How did you became interested in prepping?

[Jay]

Ouch!! @ukpreppergrrl that was some response

@GPS check out this free course:

http://www.futurelearn.com/courses/exti ... st-present

Interesting and thought provoking!!

[Brambles]

Ouch!! @ukpreppergrrl that was some response

@GPS check out this free course:

http://www.futurelearn.com/courses/exti ... st-present

Interesting and thought provoking!!

I think ukpreppergrrl has spoken for quite a few of us and most eloquently if I might say.

[oldman]

Ouch!! @ukpreppergrrl that was some response

I have to agree with ukpreppergirl only because the question is so 20th century. Remember, this guy is a professor so he is not going to be down with the kids. He's not going to know that we are prepping for zombies not nukes.

[Plymtom]

Ouch!! @ukpreppergrrl that was some response

I have to agree with ukpreppergirl only because the question is so 20th century. Remember, this guy is a professor so he is not going to be down with the kids. He's not going to know that we are prepping for zombies not nukes.

Film and TV gives a lot of time to those worst case scenarios, indeed some of us will come to places like this having seen stuff which touched a nerve, exposed certain vulnerabilities, but the truth is those megga disasters aren't what most of us prepare for, you'll find the odd thread where someone's preparation especially food etc, have tided them through rough times, and that is where it is at, even though we pretty much all talk about major SHTF events, few of us are any where near remote enough to stand a chance in those cases, for other localized disasters I'd want to muck in and help get things back to normal as soon as it looked sensible to do so, for personal shit hitting the fan... it's been doing that for my family for almost quarter of a century now, prepping smooths out the bumps, and has brought a fun hobby or two into the mix

[itsybitsy]

I need to check and see who won the mod's 'When will he mention the A word' sweepstake.


*smirk*

[Yorkshire Andy]

I need to check and see who won the mod's 'When will he mention the A word' sweepstake.


*smirk*

Whoop free jammie Dodgers for me!

[Britcit]

Ukpreppergrrl, remind me NEVER to piss you off. Loved the post, couldn't have put it any better.
I think I have a crush on you now....

Seriously, a great post.

LIKE

[Arzosah]

Ukpreppergrrl, you rock

Ooh, and Plymtom's point "film and TV gives a lot of time to those worst case scenarios" - I want to keep saying that both film and tv do this all the time, in every genre - think of EastEnders, all the stuff that happens on it (I used to have to watch several episodes in a row when I stayed with my mum, so I Know What I'm Talking About ) there isn't a street in the country where that much stuff goes on year after year (at least, I hope not). But on tv its expected.

[GPS]

However, one thing that I am keen to discuss with you all is the potentially more catstrophic events that would likely take out the vast majority of people (e.g. Nuclear Apocalypse). These events are more difficult to prep for obviously but the question is why would you want to survive something like this when the world is essentially destroyed and more than likely a horrible place to survive in. I understand the human instinct to survive and I have no doubt I would be scrambling around like anyone else to survive but I suppose what it boils down to is if it is actually worth successfully prepping for something like this. I suppose I am kind of playing devil's advocate here as I don't really know if I agree with my own premise.

Ah...here we are. The let's talk about The End Of The World As We Know It because, after all, that's what all you nutters are preparing for isn't it?

In the entire history of the planet, which is a pretty long time, the world has only been destroyed to the level you are talking about (aka a Mass Extinction Event) a few times. Five to be precise. None of them within human history (though the last mass extinction event, did allow us mammals to become the dominant creatures, seeing the dinosaurs off as it did). Whilst there are those who predict that the earth is overdue a sixth Mass Extinction Event, the likelihood (and you really should have gathered by now that prepping is about likelihood of events actually happening, not "what's the worst possible scenario I can think of, and how or why would I prep for that?") of such a thing happening within our lifetimes is so small as to be non-existant. Such is the stuff of science fiction writers. Why don't you ask them what they'd do and why they'd do it? Or pose the question to psychologists if you're interested in why a human being would or would not want to survive such a situation. Bottom line: it's not worth prepping for such an event, not because it'd be so terrible you'd rather be dead, but because it's so unlikely to happen. At best it's a naive question, at worst it's a stupid question.

Actually it's a stupid question because by its very definition you are 99.99% likely to die, and if you are the 0.01% of the world's population who amazingly find themselves still alive (which at this level of extinction will have been by luck rather than any amount of prepping) what are you going to do if you're a bit miffed by your new-found situation? Take your knife and slit your throat? Stab yourself in the heart? Rip out your intestines? Ingest vast amounts of poison? Trek to the former USA, dig a gun out of the rubble, rummage around some more until you find a bullet, realise it's the wrong calibre so trek to the only standing Public Library and self-issue The Encyclopaedia Of Guns (4th edition), after much searching locate the correct calibre bullet, oil the gun, put the bullet into the gun, put the gun to your head and pull the trigger? Despite all the odds you're alive and unless you do something to cease your existence you will remain alive. Having an existential crisis about the nature of life and your personal future in it is probably going to be at the bottom of your to do list. Maybe do some research on why all the Jews in Auschwitz didn't kill themselves as that's about as close to the scenario you are describing as we have ever got as a species. And that's still a very, very, very, very, very, very, very long way away from your scenario.

Moreover, your concept of nuclear apocalypse is very 80s. Perhaps you've just watched "Threads" (1984) or "The Day After" (1983)? These are works of fiction. Do not let their documentary style fool you into thinking you're watching something real. They do actually not give factual accounts of what would happen in a nuclear exchange and what would happens afterwards. Both films are designed to scare you shitless. They are fiction. (And we're back to why you should be asking science fiction writers this question rather than preppers). Try instead reading something like Peter Laurie's "Beneath The City Streets" (2nd edition 1979). Did dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan in 1945 trigger the level of apocalypse you talk about even just in Japan? Even just in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? No, they didn't.

Please do some more research before asking questions that are naive, stupid and just going to annoy folks. If you are genuinely interested in The End Of Days, then research the five Mass Extinction Events the earth has seen so far. Research the deadliest events there have ever been in human history: were they caused by war, by sickness, by the weather, by meteorites, by volcanoes? How close have we as a race ever come to extinction? Research plague and pandemic and its world-wide effect (or lack thereof). Do you know the deadliest plagues/pandemics the world has ever seen? Research volcanic eruptions - do you even know how many VEI8 eruptions there have ever been on the the earth without running off and googling it? When the last one was? Has there ever been a VEI7 in recorded history? What happened in 1815 (besides the Battle of Waterloo)? Why 1816 was known as The Year Without Summer? Research what the actual blast area is for a 1 or 5 megaton hydrogen bomb, not just what you've seen on the telly. Indeed research what the difference is between an atomic bomb, a hydrogen bomb and a neutron bomb, and how they are and are not any different from conventional bombs. If you really want to terrify yourself, then research just what every country that signed the Geneva Convention in 1975 promising that they wouldn't continue their research into biological and chemical warfare has been doing since they signed the document! And it isn't sitting on their hands being good boys and girls. When you actually have some concept of the nature of the question you are asking, then come back.

I am not doing research on the end of days or the various scenarios you have presented. As I have said numerous times I am interested in how people prepare for risk. I think you have misread my intentions based on that question when it was just a genuine curioisty that I have and I am just trying to engage in the forum. The response to my question if anything renforces the rational nature of most of the prepping discussion that is done here but you are all also aware there is a side to it that is intrested in events that are more unlikely to happen so I think it is a legitimate way of trying to understand the differences in outlook towards prepping. I understand the cynicism regarding what I do but I am genuinely making an effort to learn so I think it is a bit unfair to jump on everything I say and presume I am trying to mock you or make fun of you. I really am not so I apologisee if it seems that way. I wish my students would critically evalauate my questions in the same way. It would make my classes a lot more interesting

[GPS]

Ouch!! @ukpreppergrrl that was some response

I have to agree with ukpreppergirl only because the question is so 20th century. Remember, this guy is a professor so he is not going to be down with the kids. He's not going to know that we are prepping for zombies not nukes.

Film and TV gives a lot of time to those worst case scenarios, indeed some of us will come to places like this having seen stuff which touched a nerve, exposed certain vulnerabilities, but the truth is those megga disasters aren't what most of us prepare for, you'll find the odd thread where someone's preparation especially food etc, have tided them through rough times, and that is where it is at, even though we pretty much all talk about major SHTF events, few of us are any where near remote enough to stand a chance in those cases, for other localized disasters I'd want to muck in and help get things back to normal as soon as it looked sensible to do so, for personal shit hitting the fan... it's been doing that for my family for almost quarter of a century now, prepping smooths out the bumps, and has brought a fun hobby or two into the mix

Yeah I suppose TV and film will do that and its probably why ye have to deal with unfair stereotypes. A few people I have talked to mentioned that its fun. Apart from taking the piss out of outsiders and idiots like me what in particular do you enjoy most about it?