Survivalists v. Preppers

Survivalist or Prepper?  S or P?  Which do you identify as?

In my not so humble opinion, the vast majority of blog writers out there who claim to be preppers are really only survivalists, or people looking to make money off survivalists.  Look at the writing.  Look at the advice.  It's all geared to buy this or that, and wow, there's a convenient link to Amazon right here.  (Again, I have nothing against the Amazon affiliate program and earning money from writing.  I've been a professional writer myself at times.  But if you're going to write, write something of substance.)   "Twenty-five Things That Disappear First in a Disaster" is not substance.  It's fear-mongering with the goal of lining somebody's pocket; whether it's lined through affiliate links or advertising others' products, the result is the same.  Someone's been suckered into buying something they may not need or can well afford, but led to believe that if he has that product, he will survive the zombie apocalypse.

Most every "preparedness" article offered by survivalists-in-prepper-clothing hits on the basics: gotta have food, water, a gun, first aid, communications, a family plan, a way to cook.  All are pretty much one-size-fits-all for everything, regardless of where you live or family dynamics.  (There is an exception here, I believe, and that is for medical supplies.  I want to have the supplies for a doctor to treat my family members in extreme situations.  Basic operating room supplies.  Antibiotics.  Whatever anesthetics and pain relievers I can legally obtain.  History shows that in a long-term collapse, physicians are easier to find than supplies.   Medical supplies in Venezuela today are almost non-existent.  And everyone pretty much needs the same supplies whether they live in New Hampshire or New Mexico.)

Then there are the medicinal plants.  I hate those lists of plants that are going to save your life.  One recent article focused on a list of five medicinal plants--yarrow, plantain, nettle, dandelion, and aloe.  Really? 

Now yarrow is great stuff.  I grow it. I tincture it.  I've used yarrow powder to treat wounds.  I've even eaten it.  People who say it's edible, as in tasty, probably have an extra chromosome.  If you have an extra chromosome, you too will probably like eating it.  If you have an extra chromosome, you probably aren't too worried about preparing, so you probably won't remember anyway that it is supposedly edible, so that won't matter to you if/when you run out of food.

Unfortunately, in this article on five essential herbs everyone should have, there is almost nothing on how to prepare yarrow for its various medicinal uses.  So what good is that article to me?  More research has to be done.  The article is posted on a site that links to other articles and products they sell.  Ultimately, they're trying to sell you something.  That's because their focus is on stuff, not skills.

Unless it's shooting.  Then, by all means, you better be at the range practicing a few times a week so that you can declare yourself fully prepared.

Yes, you've gotta have some stuff.  But, hello, you've gotta be able to sustain yourself and your family.  You've gotta know how to work with what you've got.  You better be able to handle the everyday stuff on your own.  You better be able to cook all the food you need.  Store it properly.  Store enough.  You better be able to handle basic medicine.  This stuff happens every day.  You better have the supplies to handle the uncommon--broken bones, appendicitis, infections, communicable diseases, parasites, vermin.  The things that killed people hundreds of years ago, will kill again. I promise.

It's a hard concept for some people to wrap their minds around.  They can't fathom that Happy Homesteader next door won't just happily share her food.  Because there is so much of it, right?

So let's get a little more real.  The Washoe Indians survived the great influenza because they had lomatium.  That's not what they called it in all likelihood.  The white doctors wanted to know why their survival rate was 100%, so the Indians taught them.  The doctors then had to find the plant and dig the roots and prepare the medicine.  Or maybe they paid someone to do it for them.  So, say we're hit with that now.  Because you read this article, you know you need lomatium for your little daughter.  Awesome.  Go get it.

What's your problem?  You don't know what it looks like?  Yeah, I guess that's a problem.  Maybe you did happen to learn what it looks like, but right now, it's the middle of winter and the ground is covered with snow.  There's no finding lomatium anywhere right now unless you know exactly where it was growing and where to dig.  Oh, your nice neighbor is an extreme prepper and probably has some.  You're sure he'd be happy to share.

So you find yourself on Nice Neighbor's doorstep, asking for some lomatium tincture, that he had the wisdom to prepare for just such an event.  Unfortunately, he didn't prepare in abundance.  Because he had other things to do.  He's got enough for a few courses of treatment for his family members.  And of course, he should hang onto the extra doses in case anyone else comes down with it.

Are you going to just walk away and say, "Sure, I understand.  No problem"?  Well, maybe.  It's easy to say now.  But when it's a real crisis, the response will probably be a little different.  Unfortunately, Nice Neighbor does not have the resources to prepare everything for everyone.  I don't have the resources to be the Nice Neighbor, either, and I feel we're pretty well to do, at least by world standards, maybe not by American standards.  I simply cannot prepare for those outside my family.  I do not have the time.  I do not have the stamina.  I sure as heck don't have the storage space.

If it's something you want, you gotta prepare it.  If it's something you need, you gotta store it.  If it's knowledge you don't have yet, you gotta learn it.  If supplies are required, like alcohol for making tinctures, you gotta get it.  Don't expect someone else to do it for you. Don't expect someone else to learn it for you.  You've gotta have your own resources and supplies.  And knowledge.

And unfortunately, you really have to do the research yourself.  And by research, I mean checking more than one or two websites, especially those selling something.  And that includes this blog.  I am constantly appalled at the blatant misinformation out there.  One prominent blogger refuses to dehydrate food because of the danger of botulism.  Seriously?  I tried finding anything about getting botulism from dehydrated food and came up empty.  The CDC doesn't have anything on it, either.  Another blogger said dehydrated meat is good for a whopping three weeks.  Wow.  Maybe he's just not doing it right.  A third guy has links to all kinds of dehydrated foods on Amazon.  I'm pretty sure he's never tried them.  I have.  They were really, really gross.  Then again, maybe he did try them but didn't want to share how awful they were.  Because if he can get you to try them through his link, then he makes money.

And before anyone goes wonky and gets his feelings hurt, I really don't care whether you identify as S or P or anything else.  I do care that you prepare.  I care that you don't get suckered and waste valuable resources.  I fully recognize that we can't all do everything, learn everything, store everything.  I am never going to be able to engineer anything.  My brain does not work that way.  I'll never be able to operate a chain saw or run a forge.  That's why we need communities, too.  But we've got to be able to handle the basics of food and medicine on our own.  And the sooner we prepare, the better. 

august 9 2020

december 12 2019