U.S. ‘prepper’ culture diversifies amid fear of disaster and political unrest
U.S. ‘prepper’ culture diversifies amid fear of disaster and political unrest
The number of preppers has doubled in size to about 20 million since 2017, due to more people or color and progressives joining the community, experts say.
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I wouldn't call myself a pepper by any means and I certainly am no gun-toting right-winger... But I'm not going to lie: one of three reasons I'm getting a cargo trailer soon is to have some storage & shelter in the event of an emergent move.
Just throwing this out there, no judge, but liberal and minority groups should safely use their second amendment rights too.
Of course with proper education, safety, and training.
Just saying the second amendment should not only functionally exist for one subset of the population, even in common discussion.
There are some cool empowerment and inclusion groups advocating this that have nothing to do with the NRA or anyone like that
I agree. Responsible gun ownership is for everyone and when done right it's a lot of fun.
And even in right leaning circles only the fudds like the NRA.
Speaking as a former rural Republican gun-owner, I'm personally under the impression that if we get to the point where I need to use firearms to defend myself from right-wing extremists, well, we already lost the fight long before that point. I'd rather we all put our brains instead of bullets together and figure out how to defuse this situation before it spirals even further out of control.
There has been an active, concerted effort documented by ProPublica initially if I recall to foment a race war and muddy the waters of discourse. Interestingly, the right wants the left armed, because they're (a) hoping for more leftist attacks, and (b) it will justify their own recruitment and escalation of force. Meanwhile gun lobbyists realize there's an untapped market of people to sell to, so there has been a concerted astroturfing effort among leftist circles to promote firearm adoption, conveniently.
Besides, statistically, a firearm doesn't make one safer. It actually adds a significant amount of risk in a variety of other aspects. If one is concerned about acute or long-term safety of themselves or their family, I think there are better ways to occupy time, money, and risk.
I didn't argue for that or suggest violence as a motivator to be involved.
I didn't mean to suggest you specifically did—just that this was the intention of far-right operatives;. I knew you were referring to defense, but I also made a point to disagree in that respect as well.
It’s very important to define what a “prepper” even is.
My parents me keep a first aid kit with a flashlight and some clothes in case a storm knocks down the house.
I personally keep a go bag (no weapons, just clothes, first aid, shelter some dried food,) and about a months worth of dried food (I make it my self- you can dehydrate most prepared meals and rehydrate the same as like ramen or mountain house. It lasts 6+months so I just roll through whenever I need a lazy meal,)
And I’ve got enough aeroponics I could technically subsistence farm for me and my family.
With climate change getting whonky, and storms getting worse, I don’t want to have to rely on FEMA of a storm hits. So yeah, I’ve thought about that and took steps. That would have made me a prepper back a few years ago.
But now? Fuck no.
I just don’t want to be the guy living out of the football stadium using MRE wrappers for clothes.
You need to add a couple of decks of cards and some activity books too.
When people refer to it as prepping or some kind of bad behavior I remind them that ready.gov is meant for everyone and the stuff they recommend only works when it's in place beforehand.
Exactly.
Storms are getting worse, and more frequent. Large scale fires, too (and conditions that mean your house on a smaller scale,) are growing increasingly more frequent.
And that’s just weather related events. It’s best to have a plan in case things go bad. Even if it’s a vague “be in the basement, meet here or there.” Kind of thing. And these days, you can’t rely on FEMA aid being there quickly since politics are intruding. Even if you could, the first 72 hours or so, you’re basically on your own.