Hmmm…so what’s this particular survivalist up to these days? Well, most just lilly gilding. I mean, I’m pretty satisfied with where I’m sitting on everything, and although there is always room for improvement, I do feel that if things fell apart tomorrow I’d be just fine. At least, that’s assuming that ‘things falling apart tomorrow’ doesn’t take the form of something I never thought I’d need to plan against.
So, mostly I’m just touching things up here and there…an extra bag of sugar here, a few cans of meat there, a few more batteries, a couple ounces of silver, that sort of thing. It’s almost like waiting for the other to drop.
Other than lily gilding, I’m just watching the news and being utterly amazed at the spectacular political fail that is going on these days, and the rather pronounced political divisiveness among the peasantry. (I almost said unprecedented political divisiveness but, no, there’s precedence.)
The Balkanization, or tribalization, has been a long time coming but it’s only in the last few years that it’s really picked up steam. Used to be you could be friends with someone you didnt agree with politically as long as you both agreed not to talk politics….now politics is the litmus test being used to determine who to be friends with.
I suppose that’s the one thing I really am a bit deficient on – expanding my ‘tribe’. I could probably use more like-minded friends, but couldn’t we all? I would think a core group of three or four would suffice. Even close relatives would work, if they were like minded. Annoyingly, all my relatives who might qualify are living a thousand miles away…thats great for keeping my life neat and tidy, not so great for having people around I can trust to do things like hold onto gold and ammo.
I like to think in a few years we will all look back at the current political climate and think “Hey, remember back in the early 20’s and how nuts that all was? Man, those were some fouled up times.” More likely, though, we’ll look back at the current political climate and think “and THAT’S when all this crap started.”
My lily gilding funds got sucked up by a sudden do-it-now root canal yesterday. Glad to have it over with. Glad to have had the funding. I did inquire about implants.
The cost of those is a real eye-popper. The low maintenance aspect is quite appealing. Especially when considering the direction things are headed in. In fact, how many here still have their wisdom teeth? I do. They all came in fine and haven’t been any trouble. Dentist says leave them alone. Appendix? I have mine. Tonsils? Got ’em. Is preemptive surgery a thing?
IMHO, I think the survivors will think back and say, “Man, I sure don’t miss those @$$holes a bit. We should’ve started culling them a lot sooner! We cut them too much slack.”
Yes, but think of all the money that’s been made from promoting tribalism. Clicks on the internet and reliable, scared or angry people tuning into someone’s show. That’s advertising gold. Whip up the base for fund raising and votes. It’s working out great for some people. Batten down the hatches and realize neither “tribe” will be the real winners.
Maybe we’ll recover, and build something like the “Tinker” society in Vernor Vinge’s “Beyond Realtime” books, ie decentralized society, low energy use, appropriate tech, etc, but I’ve got a feeling that when the basic systems that underpin our modern world fail, they won’t be fixable for a very long time.
My kids will be manning the booth at the farmer’s market and swap meet, trading salvaged gear for food… wishing more of their children had survived to become teenagers to help with all the work that machines and electricity used to do.
It’s easy to break things. Some are very hard to repair. Some are impossible to repair. The Protestant work ethic? High trust society? Christian duty? Still exist in localized pockets. Probably will exist locally. But nationwide? Trans-nationally? I think not.
nick
Whose who in the zoo? For our mutual security within an AO, it is necessary to expand the tribe, or network. We do, however, live in an era of betrayal.
Many do talk like preppers, yet are only entertaining the ideas, and not taking action. This kind of person could be dangerous to the serious prepper as one might be tempted to disclose more about themselves than they should. Eventually they might become serious and take action, but time is running out and most will be ill prepared. And once hunger and desperation set in, these persons may turn on us. This kind of situation occurs more often as there is a general awakening occurring and more begin to prep.
There are now many more who are talking the talk, yet not walking the walk. And even if they might be serious preppers, this latest crop may not share our religious and political views. There are few from outside the U.S. who actually value the ideas of liberty, yet they are also beginning to prep. And there are plenty of Americans who blend in, yet do not share our values either. This includes some highly trained and retired military.
Agreed. There are a lot of people in my rural A.O. that are proficient with firearms and hunt, but do not share our values. Things will be spicy here when this situation matures.