Question for the survivalists / tinfoil hats / doomsdayers

[GTaudiophile]

You know who you are. You have stored up food and medicine. You have guns and ammo. You have your camouflage gear, tent, sleeping bag, water purification kit, etc. It's all packed and ready to go.

You're most likely waiting for a breakdown in society. Either government will come after you "for your own protection" or violence and civil unrest will wreak havoc on every street in America or a mix of both. Watching shows like the "Walking Dead" ist just mental preparation for the life ahead.

My question to you all is...what is the lynch pin? What do you think is the tipping point that brings it all to a halt?

Is it the loss of the USD (to the Yuan) as the World's Reserve Currency?

I don't think 95% of Americans realize the disaster we are in financially. And to add insult to injury, one must ask, is this all by design?

PS: I live in a recently gentrified area and am not prepared to survive a week of snow preventing access to Safeway much less have stocked weapons, ammo, etc.

 

[fskimospy]

Infowars? Really?

 

[GTaudiophile]

Infowars? Really?

Just the second link. Meat of post revolves around first link.

 

[irishScott]

Well I don't "stockpile" per-se, I just happen to have an interest in backpacking and shooting (usually not at the same time. ) So I've got a decent amount of "survivalist" stuff stored up that I use from time to time.

I think the tipping point, if there is one in my lifetime (and I seriously doubt there will be) will simply be the visible collapse of society, the causes of which will be extremely numerous. And no, it won't be some loony conspiracy, it'll just be humans being dumb.

Given the way our current politics are going, a collapse that puts the recession to shame is inevitable and needed. Only then will the mainstream people have the motivation to step up, shove the radicals aside and run their damn country.

 

[z1ggy]

Bet the Romans didn't think their empire would fall. But alas, it did.. And as history says, all great civilizations do fall. We will be no different. When that happens is a guess really. But what's the harm in preparing just a little? Most people's homes don't get broken into, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't lock their doors anyway.

 

[KB]

I don't have a bunker or a food stache, maybe just a few weeks of food/water in case of a hurricane or major snowstorm. But I can see the breakdown moment occurring when we have a cancellation or major reduction in entitlement benefits like food stamps caused by the government unable to grow the debt. EDIT: Massive inflation could also cause benefits to be reduced by decreasing buying power of benefits payments.
If people are unable to buy food, they will riot and steal it. This happened just because of a short EBT glitch (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57607332/)

I can see stores closing and not replenishing the shelves when people are stealing it. Farmers won't take their goods to market if they also are worried of riots.

Whether you believe this event is likely to happen, and the government is planning for it, depends on how you interpret these articles.

http://www.ibtimes.com/homeland-sec...billion-rounds-ammo-pepper-ball-gun-riot-gear
http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/ssabullets.asp

 

[exdeath]

Not a "prepper" but just happen to have lots of cool toys and I stockpile non perishable foods because I don't like shopping every three days for fresh food yet can't eat everything before it goes bad either if I buy too much.

I stock palettes of water because I'm lazy. I'm the kind of person who when inconvenienced by shampoo running out I buy a case at a time so I don't have to worry about it again for a long time.

Turning point for me: gun confiscation. Or criminalizing me for something I already have. Anal rape for rolling a stop sign just moved up on the list as a catalyst for all hell to break loose.

I'm tempted to have my next house be 16" steel reinforced ICF concrete with polar bear aquarium grade laminated polycarbonate windows and vault like doors. Mostly the smug superiority of telling someone like the cop who had that guy anally violated to go fuck himself and watch as they struggle with their forced entry attempts being effortlessly defeated and making them feel like shaved cats at a "tactical disadvantage". And just my style anyway of making things "*.* proof".

 

[Doppel]

PS: I live in a recently gentrified area and am not prepared to survive a week of snow preventing access to Safeway much less have stocked weapons, ammo, etc.

You should be.

I think personal defense is the last thing to worry about, though a lot of people do worry about it first because they like guns and zombie movies.

Any mass power outage in the US, an entirely plausible event, that affects let's say 10-20M for three weeks could be enough to mean you're out of food and relying on scraps in your pantry or trucks driving around disbursing it or you somehow making yourself to a food pantry stocked (or not) by FEMA. All because you can't be bothered to drop $100-200 on food that will still be edible when you die of old age.

I'm the kind of person who when inconvenienced by shampoo running out I buy a case at a time so I don't have to worry about it again for a long time.

THIS. Last time I bought toilet paper I bought as much as I could fill in my shopping cart. Why? Hate fvcking buying it. I buy 10+ bags of sugar at a time. It will never expire, same with salt, maybe 80 cans of tuna at a time. Why not? I eat the stuff slowly anyway, and if it gets low I can replenish from the back. It's really easy to keep a bunch of non perishable food that's regularly eaten in stock.

 

[OCGuy]

Frankly with one other person, I could hold off 50-100 VC (or zombies ) for at least an hour with what is in my safe.

I think the lynchpin will be a "small" yield uranium bomb detonated over a Western population area by radical Islamists. The panic that will ensue will be immense.

 

[OCGuy]

You should be.

I think personal defense is the last thing to worry about, though a lot of people do worry about it first because they like guns and zombie movies.

Any mass power outage in the US, an entirely plausible event, that affects let's say 10-20M for three weeks could be enough to mean you're out of food and relying on scraps in your pantry or trucks driving around disbursing it or you somehow making yourself to a food pantry stocked (or not) by FEMA. All because you can't be bothered to drop $100-200 on food that will still be edible when you die of old age.THIS. Last time I bought toilet paper I bought as much as I could fill in my shopping cart. Why? Hate fvcking buying it. I buy 10+ bags of sugar at a time. It will never expire, same with salt, maybe 80 cans of tuna at a time. Why not? I eat the stuff slowly anyway, and if it gets low I can replenish from the back. It's really easy to keep a bunch of non perishable food that's regularly eaten in stock.

There is no point in stocking up food for a crisis without a means of self-defense. Your neighbor with the weapons doesn't need to stock food, because he is taking yours.

 

[Jaskalas]

My question to you all is...what is the lynch pin? What do you think is the tipping point that brings it all to a halt?

There are many possible things that could bring a disruption to the supply chain, resulting in empty store shelves. Not even fair to try to guess which one it'll be.

 

[senseamp]

95% of the world does not live in the US, so their currency is not the reserve currency of the world. The world hasn't ended for them.

 

[bshole]

Bet the Romans didn't think their empire would fall. But alas, it did.. And as history says, all great civilizations do fall. We will be no different. When that happens is a guess really. But what's the harm in preparing just a little? Most people's homes don't get broken into, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't lock their doors anyway.

It really is not comparable to modern times. Civilization is much more integrated today. I don't think of America as the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire is more like America, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea and the European Union. We would all have to fall together and civilization would then have to fall as well. I don't see that happening with the technology and access to cheap and plentiful food we have. It IS NOT GOING to happen. Don't worry, you will get some painful disease and die an agonizing death long long before civilization collapses.

 

[Genx87]

There is no point in stocking up food for a crisis without a means of self-defense. Your neighbor with the weapons doesn't need to stock food, because he is taking yours.

Exactly. When the people with guns get hungry they will go take food from people without guns.

 

[irishScott]

Bet the Romans didn't think their empire would fall. But alas, it did.. And as history says, all great civilizations do fall. We will be no different. When that happens is a guess really. But what's the harm in preparing just a little? Most people's homes don't get broken into, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't lock their doors anyway.

I honestly don't get why everyone compares us to Rome like it's a bad thing. Rome lasted in some form or other for over 1000 years despite being a viciously corrupt and brutal dictatorship. Our form of government, assuming we maintain it, is infinitely more stable and infinitely more adaptable, with enough channels for the will of the people that no one really sees the need to rebel. We also don't have any barbarians at the gates (at least none that are capable of mounting a military invasion with any remote chance of success).

Rome had its problems, we have ours. I expect we will outlast the Romans despite them.

 

[Fern]

-snip-
My question to you all is...what is the lynch pin? What do you think is the tipping point that brings it all to a halt?

I would guess one of the following:

1. Something that no one sees coming (well, except for those few who constantly forecast doom, eventually, if they live long enough, they're bound to be right once). If we saw it coming we could and would do something about it.

2. A fustercluck of bad events. Typically one or two can be handled, but sometimes a series of bad events/decisions etc will combine to overwhelm defense measures, back up systems and other efforts. That's when we see real problems.

Examples of 'doomsday' things that could happen :

1. Pandemic.

2. Massive solar flare like the Carrington Event. http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/06/26/solar-flare-electrical-threat-column/2461313/

3. Economic-terrorism. EMP bombs or other coordinated attacks.

4. Cyber warfare and/or massive systems failure. I fear too many systems are internet/computer dependent and wide-spread disruption of the electrical grid, communication systems or transportation could be catastrophic.

5. Plain 'ole war. Somebody gets real stupid in the M.E. and starts lobbing bombs etc that bring the M.E. oil production to a halt (or severely disrupts/curtails it) and we've got a global problem. While we'll have most of the oil we'll need much of the rest of the world won't and the global economy will grind to a halt. And if our govt doesn't step in to 'protect' our domestic supplies (i.e., allow it to remain a global commodity) the price will spike, supplies may be diverted elsewhere and we'll be as screwed as everyone else.

No, I have no food stockpiled. Guess I'll be eating mostly squirrels, birds, possum and possibly fish.

Fern

 

[monovillage]

I was born and raised in California, so earthquake preparedness had always been a factor for my family. We kept food and water for at least a week, we knew where the water/gas shut-offs were, all bookcases, water heaters, wall hangings etc. were strapped and secured. When I moved to Colorado it was blizzard/tornado preparedness, all areas of the country have one natural disaster or another to be ready for. Canned food etc. usually gets rotated out every 6 months to a year and donated to
http://www.asimplegesture.org/
I also keep a generator ready, with a small gasoline supply, charcoal for cooking, camp stoves and other camping gear I use 3 or 4 times a year camping in the Sierras. Too bad I lost all my firearms in a tragic boating accident. To me it's just basic common sense to be prepared for a nasty storm/earthquake/power outage etc.

 

[lozina]

I just have to stockpile guns and ammo so I can steal the food and medicine from others

 

[werepossum]

I used to work for a survivalist who would put his survivalist magazines out on the break tables after he read them. One article I still recall thirty years later involved making a survival buggy from a VW Beetle by cutting a gunner's hatch in the top, bobbing the fenders, painting it camouflage, and adding a pintle-mounted Gatling gun made from two Ruger 10-22 rifles with 250-round drums and a common hand crank-driven cam trigger operator. The article include the sage advice that if you could not afford the Beetle and your doomsday prep gear, you could wait until society began to collapse and steal one. I've received many a chuckle thinking about some idiot sheepishly returning his neighbor's Beetle freshly converted into a camouflage-painted survival buggy. "Sorry about that, Bob. I was sure the inevitable race war had begun. Turns out it was just a couple of drunk idiots."

Every time the weather calls for snow (which we seldom have to the point of being a problem) our store shelves run bare of milk and bread. We keep a couple weeks to a month's worth of food, gas for the generator, and propane. It's not that I believe something will happen and there won't be food so much as believing something might happen which would require me to stand in line to get it.

 

[Texashiker]

My question to you all is...what is the lynch pin? What do you think is the tipping point that brings it all to a halt?

Either food or war.

I used to work for a survivalist who would put his survivalist magazines out on the break tables after he read them. One article I still recall thirty years later

I am going to guess the mgazine was American Survival Guide, aka ASG.

 

[Svnla]

Well, people saw what happend in Katrina/Rodney King riot and they refer rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

When/what will be the tipping point/start of events? I wish I know, really.

 

[Doppel]

There is no point in stocking up food for a crisis without a means of self-defense. Your neighbor with the weapons doesn't need to stock food, because he is taking yours.

You need something to protect first. Second, a food crisis will occur well before mass home invasions by starving bandits. A mossberg 500 costs $300, but you are not likely to ever need it.

 

[TreVader]

You are all fools. None of what you claim to be worried about will ever happen (i.e. the breakdown of society) but IF IT DID who do you think scoffs at you stockpiling small caliber firearms?


The people who would have the power in the aforementioned (quite impossible) situation are the Military.

If you really want to run around raping and pillaging a post apocalyptic wasteland, your best bet is to join the USMC, US army, or Air force. The rest of you are pissing on a forest fire.


I have a friend who works for a company that makes bulletproof vests and sells civilian versions of several different automatic weapons that can easily be converted and he doesn't even own a gun. We always joke about how stupid and insane his customers are (preppers). I wonder if you realize you're all marks, suckers.

 

[Doppel]

You are all fools. None of what you claim to be worried about will ever happen (i.e. the breakdown of society) but IF IT DID who do you think scoffs at you stockpiling small caliber firearms?


The people who would have the power in the aforementioned (quite impossible) situation are the Military.

If you really want to run around raping and pillaging a post apocalyptic wasteland, your best bet is to join the USMC, US army, or Air force. The rest of you are pissing on a forest fire.


I have a friend who works for a company that makes bulletproof vests and sells civilian versions of several different automatic weapons that can easily be converted and he doesn't even own a gun. We always joke about how stupid and insane his customers are (preppers). I wonder if you realize you're all marks, suckers.

There should be some test of reading comprehension before newbs are allowed in P&N.

 

[werepossum]

Either food or war.

I am going to guess the mgazine was American Survival Guide, aka ASG.

Wasn't A magazine, but more like five or six of them. The only title I remember after all these years is Soldier of Fortune. Always struck me as odd that someone who styled himself as a survivalist would read a magazine dedicated to the profession of being shot at for often sub-minimum wage as the best way to survive seems to me to avoid third world civil wars whenever possible.

Dude was the real thing though, owned over a thousand long guns, many of which were fully automatic. Had a reinforced concrete vault at work with a bank vault door. My desk was opposite the luan doors covering it and I can attest that there were dozens of rifles stored there. He also designed and manufactured silencers and automatic weapons, kept tear gas grenades (we knew because he accidentally tear gassed himself once playing with his grenades) and supposedly frag grenades, although personally I never saw those. Very smart man, slightly crazy.