gunned up and dressed like they're rejected mercenaries, are also prepper's who are frustrated that they haven't been able to use their armory stockpiles - so are seeing if they can start something?

Just curious...what is it that makes them nuts?

To some extent you are right.
Steve

Being a prepper would be ideal if we had a horrible disaster every 2 years. Unless you’re saving C-rations, the shelf life of most items is short and then it could all be destroyed, stolen or contaminated by the horrible disaster

When did being prepared become a bad thing? :shrug:

I'm not paranoid. I've learned from experience. And it has paid off.

We live in Washington State. When the Fukushima nuclear reactors melted down they thought the radiation cloud might reach the west coast. I bought N-95 masks. Thankfully didn't need them.

Fast forward to Covid-19. My wife is a nurse. Her hospital ran low on N-95's early on and was only giving them to personnel who worked with Covid patients their entire shifts. My wife only entered Covid rooms when she had to perform a specific task so only received an uprated surgical mask. I was able to send her to work with an N-95 everyday until the hospital was able to replenish their stock.

We live in an earthquake prone part of the country. We have lots of bridges that go over water. Without bridges to cross that water, trucks can't deliver groceries. So I have enough shelf stable food to last awhile. If any number of those bridges collapse while my wife is at work there will be no way for her to drive home. Luckily we live about a mile from Puget Sound and can actually launch a boat locally and pick her up at the marina a block from the hospital.

Ever think about what would happen if we had another truckers strike? You think the shelves emptied fast for Covid? You ain't seen nothing.
You can call this paranoia all you want but it's simple forethought with a little investment in planning.

A failure to plan is a plan to fail..

No. They are the ones who already had toilet paper and yeast.. :MOJE_whot:

Have you also planned how to deal with the have-nots who want your things because their families are starving since the horrible disaster hit but they do have loaded guns.

Nuts are the people who get banned from this website but keep creating new accounts. :1rotfl:

Of course.. :icon_wink:

You’re fortunate if you have enough money and storage room to feed the whole neighborhood in a disaster.:coolsmiley:

There are many facets to prepping.
Steve

You're a funny guy.. :1rotfl:

What make you think that the "prepper" has the obligation to feed the whole neighborhood? Have you ever read the parable about the ant and the grasshopper? I guess not.

I have read the Bible which indicates we need to look out for each other. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. We all have to do what our conscience will allow us to do.

Boy Scouts were always prepared!

Some of the definitions displayed here blur the lines between a prepper and a survivalist.

These personalities are on a continuum. Both will gather supplies and obtain training to persevere through a society anomaly or complete breakdown. The prepper is more community focused and will extend their supplies and training to aid their community where the survivalist is more inclined to isolate from the community.

I am a prepper. In the past, with storms and power outages, I have offered assistance and supplies to my neighbors. This recent Covid -19 pandemic, I have seen examples of a neighbor that was resentful, even hostile towards preppers because that neighbor feels the prepper’s supplies should be allocated elsewhere.

For this reason, many preppers and survivalists keep a low profile and do not overtly display their supplies and preparations. Your neighbor could be a prepper and you may not know it.

Food, especially canned food, if properly stored in a controlled environment can be edible decades after purchase. Most commercially dehydrated food has an advertised shelf life of 10 to 30 years, assuming it has been properly stored.