Whenever I see reddit preppers talking about their preparation for when “shit hits the fan”, I can’t help but notice they seem to think they’ll survive on their little homestead either alone or with their nuclear family. They don’t seem too worried about the threat of civilization collapsing, they’re just excited that they’ll get the chance to larp as lords ruling over their lands.
But without any kind of community organization or serious wealth to hire a private militia, aren’t they just as fucked as the rest of us? Like, these people are going to be the very first targets of roving bands of raiders no matter how many tacticool, tricked out AR-15s they own, right?
There’s a popular saying amongst preppers: If you’re not arming yourself, you’re just gathering supplies for someone else.
I have a rebuttal: If you’re not doing community building and mutual aid, you’re just gathering weapons for your local warlord. If you have 50 guns, you’re not gonna be much of a match for 50 people with 1 gun each.
Prepping can be fun and useful. If it is not paired with mutual aid and community building, you’re just a slightly more organized hoarder. Look at all the people who kept giant stockpiles of masks during the pandemic. THE THREAT THEY WERE PREPARING FOR HAPPENED AND THEY DID NOT DISTRIBUTE THEIR PRIMARY DEFENSE AGAINST THAT THREAT. I’d imagine most situations are similar. They’ll stockpile millions of rounds of ammunition and dozens of guns, but then plan to use them themselves. Like, 1 or 2 people. They prepare the materials to provision a community defense force, but then in their head they plan to do Operation Rooftop Koreans. It’s a larp, and an expensive one at that.
