“My name is Jennifer, and sometimes I open clickbait articles.” Yep, it’s embarrassing.
What’s worse is that most of the time I even know I’m doing it.
“You Won’t Survive Without These 20 Items”
“10 Medicines You Must Have in Your Medical Kit”
“8 Skills to Learn Before the Apocalypse”
The clickbait articles suggest that if people can check these boxes—mostly by having purchased items (which items happen to be available through the author’s Amazon affiliate dealio, funny how that works), that these people will survive the coming catastrophes just fine. The lists are about as generic as can be—canned goods, water, matches, coffee, aspirin, Tylenol, tourniquets, and gauze. And the readers mentally check most of the boxes, perhaps buy one or two items off the list, and congratulate themselves for being well-prepared. And not giving preparedness a second thought until they get nervous about what’s going on outside and stumble upon another list.
“Preppers Killed by the Dunning-Kruger Effect”
Yeah, I knew it was a clickbait article at best, and I clicked anyway. But you see, I couldn’t help myself. I’d never heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect, one definition of which is:
“…a type of cognitive bias in which people believe they are smarter and more capable than they are. Essentially, low-ability people do not possess the skills needed to recognize their own incompetence. The combination of poor self-awareness and low cognitive ability leads them to overestimate their capabilities.”[1]
The plain, if crude, English translation? “Stupid people don’t know they’re stupid.”
How does this happen in the prepper world? I think it’s because many prepper newbies just read clickbait articles and watch survival/reality TV. The other problem is that in our society we have multiple tiers of safety nets. Nothing permanently bad ever happens. The fools wait for someone to pick them up, collect unemployment or welfare checks, use their food stamps to buy junk food, and breed like animals. Those who have just a few more brain cells, easily lured by the adventure of the survival/reality shows (and forgetting that there’s a camera crew and allowance for multiple takes), decide to strike out on their own.
So many of us long for the time when stupid will be painful again. It might help a few people to become a little more responsible and self-reliant. (I can dream, can’t I?) Because three people couldn’t imagine that anything could go awry with their plans to survive in the Rocky Mountain wilderness in winter without any previous experience doing so, they lost their lives.[2] Stupid became painful for them. I fear it will become painful for many around us in the days ahead.
As foreign and domestic threats increase, so does interest in becoming prepared. A gentlemen on my primary news forum reports on the gun shows where he is a vendor. His latest report noted the increasing numbers of regular people picking up firearms and ammo for personal protection. Self-defense is where most men begin their prepping journey. You’ve got a tangible, practical, even enjoyable (for some) item that will never lose value. Some people have fun with it and continue down the path, thinking of prepping as a “cool” activity. They perhaps buy some survival food, never trying it out to see if they like it. Maybe pick up a first aid kit.
Unfortunately, these minor acquisitions and the reading of a few clickbait articles lull many newbies into thinking they’re prepared. How many times have you read of people proudly proclaiming that they’ve got two weeks of food and are ready for anything? The reality is that they know a lot less than they think they know.
And then flipping things around and looking in the mirror, I have to admit that I don’t know all that much, either. As I research and post my findings here, I feel like I’ve learned a lot in the past five years; at the same time I feel as if I’m approaching idiot status. There’s still so much I don’t know and can’t do.
It reinforces to me the following:
No man (or family) is an island. We’ll have to develop a community and work together. (And no, I’m not sure how this will work out.) I do know that we all can’t do it all by ourselves.
In the food arena, those who don’t know how to store, grow, and prepare it will be in trouble. Poorly prepared, unpalatable food torpedoes morale faster than just about anything, except maybe being cold and wet. There’s a steep curve to learning how to work with scratch ingredients when we still have running water and electricity. Remove those luxuries—having to work with a solar oven or a Dutch oven and charcoal, or even how quickly the BBQ propane tank empties when the burner is used to cook beans, and meal preparation becomes a lot harder. Let’s not even think about hand pumping and purifying water.
As far as medicine goes, this won’t play out well, either. The DK (Dunning-Kruger) preppers perhaps don’t give a thought to medical preparation. Or they think that nothing bad will happen to them. Or that if it does, Nice Doctor Neighbor will come to their rescue with antibiotics and pain relievers. The genius-level guys plan to steal whatever they think they need. Even in the off-grid medicine classes, attended by people who claim they are really preparing for total chaos, (as I mentioned last week) the men who make up the majority of these classes all want to know how to treat gunshot wounds rather than delve into dealing with the communicable diseases that have historically killed far more people than any conflict. (If I had a dollar for every time I heard them say to stick a tampon in the wound…. As any woman will tell you, tampons do nothing to stop bleeding. If they did, we’d stuff ourselves full of them and be done with this nonsense.)
The DK effect is real. As we learn more about how little we actually know, let’s take the time to humble ourselves, roll up our sleeves, and get to work learning something real. Let’s not be distracted by clickbait. And really, when was the last time you learned anything from a clickbait article?
[1] K. Cherry, What is the Dunning-Kruger effect? VeryWellMind.com, 8 November 2022, https://www.verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-the-dunning-kruger-effect-4160740 (accessed 2 February 2024).
[2] Brian Duff, Case study: Preppers killed by the Dunning-Kruger effect, Mind4Survival, 7 September 2023, https://mind4survival.com/preppers-killed-by-the-dunning-kruger-effect/ (accessed 2 February 2024).
I work with a lot of engineers, I would say that 20% of them fall into this category. They make suggestions or draw up plans that a even quick look shows it breaks multiple codes and regulations. It is also getting worse, 20 years ago I would have said 4-5% of engineers and in 2019 I would have said may 7-10% but as the older guys retire and the newer ones who were indoctrinated rather than educated come into the workforce they are pushing up that %. I have a 2 page sheet I give to all the new engineers on some of the weird things at each of our plants, items like places were the specs for a unit are different than the rest of the plant etc. I also explain it to them and then I watch the first time they do a piping mod in that unit to see it they used the right specs or not. If they don't it tells me the ignored me and they need some remedial training, if they do it twice they are that 20%.
ReplyDeleteExile1981
On a related topic, I really hate the clickbait sites on what food to stock that suggest you can live on rice and beans. For some reason those sites seem to be the ones new preppers end up reading and its really obvious.
ReplyDeleteLast December I was at a walmart sitting in my truck waiting for one of the teens to come out. I saw a younger couple with 3 shopping carts across from me start loading there purchases into their car and I knew instantly they were new preppers. One cart was bottled water, another was 5lbs bags of rice, the third had a single 1lb bag of salt, a dozen bottles of multivitamins and 30 or 40 of the 1lb bags of dried beans they sell at our local store. A mix of green and red lentils and dried kidney beans with a few bags of chick peas as well. They also had a 2 pack of flashlights and two of the thin sleeping bags.
I have seen similar purchases happening at other stores as I travel for work. I appreciate the fact that its a cheap way to prep but you will not survive on rice and beans no matter what any click bait site tells you. I give it a week tops more likely 2 days before food exhaustion sets in and they break down.
I also appreciate that fact your site pushes practical storage ideas, which is why I always give your website address to anyone who asks me for advice.
Exile1981
It's odd to hear people say you cannot live on beans and rice. I've done missionary work in Mexico and South America where beans and rice are most of their diet. Proper seasonings and a little fish and even Cava aka Guinea Pigs and such seems to keep them healthy and happy.
ReplyDeleteNo food exhaustion noted.
Michael
Oh, that is absolutely true. However, how many Americans do you know who live on beans and rice day in and day out? I'd say most are accustomed to a wide variety of foods, and that beans and rice don't make the top 20 list of things they eat. A sudden change in the diet is going to make for some very unhappy campers.
DeleteOn top of that, do they even know how to prepare them? How long it takes beans to cook? Especially if there is no electricity? Day in, day out, meal after meal?
The Dunning-Kruger effect is best cured by DOING things, not reading about them, not maxing out the credit card on the next 20 things you NEED to survive.
DeleteJust like test cooking and eating those 20 year storage foods cans before a disaster forces you to eat them.
SOME are NASTY (Cough Wise, Cough) and few are a deal for the money spent vs the calories purchased.
Someone smarter than I said, "Store what you eat, Eat what you store".
I've been living with beans and rice for several decades since Missionary work and actually ENJOY them in the many variations you can cook them up. A dab of fish or meat or veggies (tomatoes and peppers are very commonly used for Vit C advantages) and the flavor profile changes nicely.
In my house we do a Sunday Bean Pot of white beans (navy etc). We add a scoop as a side to most days' meal.
White beans are so mild I've blended cooked white beans into my spaghetti sauce and served it with about HALF the ground beef normally used. Nobody complained and the protein was ample.
Heartily agree on the importance of doing as opposed to buying. I am continually amazed at what I learn because this blog forces me to do more than I ever would have. I am beyond blessed--and getting a little nervous about it because where much is given, much is required.
DeleteConcur on Wise. That stuff was nasty.
I've been amazed to find that 55-60 year old beans can be pressure canned and completely indistinguishable from much younger beans. (This is not a recommendation to ignore rotating food. It is a suggestion to try things out before automatically assuming they are too old and throwing them away.) The same for really old powdered milk. Well, actually, it wasn't indistinguishable. But I was able to make it palatable, and that was surprising.
The idea of putting mashed white beans in spaghetti sauce still scares me. I'm trying to work up the courage to test it out.
Jennifer, blended SMOOTH cooked white beans.
DeleteMashing them will leave bean skins to disturb the picky eaters.
I think (heavy on the think part) that in a true survival situation I and many
ReplyDeleteothers would eat anything that didn’t eat us first.
FYI. If your diet changes dramatically for any reason it would be wise to
have a supply of laxatives on hand.Severe constipation is very painful and
can be debilitating.The are many products available OTC,however for
almost guaranteed positive results Magnesium Citrate Liquid is the way
to go.It’s what used to be used to prepare for the dreaded Colonoscopy.
Crock Pot Red Beans
ReplyDelete2 lbs dried red kidney beans
2 lbs good smoked sausage
16 cups water
2 tablespoons salt
Cooking
Get out the crock pot. Rinse your beans well. Cut up your sausage into bite-sized pieces. Put beans, sausage, water and salt into a slow cooker. Turn it on low, and leave it for at least 12 hours. I put these beans on last night about 8:00 and let them go all night. I stirred them when I was drinking coffee this morning, and they are doing fine. It's nearly 11:00 mow. In another half hour, I'll put on a pot of rice, and Belle will make a cornbread.
If you don't need a huge pot, this recipe is easily halved. Bon apetit.
THAT recipe will get you to re-think rice and beans.
That looks delicious. I welcome all to post recipes here.
DeleteHowever, there's a warning that should be posted with regards to kidney beans and crock-pots/slow cookers. Raw red kidney beans are associated with a type of food poisoning which can be caused by ingesting as little as 4-5 kidney beans.
And as the Bad Bug Book by the FDA (https://www.fda.gov/media/83271/download) notes, raw kidney beans should be boiled for at least 30 minutes. And the same source notes that slow cookers do not reach temperatures high enough to deactivate the toxin.
Whether it's a matter of luck that more people do not get sick from cooking red kidney beans improperly, the FDA doesn't indicate. It does appear from my reading that when people do get sick, everyone who partakes of that particular dish falls ill.