To be disturbed by the "Prepping" board.

[TheoriginalLEM]

Is this a thing now?

Is there really a need to be stockpiling food, medicines and creating a bolt hole?

Am i missing something? Seriously (this is not a light-hearted thread), i suffer from anxiety and this is really disturbing me.

Hopefully people have just been watching too much walking dead.

See the way I see it is that on TV (because we all know TV is real ) the preppers always get it first.

They're the anti heroes who won't share their supplies, form groups, have any personality etc. They're usually killed by untowards in the first 10 minutes. Then the heroes come along and loot what the untowards left behind.

So I'd stand more chance of survival with my looting/sailing plan.

Getting Bruce Willis on board would also help. My chance of survival would be 100%, so I plan on sailing my stolen to yacht to LA to kidnap Bruce.

But why do you think we shouldnt be abke to discuss it DriverSurpriseMe?

At what point did I say you shouldn't be able to discuss it? You can discuss what you like. I will be hiding the topic.

I do think MNHQ's habit of creating a sub-topic for every request that gets enough signatures is wrong, however.

It's a minority interest that doesn't deserve the legitimacy that MN has now given it.

In your opinion.

Why is not sharing being seen as a bad thing? While we would all share if it were possible and we had unlimited supplies, sometimes the choice would be do I let this non prepper die through refusing to share, or do I share and end up dying alongside them because I've now not got enough?

Dont you're really not helping the prepper image

"It's a minority interest that doesn't deserve the legitimacy that MN has now given it."

I'm interested in knowing why you don't think prepping is a legitimate topic to discuss. Everyone is a prepper to some degree, even those who claim they aren't. It's just that some people take it further than others. For example I think people who hide out in underground bunkers with enough ammunition to conquer a small nation are lunatics, I think that goes far beyond reasonable. But I see it as quite reasonable to have food stockpiled for several weeks or months, have a go bag with water, food, water purification tablets, shelter etc.

Another question, assuming there was a short term food shortage and you didn't have enough to last you through (the exact duration is irrelevant, the point is you don't have enough and you'd die) would you expect a known prepper in the area to share with you, or would you consider stealing from them? If you say yes to either one, you're basically legitimizing prepping as a valid choice.

It's a minority interest that doesn't deserve the legitimacy that MN has given it

Wow, the arrogance of that sentence.

You resent the fact that a number of MN members have a place they can quite happily post and talk to each other and chat about a subject they are interested in? Really? How very small minded of you.

Well happily MNHQ doesn't agree with you DriverSurpriseMe

I'd share. If all I had was a single tin of beans I'd share. If I was to let to someone's child die before me, I'd not have any kind of life left anyway. It would kill me.

How anyone could even contemplate allowing their neighbours to die, even in a fantasy situation is beyond my comprehension.

I wouldn't be able to live with myself afterwards.

So if the worst does happen I have 76 chicken nuggets and 2 bags of smiley faces here, if anyone wants to share, you're more than welcome. There's also chickens we could loot from nearby allotments.

"Dont you're really not helping the prepper image"

Why's that, because I wouldn't share with people who are starving? I know that statement sounds cold and unfeeling but I wouldn't have a choice. If I shared, then I'm taking food out of my own mouth, I'm reducing the duration that my supplies can last in order to provide for someone who chose not to prep. And when word gets around that I have supplies, I'd get raided and end up with nothing. And the people who I shared my food with originally will still die, the only difference I make to the situation by sharing is that I'll die as well.

@ Strawberry

"I'd share. If all I had was a single tin of beans I'd share. If I was to let to someone's child die before me, I'd not have any kind of life left anyway. It would kill me.

How anyone could even contemplate allowing their neighbours to die, even in a fantasy situation is beyond my comprehension."

My response to that is that I'm not "allowing" anyone to die, I just don't have enough supplies to sustain them as well as myself. They're going to die anyway, whether or not I give them one meal. All I'd be doing by that is prolonging their agony for another few days or weeks.

I'm not refusing to share based on a moral argument, it's that I don't think my survival chances would be that high if I did. Let's say there was a way in the scenario where I could share with starving people AND have an absolute guarantee I wouldn't get raided AND an absolute guarantee that I would still have enough to last myself through the crisis then of course I would share. Those guarantees are impossible to have but for sake of argument just assume I have those guarantees, then yes I would share because I'd want to help people and I'd try to save as much lives as I could.

Think about a town being cut off for a couple of weeks due to horrendous weather. In the scenario where we will be maybe 2 or 3 weeks without food [...] the neighbhours are beginning to starve...

Trying really hard to imagine such a scenario.

Still trying.

Nope. Can't do it.

What sort of weather in the UK could possibly lead to an average town (again, in the UK, so not especially remote) getting so cut off from the rest of the country that no help of any kind could be brought in for upwards of three weeks? Even on foot?

What sort of weather could actually bring about this scenario? People starving and dying in the streets with no hope of outside help from anyone? What would be Government be doing? What about friends and family members of the starving people - wouldn't they be trying to help somehow?

agree with Driver

It just aint going to happen and presenting is as a realistic topic on here makes Mn look more out of touch and hysterical than ever

My prepper plan is to kidnap Ray Mears.

All the dafties (like my friend) can go to their inevitable doom with Bear Grylls.

My preppy plan is to raid a Ralph Lauren store.

A situation where you are cut off from outside help for a couple of weeks is quite easy to imagine, especially among rural MNers. Remote villages in this country are quite often cut off from the outside world for several days at a time due to bad weather, all we're doing here is saying well what if the weather is a bit worse than normal. It's not that hard to imagine any kind of scenario where you'll be without outside help for a short period of time, prepping is just about you having supplies to last you through that time lag until outside help arrives. Because most preppers including myself don't prepare for end of the world stuff, we believe that the situation will normalize, outside help will arrive, the government will restore order. All we want to do is have enough to make it through that short time period before that help arrives. A good analogy would be first aid, you're doing a few basic things to help out in the short time period before professional and better equipped help arrives.

It just aint going to happen I've told the story 100 times so the short version is... Ask someone who lived in beautiful, modern, stylish Sarajevo before the war whether shit can hit fans. Of course it can. WWII was only decades ago. 500 MILLION people got Spanish flu 100 years ago. It is extremely arrogant and silly to think that we are immune to; global warming; terrorism; pandemics.

Whether prepping will make the slightest difference is debatable. But better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

I live near the Cascadia fault. Tell me shit can't happen to me.

"But better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it"

My thoughts precisely MrsTerryPratchett. I spent a while preparing a go bag that I can grab if I ever need to leave in a hurry. Hopefully I won't need to use it, but I'm grateful that it's there in case it is needed. It's like having a fire extinguisher at work, the chances are you won't need it and people can call you "paranoid" for having one. Hopefully you'll never need it, but if you DO you will be very grateful that you have it.

Don't - actually it is VERY hard to imagine a situation in a 1st world country in the 21st century where there would be an 'emergency' which led to vast swathes of the population literally starving to death and hoping to rob their neighbours who had 'prepared'.

Can you point me to a situation where that has happened or even nearly happened?.

If you can't then that is the very definition of paranoia. An irrational fear with no evidence base.

Preparing for being snowed in for a few days or whatever - fine.

Envisaging a time when the population will be literally starving for weeks?. Stockpiling prescription medicines? Suggesting ways to seal windows so outside air doesn't come in in the event of a pandemic? Suggesting fish anti - biotics can be used if no human ones are available?

Paranoia. And those examples are from just two threads I read on the preppers board today.

No-one cares if it's a hobby or a sensible preparation for being snowed in. Most of the people on that board are doing just that. A few aren't and they've found a place where other people are colluding in/fueling their anxiety and frank paranoia.

I don't think it's fun or lighthearted in those cases.

Seriously now: I live up a hill and have mobility issues, I always do a bit of "prepping" in November in case of ice and snow. My Mum used to get candles in for winter, kept the food cupboard well stocked and we always had a tub of dried milk (yuk!) just in case. That seems quite normal to me and I've never lived rurally.

laughing Argentina 2002.

It's a minority interest that doesn't deserve the legitimacy that MN has given it - This is just silly. Who are you to pass this judgement? Is it your website? No. Of course not.

Trying really hard to imagine such a scenario

Still trying

Nope. Can't do it - Ok - so just stop giving it all headspace. If you want to classify the preppers as fantasists that would be fine. Lots of people are fantasists - lots of people play virtual farm games or Minecraft or whatever - they're just, you know, getting on with life and indulging in something that they enjoy. I continue to fail to see the problem with this. Are they evangelising you to join them? I don't think so. And even if they were you are perfectly at liberty to decline, snigger at them and move on but ffs - stop poking at them. They're doing you no harm. And you can't moan on that they'd let you starve - that's in fantasy land too. Nobody can know how any of this would play out in real life.

My prepper plan is to kidnap Ray Mears.

Oh how I wish there was a "Like" button on MN, sometimes.

I like that we have a Prep board - I find the subject really interesting. I love some of the ideas about self-sufficiency and off-grid living and some posters on there have had genuine experiences of natural disasters/emergencies that they've had to cope with that are really fascinating (and inspiring) to read. It's made me realise how much we take for granted.
I think it's a bit unfair to try and stifle discussion on it to be honest, just because it makes some people anxious - God, the Relationships board makes me anxious sometimes with the sheer volume of cheating DHs! If it has its own topic which can be hidden, then what's the problem? Better that than a thread in Chat or AIBU which would soon get derailed with accusations of paranoia towards posters.

Live and let live, I say.

Why thank you Creak!