# Prepping paranoia.......



## Nick (Nov 21, 2020)

Why is it that many people who aren't into prepping look at preppers like they're paranoid or maybe even a little bit crazy?

These same people don't even bat an eye at their own government spending billions of their tax dollars every year to build and maintain whole stocked underground communities all over the country. 

Given how seriously the government takes prepping, to the point where they literally hollow out mountains to make small city sized bunkers that are capable of taking a direct nuke hit, you would think people would understand why regular people prep.

But even knowing that the government does this people still look at the person who builds their own shelter as "the crazy guy in town".

It seems to me that the people who don't prepare and think they can rely on the government in a crisis are the crazy ones.

How many times do they need proof of this? Most recently you have the disaster in Texas because of cold weather of all things. But if you look back through history and times like hurricane Katrina it's pretty easy to see how inefficient the government is at helping people in time of need.


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## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

Nick said:


> Why is it that many people who aren't into prepping look at preppers like they're paranoid or maybe even a little bit crazy?
> 
> These same people don't even bat an eye at their own government spending billions of their tax dollars every year to build and maintain whole stocked underground communities all over the country.
> 
> ...


Because those people havent yet had, what a drunk would call, a moment of clarity. 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

I think the stigma of being "one of those crazy perppers" is fading fast. 

Before 2020, the MSM really played it up and portrayed anyone with a pocket knife and more than 3 cans of soup as a right wing, white supremacist living in a bunker teaching their kids to speak Klingon. They need people to live paycheck to paycheck and rely on the gubment.

When the scamdemic hit, lots of lefties had one of Susquatch's 'moments of clarity' and realized that if things got out of hand all those crazy right wing preppers would have them by the balls. They started buying guns, toilet paper and lots of non-gmo, gluten free, organic, vegan soup. Overnight it became fashionable to be a prepper.

The upside: if all those gun toteing left wing nouveau-preppers get serious about being self sufficient, they'll naturally start drifting to the right. ...or, at least, drift away from thinking that socialism is a good idea.


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

We just went through a year where people were scrambling for toilet paper, and first-time gun buyer numbers were at an all time high.
The stigma is fading fast, but like all things where humans are concerned, memories are short and the lessons learned will be forgotten.

I did overhear a church member talking about this very thing during our Snowrmageddon down here in Texas.
She expressed how she used to think preppers were weird, but over the course of the last year, she has come around to their view, and has been stocking up on essentials, and was glad she did when the snow hit and shut down everything.

It certainly takes that "moment of clarity", and some folks don't recognize it until it smacks them in the head like a 2x4.


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## Piratesailor (Nov 9, 2012)

If 2020 wasn’t a moment of clarity then avoid those people.. they’re stupid.


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## Chiefster23 (Feb 5, 2016)

My wife suffers from normalcy bias. She has never been on board with my prepping yet she considers it very convienent to simply go to the basement shelfs for a product she runs out of upstairs. Last year during the start of the scamdemic, lock downs, and shortages, we were all set and lacked for nothing. She was all smiles then. But lately it’s back to the same old song “why do you have all that extra stuff down in the basement?” The store shelves are full again and all is well.

I just keep plugging along. I don’t think we have seen the worst yet. I fully expect that the next year or two will produce a shit storm of epic proportions. We shall see.........


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

Because non-preppers haven't been told by their Masters they should be prepping.

Well, except for that one "rolls of plastic sheeting and duct tape" snafu a while back.


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## Piratesailor (Nov 9, 2012)

Yeah. My wife had normalcy bias. 2020 got her attention big time. She now helps and even recommends things. And she wants a much larger garden.


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Getting to the point it's better to look like a sheep then a prepper.


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## Nick (Nov 21, 2020)

Things may be changing in some areas as far as the way people look at preppers, but it doesn't seem to me that they have in my area.

I don't just come out and tell people what I do, with the exception of some friends and family. But I get it even when I go to my private club to shoot.

I start pulling out my guns and even the other guys shooting get bewildered because I have SBR's and "pre-ban" 30 round mags along with other stuff they've never seen. If I was in NH nobody would even bat an eye at any of it.

I know I live in an extremely liberal state but Central Mass where I live leans more conservative.

Maybe living in a coastal state makes people less likely to have a prepping mindset. Early on in the China Virus the store shelves were pretty low but they never got even close to the point of being empty like I saw in many other states.

The same goes for when there's storms coming. We don't have empty stores or lines at the gas stations.

It would make sense that stores on the eastern and western coasts of the US are going to be stocked before the ones further inland given a lot of our products arrive by sea.

That's my theory anyway. I could be completely wrong but it sounds plausible......


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Nick said:


> Things may be changing in some areas as far as the way people look at preppers, but it doesn't seem to me that they have in my area.
> 
> I don't just come out and tell people what I do, with the exception of some friends and family. But I get it even when I go to my private club to shoot.
> 
> ...


I am surrounded by preppers of one degree or another...some more motivated and richer than others. Nobody I know thinks its odd...most just wished they could do more and better to prep. The only thing that could bewilder folks like that is target shooting. The current (reasonble facisimiles of formerly hostile native american peoples) is busy circling the wagons and bad time to waste ammo practicing. lol.


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## Nick (Nov 21, 2020)

bigwheel said:


> I am surrounded by preppers of one degree or another...some more motivated and richer than others. Nobody I know thinks its odd...most just wished they could do more and better to prep. The only thing that could bewilder folks like that is target shooting. The **** is busy circling the wagons and bad time to waste ammo practicing. lol.


Fortunately I'm in a position where I don't have to worry about wasting ammo. I prepared for this for the last 20 years. I knew it would happen eventually.


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## jeffh (Apr 6, 2020)

Back Pack Hack said:


> Because non-preppers haven't been told by their Masters they should be prepping.
> 
> Well, except for that one "rolls of plastic sheeting and duct tape" snafu a while back.


Heck even FEMA recommends prepping to a certain degree. Even when their Master says they should, many don't .


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

Back Pack Hack said:


> Because non-preppers haven't been told by their Masters they should be prepping.
> 
> Well, except for that one "rolls of plastic sheeting and duct tape" snafu a while back.


I'm still using the plastic and tape from the last panic to cover my window shakers for the winter


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## MisterMills357 (Apr 15, 2015)

Preppers are considered strange, and that is something that I accept. But as I have aged I have learned to camouflage my inner man. Just like I know how to do that on the outside, I do it with the inside man.

Prepping and dealing with fearfulness, that people have about that, is something that goes way back for me.
I suppose that I was a Survivalist, before I was a Prepper, because I had to learn how to deal with assaults.

Bullies and thugs and gangs do not like it when you stand up to them. Leave it to me, I stood up.
So, inevitably that led to knives, and knives led to guns. And 60 years later, here I am.

I learned to carry a Mini 14 or a riot gun in my trunk as early as 1980. Or I had a.357 under my seat. People suspected that I might be doing that; but I denied it or obfuscated, because I was in the Army. 

And I went on my merry way.

I know that the paranoia is there and I have adjusted to it. I look at people who are not armed as simps.
So there is a equanimity there, they have a loathing and fear of me, and I have a contempt for them.

There is a hardness in life but I accept that. And whoever it is that wonders about preppers, then the door swings both ways. 

Because I wonder about them.


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## CapitalKane49p (Apr 7, 2020)

I am in similar boat to others here. Wife used to think I was nutty but didn't complain when we would run out of coffee filters and I go down stairs and scrounge some up. 

Still not a true believer but I'm making progress.

Godspeed


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

MisterMills357 said:


> Preppers are considered strange, and that is something that I accept. But as I have aged I have learned to camouflage my inner man. Just like I know how to do that on the outside, I do it with the inside man.
> 
> Prepping and dealing with fearfulness, that people have about that, is something that goes way back for me.
> I suppose that I was a Survivalist, before I was a Prepper, because I had to learn how to deal with assaults.
> ...


Wow sounds rough. I was very sheltered compared to that action. Glad you hung in there. I also tend to talk about what I do way too much. That has caused most of my problems. I am woking on trying to be a strong silent type.


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## MisterMills357 (Apr 15, 2015)

bigwheel said:


> Wow sounds rough. I was very sheltered compared to that action. Glad you hung in there. I also tend to talk about what I do way too much. That has caused most of my problems. I am woking on trying to be a strong silent type.


I did not have to shoot anyone, but I had the hardware with me, just case. I will only take so much trash talk and threats, and then if I have to, I am drawing a gun . And if I have I am going to open fire, and I will fire for effect.

I write too tough and hard a lot of the time, but that is rooted in knowing who I am up against. Those who have not seen the animal come out, in mankind, they do not believe that an animal is there. But it is.


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## 2guns (Mar 12, 2018)

I hope no one else will ever see the reasons I have a big mean dig.


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

A lot of people are coming around to the idea that it's wise to be prepared but still think "preppers" are paranoid nut jobs. ...and some of it is deserved. 

We have to admit that a small percentage of people who call themselves preppers really are bat shit crazy. And who's going to get interviewed on the 6 o'clock news? ...the guy who wants to provided for his family in an emergency or the guy who thinks the government is spraying nanobots from airliners so they can control our minds with GPS satellites

For a long time my russian born neighbors thought I was actually worried about zombies. They asked why I was keeping all the empty buckets the kitty litter comes in, I said something about how they might come in handy during a zombie apocalypse. Granted there's a language issue there, but the bottom line is they believed the propaganda the MSM told them to believe.


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## MisterMills357 (Apr 15, 2015)

NMPRN said:


> A lot of people are coming around to the idea that it's wise to be prepared but still think "preppers" are paranoid nut jobs. ...and some of it is deserved.
> 
> We have to admit that a small percentage of people who call themselves preppers really are bat shit crazy.


I have suffered through paranoiac nut jobs while attending church. There was a family of them posing as good church goers, in my local congregation. 

They were led by a father who was a Plutonian passing himself off as as human. It ain’t t just preppers, but you knew that already.


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## NMPRN (Dec 25, 2020)

MisterMills357 said:


> They were led by a father who was a Plutonian passing himself off as as human. It ain’t t just preppers, but you knew that already.


Plutonians have a right to be paranoid Their planet just got downgraded to a dwarf planet, they know we're out to get them. Every group has it's share of nut jobs, ...most of them end up in Washington.


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## Nick (Nov 21, 2020)

NMPRN said:


> Plutonians have a right to be paranoid Their planet just got downgraded to a dwarf planet, they know we're out to get them. Every group has it's share of nut jobs, ...most of them end up in Washington.


All that plutonium being mined has shrunk their planet.


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## MisterMills357 (Apr 15, 2015)

NMPRN said:


> Plutonians have a right to be paranoid Their planet just got downgraded to a dwarf planet, they know we're out to get them. Every group has it's share of nut jobs, ...most of them end up in Washington.


Yes they do, Schumer, Pelosi and Shiff tend to prove your point.


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## MisterMills357 (Apr 15, 2015)

Nick said:


> All that plutonium being mined has shrunk their planet.


Nick, here is more than you ever wanted to know about Plutonium. They don’t do this on the other forums:

Plutonium isn't found in the natural world. It is a radioactive metallic man-made element with chemistry closely relating to that of Uranium. In 1941, Abelson and McMillian discovered the first transuranic element Neptunium, element 93. [1] Noticing that Neptunium was a β-emitter with a short half-life and that its decay was followed by no further emission of radiation, Glenn Seaborg, a young assistant professor at the time, correctly deduced that neptunium must be followed in the periodic table by another element with a long half-life, element 94, later called Plutonium.





__





Plutonium: History, Manufacturing, and Safety






large.stanford.edu





It is from a students paper, and it’s good , but I don’t that she (Emma) got an A on it.


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## Nick (Nov 21, 2020)

MisterMills357 said:


> Nick, here is more than you ever wanted to know about Plutonium. They don’t do this on the other forums:
> 
> Plutonium isn't found in the natural world. It is a radioactive metallic man-made element with chemistry closely relating to that of Uranium. In 1941, Abelson and McMillian discovered the first transuranic element Neptunium, element 93. [1] Noticing that Neptunium was a β-emitter with a short half-life and that its decay was followed by no further emission of radiation, Glenn Seaborg, a young assistant professor at the time, correctly deduced that neptunium must be followed in the periodic table by another element with a long half-life, element 94, later called Plutonium.
> 
> ...



I understand this. It was a joke however. I'm well aware that there is no "plutonium mining" being done and even if there was we certainly wouldn't be able to get it from Pluto......


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## Steve40th (Aug 17, 2016)

I dont. More Envy than anything. Got a long wayz to go to get ose to some of your prepping.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Nick said:


> Why is it that many people who aren't into prepping look at preppers like they're paranoid or maybe even a little bit crazy?


After being "out of the loop" for quite a bit, I think I can answer this. I'll begin by saying it's not the association of "preppering'" or the knife, or the hobbyists in general. Simply, I believe it's the jealousy of the craft.

I believe that most of the truly dedicated preppers started just be being hobbyists. They studied the examples of others, and then honed their craft. And if it's one thing I've learned about a "hobby." it's that the craft never stops. You study one aspect of the phase or the idea, and sooner or later you're studying the polished edge of your knife (or other hobby) through a microscope.

I just liken this as the guy in the crowd with the biggest V-8 engine. He worked hard to build it, repair it if he blew it up, and then came back smarter and stronger. My guess is that your laundry list of superior survival attributes surpass mine by leaps and bounds.

So don't consider anything you've worked hard at as simply "paranoid." The guy who defames you is usually the guy who needs your help.


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