SCOUTING AND THE END OF THE WORLD

"..Prepping masks a wide range of stances and ideologies. But the more people are prepared, the more they are likely to have an apocalyptic way of thinking," said Professor Barry Brummett, of the University of Texas-Austin."
Guardian

"Be Prepared!"
Boy Scout Motto
Boy Scouts of America

Damn those Scouts and their endless apocalyptic haranguing!!

"Tess Pennington, 33, is a mother of three children, and lives in the sprawling outskirts of Houston, Texas. But she is not taking the happy safety of her suburban existence lightly.

Like a growing army of fellow Americans, Pennington is learning how to grow her own food, has stored emergency rations in her home and is taking courses on treating sickness with medicinal herbs.

"I feel safe and more secure. I have taken personal responsibility for the safety of myself and of my family," Pennington said. "We have decided to be prepared. There all kinds of disasters that can happen, natural and man-made."

Pennington is a "prepper", a growing social movement that has been dubbed Survivalism Lite. Preppers believe that it is better to be safe than sorry and that preparing for disaster – be it a hurricane or the end of civilisation – makes sense."
Guardian

How come the desire to be self sufficient is seen as such a menace that it is belittled and besmirched at every opportunity? Is it a threat? Maybe. If your belief system revolves around state control and its necessity for your very survival then perhaps the idea of an independent populace is somewhat disconcerting. Maybe if you feel queasy when presented with the idea that something more than just having the nanny state take care of your every need may be on the horizon, then yes, you may feel threatened.

If you want to stick your head in the ground and pretend that a Katrina or a Haiti can't happen to you then go ahead. Most of us that try to stay prepared do so in anticipation of a natural disaster, be it a snow storm, tornado or earthquake. We have lost power where I live for nearly a week in the recent past. Being prepared made it much easier to deal with.

I am concerned that the country and the world for that matter are on the verge of a meltdown and if it happens I will be prepared, at least as well as I can be. And I will try to convince those around me to be prepared, too. We're all going to be in whatever happens together. At the very least, people that prepare for an emergency will lessen the burden on what's left of the social services system as it tries (and fails, look at Katrina) to take care of those that didn't. So get off our backs, will ya'. We aren't freaks at the sideshow. We are doing what my grandparents did after the Depression. They learned that you can't count on government when the going gets tough so keep a little food in the fruit cellar. And BE PREPARED!