I admit it, there are some groups of people I really don’t care for. There are people of certain political views that I think are idiots for thinking that stuff. With so many religions in the world (and sects among those religions) and political factions, it’s hard NOT to be opposed and even hate some of their beliefs and practices.
Right?
As an owner of this blog, I have the perfect platform to bash those who I dislike, those who I disagree with.
Hate? So… why don’t I do that?
Because hate is a HUGE prepper mistake, yet it’s one that a large percentage of the prepper community makes.
Why is hate a mistake? Why do preppers make that mistake?
To tackle the first question, it’s a mistake because every single person… no matter their race, religious affiliations, sexual orientation, political ideology, whatever… takes a certain amount of provisioning to survive during a day. Right?
Each person needs a minimum number of calories, needs clean water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, etc.
So what, a mistaken prepper might ask, what’s that to me?
The answer is simple. The more people who are prepared, the less problems we will all have if the Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF).
I’m coining a new prepping phrase, something we will use a lot around here in the future, “Inclusive Prepping™”
If we involved these people who we may not like, who we may in fact hate, in prepping now, they will be less of a problem later.
Think about it. Who is more likely to become confrontational, to attack you and yours… somebody who’s well fed and has their own preps, or somebody who’s watching their children starve?
To me, it’s self evident that it is in MY best interest and that of my family that YOU prep. It’s in our best interest that EVERYBODY we can talk into it, no matter what their race, religious affiliations, sexual orientation, political ideology, or whatever is.
So if we are all better off to encourage EVERYBODY, no matter who they are, to prep, why are we as a community exclusive and decisive? Why are so many prepper websites and organizations geared towards “only the right type of people” being prepared?
Tribalism.
We want to protect our own tribe, defined as we see it.
What does that lead to? Tribal warfare where the haves are having to fight off the have-nots.
This is a really, REALLY bad idea.
The takeaway from this article? The more that others (no matter what group/tribe they are in) are prepared, the better off you are… and now’s a good time to become a champion for being inclusive in the prepper community (even if you hate the people you are including) because, in the end, it will make you and your family safer. It’s time to start thinking in terms of Inclusive Prepping™.
If people were universally prepared for 3 days, as the government recommends, we would be a whole lot better off.
Yes we would.
we cannot prepare for everyone, and why should we bother to prepare for people that cant be bothered to do it for themselves?
once the shelves are empty, humans can only live for 3 weeks without food and 3 days without water, survive for this long and maybe, just maybe, the problem will be resolved.
I am aiming for keeping a group of 20 going for a minimum of one year, across a wide range of disaster types.. I picked 20 because that is as much as I feel I can handle. If I had the resources, I’d do more.
Again, this all comes down to what we have been talking about here on 3BY, prepping for high probability events as a means to help stock up for TEOTWAWKI. It also comes down to what Paranoid Prepper has been talking about, taking care of “his people”, i.e. the man’s not going to let his family (even if they haven’t prepared anything) starve in front of his eyes.
IF we can get unprepared people interested and educated in STARTING the process… say storing 1-week of food… that be a HUGE help in a non-TEOTWAWKI event… and frankly, a regional non-WROL even is what’s most likely to happen. Earthquakes, hurricanes, wild/forest fires, ice/wind/dust storms causing power outages, all of this stuff happens every year.
Honestly, if the world goes all Mad Max only 3 in 100 are going to survive, and at that point in time then no, it won’t make that much of a difference.But that’s a low-probability event.
But if we can be inclusive, be supportive (even if we have to hold our noses while doing it) and continue to educate and encourage, perhaps we can change a few minds… and every single person that’s more prepared is one less zombie we have to worry about if the shoe drops.
There’s all that, and I’ll throw in one more personal reason. I feel morally obligated to try to make the world a better place than it is now. I need to pay my social rent, and everybody else does too. I’ll come back to that concept in an article soon, but you are going to hear the term a lot from me in the future.
I’ve received a comment explaining who poeple hate/ blame for various reasons. Just a reminder, we do not do politics at 3BY, this is not a platform for saying who you dislike and why you dislike them. If in doubt why then please refer to the above story. It’s a shame bcause the comment was otherwise good but I am not allowing it because we do not discuss politics here.
I SHARED—all it got me was laughed at and exposure to what I have.
‘Keep your mouth shut. If I could move this day to another area, I would!!
With husband on day 19 after an accident that called for brain surgery, and not one neighbor knocking on my door??
F’ em!!
And my Bible study today, after 18 days of not getting to read, stated this…
‘you have work to do, appts. to keep, people to care for. Well, you are not alone.’
How prophetic!!!
One of the things I learned when I was in sales is that a lot of people will say no to you, a lot of doors will be slammed in your face. We either learn how to deal with rejection and press on, or we don’t, that’s entirely on us… because people will say no a whole lot.
Of course I’m not talking about walking around door-to-door evangelizing, here, I’m more talking about the prepper community being more inclusive instead of just automatically saying “That guy’s a ______________, they are the problem in the first place, screw them” instead of realizing that if that guy is prepped, that’s one less we have to worry about when resources become scarce.
I don’t think the other posters are getting the concept. I understand what you are saying and agree that the more prepared others are the easier it will be for me if SHTF happens. one problem i have always seen in preppers is tunnel vision. They only see what is right in front of them. This is an asset at times and is what allows a lot of people to prep as they see what could happen and head straight for a solution but it can also be a downfall.
Part of what we are doing here with 3BY is offering alternatives in thinking. It’s an overused buzzphrase from a decade ago, but it really is what we are all about… we want to see a “paradigm shift” in the prepping community, from exclusive to inclusive.
You are exactly right, if we were all to work to make prepping mainstream by being smart and using the media properly, it can make an eventual difference.
I’m sure there are a lot of people who will be 100 percent negative and mocking, but you know what? Don’t care.
You can’t start a fire without a spark.
I agree with you for a number of reasons however it should be noted that many folks may be prepping in the first place because they felt they have been rejected by society and or social groups. Prepping and arranging your life so that you’re no longer dependent on others and society is a great way to feel empowered. Coming from this mindset makes it extremely difficult to be inclusive and open up your life and coping mechanisms to a wider audience. Also if a SHTF situation were to last more than 6 months without any aid, realistically the death toll would be around 95%.
Good points! You are exactly right, many people do come to prepping because they feel like they have been rejected by society. Spice and I are social outsiders ourselves, because we are really “quirky”… but there are many ways to reach out (for example, us creating 3BY) without having interact one-on-one face-to-face.
We created the rules here about religion and politics (i.e. we don’t discuss either one, at all, at 3BY) not because we don’t have views on both, but rather because we want to be inclusive. It’s in our best interests that more people are prepped.
Thanks for the comments!