# Comprehension ALONE.



## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

Having Survived Occupational/Forced situations, can someone explain why folk's endure made for TV scenarios like Alone?


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

Couch potatoes have no shame..........

May God bless,
Dwight


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

You mean there more on TV other than Fox News and CNN?????


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

$500,000 maybe?


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## NotTooProudToHide (Nov 3, 2013)

M118LR said:


> Having Survived Occupational/Forced situations, can someone explain why folk's endure made for TV scenarios like Alone?


Are you referring to the History Channel's show?

If so even thought its blurred I prefer Naked and Afraid


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

Forget the reality crap that has everyone's attention. If it is on TV it is not reality. It is scripted, directed, edited, and produced.

Pay attention to the real reality surrounding you in broad daylight. Watch, plan, prepare, and be ready to react.


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## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

My experienced survival reality, and others perceived survival reality, may differ to a point that I can't comprehend why anyone would need to prove to themselves that they could survive by choice.


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## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

Just an aside....

I have a customer who used to work in Hollywood as a grip, a carpenter...general helper here and there.

It's fascinating talking to him about how all these shows and movies are made and come together. I have questioned him at length about all the names that roll at the end of a movie...

Anyway....the reason there are so many of these reality shows is production costs...pure and simple. They don't have to pay over-priced-non talent-liberal-whiny-actors. They don't have to worry about sets, about any of two hundred things that they have to on a sit-com type show.

So...one day, not too long ago...they figured out they could capture the minds and hearts of American television viewers by flooding the networks with pure garbage reality shows. It worked.

Carry on.....


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Having survived occupational/ forced situations (I don't know why I said that; I don't feel the need to make folks think I am a badass), I do not watch those stupid shows. Life is too short.


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## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

Denton said:


> Having survived occupational/ forced situations (I don't know why I said that; I don't feel the need to make folks think I am a badass), I do not watch those stupid shows. Life is too short.


I cut the cable 3 years ago so I can't watch them anyway......


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

I think I have watched three different ones for a total of three min's combined.

IMHO, B.S.

They do it for the money.

I laughed at the way they tried to create artificial suspense, crappola.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

SOCOM42 said:


> I think I have watched three different ones for a total of three min's combined.
> 
> IMHO, B.S.
> 
> ...


Agreed, the editing is irritating at best.

However, I do enjoy watching the show Survivor. During each episode I think of multiple ways to kill, maim, or disable each contestant.:vs_wave:


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

I watch the local news at 6:00, and the national news at 6:30.
That's it, that's all.

And I have to use head phones, 'cause the wife doesn't want to hear any TV of any type at any time.

I am reading an excellent book from the county library: "American Warlords. How Roosevelt's High Command Led America To Victory In World War II" by Jonathan W. Jordan, Penguin Publishing, May 2015.

I highly recommend exercise of the mind through the printed word.


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## New guy 101 (Dec 17, 2014)

M118LR said:


> Having Survived Occupational/Forced situations, can someone explain why folk's endure made for TV scenarios like Alone?


i would do it if it werent televised, I wouldnt lose my job, and they paid me my salary for the time frame...why?

Several reason. 
1: it allows you to test your skills and knowledge under various conditions, with no quick reference you tube video to remind you. 
2: It creates a situation where you have to use your mind to problem solve all the basics, while possibly deteriorating physically and enduring whatever nature throws at you...vice your chosen weekend to go camping.
3: It lets you experience first hand the effects of lack of normal protein intake and the result on your physical strength, emotional state, and mental processess.
4: It uncovers gaps in your knowledge you may not have known you had and makes you improvise using ingenuity, while in a degraded state.
5: Few people, even military, go days on end without physical contact...this lets you consider ways to fill that gap with some other mental activity (The guy and his bowling and football game).
6: It lets you see how far you go before you give in when it's an option, and that can re-emphasis how much further you can go when it not an option
7: It drives home the importants of being self reliant, and that means from a safety stand point as well.
8: The biggest thing I learned from watching them...none really planned for the lean times to come..they had a date in mind and where just gutting it out to the finish...But I think several would have made different choices and done well had it been a longer term experience.
9: You learn what you thought would be useful and work, may not work or be as useful.
10: You most certainly will learn what to take with you if you ever had to endure it again.

but I wouldn't do it for the public or the money.


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## SAR-1L (Mar 13, 2013)

Ya know I must be a real boring guy, and I even tell people I am outright.

I attended the EOD ( Explosive Ordinance Disposal ) info meeting held by CSPD last night.
I don't feel I learned much more than I already new in regards to IED's, bombs, etc.

However I did to see a fine bomb dog do great work, and I have a soft spot for four legged co-workers.

When we talk about CPO's ( Crime Prevention Officers ), I really can't say enough good things about the law enforcement here.
This comes from a guy who has mixed feelings about some of the traffic officers I have dealt with, some good, some bad, like all people they come in all different flavors.

Now the cool thing is I talked with my CPO and said #1 can we get lighting up in a dark park where we have a bad neighborhood, with lots of calls for service, a rape and several
assaults within the last year, and the guy is putting much more effort into it then the city commissioner I spoke with a couple months back at a CONO meeting.

#2 I asked him if there was a way I could job shadow him for day, similar to how citizens can do a ride along with a patrol officer.
He said yes even better I will be able to attend an advanced active shooter training provided by CSPD for a local business.
Additionally he said he would build in time just to sit and chat cause he knows the projects I am working on so I am going to get feedback on the training I provide as well.

What impresses me about it is he is the first officer that has really reached out or extended a helping hand to me in the local PD.
Most of the department and it's officers, and I am sure for liability reasons have been completely uninvolved, disinterested in cooperating with someone who is not government paid.

Anyways that is a lot of babble, the main take away is this... *safety meetings and community involvement, that's where it's at.* 
Probably boring as hell to most compared to a TV show, but hey that is where we are gonna make real impact in our lives, and in our communities.


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

I watch very little network TV. Particularly the reality nonsense. I watch the local news, The history channel when it actually has something about history on , ( Ice Road Truckers ?? ) Movies, and Sports, mostly Football, and oh yea.....the best show on TV now or ever "The Kardashians!"


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## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

I just can't get the motivation. Having a family to return to during an actual survival situation is one of the strongest motivators. The money as a motivator? Survivorman made more per episode than either winner of Alone, and he knew that he was only roughing it for 10 days. Perhaps the thrill of Vancouver Island? But season 3 is moving to Patagonia, (both Survivorman & Dual Survival have already been there) so is it the I can outdo the other guys that were already on TV syndrome?


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## Mish (Nov 5, 2013)

Money...comes with...BREAKING NEWS!!!!
Keep it fresh...keep the news changing!!! 
NEW INFORMATION JUST IN!!

It also just has to do with how fast "news/information is available.


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

Alone is a good show.
Contestants are totally alone in a hostile enviornment.
No camera man, no support (except if you tap the button), to make it for as long as it takes, with the supplies you selected from the list.

It is not a scripted show with added drama.
Think about that. Could you do it?
If you think you can, sign up.
Next season will be in Patagonia.


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## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

tango, I don't even comprehend signing up! 
It's not like your aircraft is downed, your ship is taking on water, or one of a thousand other dilemmas. If I want a Wilderness experience I'll book a cabin at Disney World and enjoy the week with the Family. Maybe even a resort cabin for a little worm drowning. Why on earth would you just decide to suffer like it's the end of the world as we know it?


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## Coastie dad (Jan 2, 2016)

I would do naked and afraid with Kim Kardashian.

Her seeing me naked would make her head explode and ta-dah! One less gobshite in the news!


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

M118LR, 
$500,000 dollars.
I am not doing it, too damn old.
I agree with you, cabin in the woods, or on a lake somewhere.


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## stevekozak (Oct 4, 2015)

I


New guy 101 said:


> i would do it if it werent televised, I wouldnt lose my job, and they paid me my salary for the time frame...why?
> 
> Several reason.
> 1: it allows you to test your skills and knowledge under various conditions, with no quick reference you tube video to remind you.
> ...


I have not watched Alone. I have watched naked and afraid, and your #8 point is the one I observe the most. If you know you are getting picked up in X amount of days, and immediately thereafter get all you want to eat and medical care, it definately changes your decisions. Having camera crew around changes midset as well. I am convinced the contestants do get provided some food an/or vitimens, or they would lose a lot more weight than they show them doing, considering how little they show them eating. I notice their teeth stay nice and white throughout as well. They are being provided some hygeine products as well, off camera.


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## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

I believe all network programs monitor the health of the contestants. Alone, like Surviviorman, has the contestants do their own video recording. As with all TV it's only an entertainment, but unlike the instruction that Dual Survival & Survivorman originally attempted to encourage, Alone just emphasis's how long and what causes people to tap out. (it's more about mistakes made than things done right. JMO )


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

M118LR said:


> ... (it's more about mistakes made than things done right. JMO )


Kinda like why some people watch NASCAR...for the "Mistakes!"


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## Mish (Nov 5, 2013)

A Watchman said:


> Forget the reality crap that has everyone's attention. If it is on TV it is not reality. It is scripted, directed, edited, and produced.
> 
> Pay attention to the real reality surrounding you in broad daylight. Watch, plan, prepare, and be ready to react.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Who was that guy who had the survival show that was caught spending the nights in a motel instead of the woods?


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## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

rice paddy daddy said:


> Who was that guy who had the survival show that was caught spending the nights in a motel instead of the woods?


Wasn't that Bear something or other. Isn't he living the life of luxury from royalties paid on his survival gear?


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## Coastie dad (Jan 2, 2016)

Bear Grylls? Something like that....Gerber markets a bunch of his branded stuff at Walmart and academy.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Coastie dad said:


> Bear Grylls? Something like that....Gerber markets a bunch of his branded stuff at Walmart and academy.


I thought that's who it was, but not being sure, I did not want to inadvertently slander someone.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

rice paddy daddy said:


> I thought that's who it was, but not being sure, I did not want to inadvertently slander someone.


(Slippy pulls out his notebook entitled "Things Not to Do" and jots down, "Do not inadvertently slander others"....

Then scratches that one out...:devil


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## SittingElf (Feb 9, 2016)

There are only three series worth watching on television IMHO... and in this order:

Game of Thrones
Homeland
Black Sails

I don't watch sports, feeling it is total waste of my time as I have no investment in them, and there are much more productive things I can do with my time.
I don't watch reality shows....most are staged anyway. (I have a good friend who was involved with the Survivor series... all BS!)
I don't watch CNN, MSNBC, or BBC because they would just piss me off. (Fox News only on internet along with Breitbart and Drudge every morning)
I 'would' watch really good comedies, but there haven't been any "good" ones since Cheers, Friends, Frasier, or Everyone Loves Raymond.
I watch a lot of YouTube videos...but generally not for "entertainment". Mostly learning and research.

I only subscribe to cable for internet service...not TV. I get what little TV shows I watch from Bittorrent and stream it to my Apple TV for the big screen
I am an Amazon Prime member (since 2007), so I get free movies and other digital content if I'm really desperate for some entertainment...which is not often.

Much rather spend my time woodworking, gardening, reading, playing with my 8 year old son, and prepping. Other than the loss of the internet in SHTF, I won't miss much else when the grid goes down!


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

rice paddy daddy said:


> I thought that's who it was, but not being sure, I did not want to inadvertently slander someone.


Awww come on RPD. go for it, just once. You might even learn how to smile with a crooked grin.


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## New guy 101 (Dec 17, 2014)

M118LR said:


> I believe all network programs monitor the health of the contestants. Alone, like Surviviorman, has the contestants do their own video recording. As with all TV it's only an entertainment, but unlike the instruction that Dual Survival & Survivorman originally attempted to encourage, Alone just emphasis's how long and what causes people to tap out. (it's more about mistakes made than things done right. JMO )


as an OC for a particular joint Training center (years ago). I learned to learn more by watching mistakes made by others...whereas before I only learn by my own mistakes.


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