National Geographic: Doomsday Preppers!

[monkeybird]

Excellent Rmpl! I like the show. i was partial to the folks who lived in the S.C. woods. I could only wish to be half that prepared!

[ComputerGuy]

Thanks Rmpl. I took away a positive light on this as well. I also learned a few things that I can do to become better prepared. I really wish I had the land like the SC folks did.

Now to work with Aquaponics.

[WiseOwl]

From Survival Blog.......I figured NatGeo would do this to these people....just like the MSM, to misconstrue and "edit"


Lisa, the Editor of the excellent Survival Mom blog was done dirt by the producers of the National Geographic "Doomsday Preppers" documentary. They deliberately misquoted her, with some skillful truncation editing, to make her look fanatical. (They essentially inverted her statement!) Reading about this upset Avalanche Lily. Then she told me about it, and it upset me, as well. I've been misquoted before, but nothing this blatantly biased. We can commiserate with Lisa. And sadly, this misquote is getting spread far and wide. FWIW, I was approached by the producers when they were planning the project last year, to be a "subject matter expert". Thankfully, I turned them down. (I was not their anonymous expert!)

[Lowdown3]

Seems to me I remember someone who has been around this game for a couple decades now saying that the media usually screws people that do these types of interviews....

Not surprised.

I really only watched the mom segment once, what are they saying was misquoted or whatever?

[Lowdown3]

I thought the folks in South Carolina went by the JWR "Patriots" model fairly well......well minus the DYNO MITE!!!

In truth, people were organizing survival groups and building retreats along those lines for decades before Rawles book came out in the late 90's. But just like "finding" an online forum with other survivalists when you are new- it's very nice to know others are doing similar things.

People knock it, but I think it's still a good read (Patriots).

[monkeybird]

Lowdown, While Patriots was poorly written, with characters as wooden as totem poles, it's content was priceless. I awoke to prepping when I downloaded One Second After as an audiobook, for no other reason than it sounded interesting. Patriots was referenced in the that book, so being scared to death I ordered it. The book showed me all the things I needed to consider in order to survive. At that point I thought I was a dead duck, literally, because no way was I going to be able to do all that.

Rawls' setup was so far beyond anything I had the knowledge or the money to accomplish, it was discouraging. That's the problem. New people read it and throw it down thinking it's impossible to do all that. Consider if you will, all the fancy equipment, steel enforced gates, windows and doors. Let's get real. Most of us cannot accomplish his set up.

What is really needed is a similar novel that lowers the 'must have' to a manageable level for beginners. (You should try and write one)

Sometimes what a novice prepper doesn't need is too much information.

[Currahee]

Seems to me I remember someone who has been around this game for a couple decades now saying that the media usually screws people that do these types of interviews....

Not surprised.

I really only watched the mom segment once, what are they saying was misquoted or whatever?

I am curious about this as well. The only negativity I really saw on the part of NG was how it showed the single mindedness of what these guys were prepping for. The guy did all that just because he is afraid of a Coronal Mass Ejection? I'm pretty sure they just did that to re use some footage of other stuff. I also think the summary at the end with how "unlikely" those scenarios are was weak sauce. I think we've started the economic melt down already.

I'm also sure they left out parts of their preps. Didn't talk about defense with the hydroponics guy at all, but my dad said he saw some ammo lying around. The mom's kids had an Appleseed shirt on. The SC group said they had four families yet only showed two.

[WiseOwl]

I have a feeling everyone was on their OPSEC, even if it was being a lil slick and "hiding" some stuff from NATGEO.....

And I got that quote from Survival Blog....I just posted it wondering...." Why would JWR even bring this up unless he had a small connection to these folks...in a way, ya know?

Personally, I think they all had something to hide but to be honest, if my setup was even a pinch of theirs, I would not be on TV or Youtube even, showing it off......that was a "show off" move on their parts...but, someone has to do it, might as well be someone that has no ties to my group....

What would be funny is if the Commie crackdown came about, and Uncle Sam raided all 4 families and confiscated everything...

[arcangel911]

I look at these shows as ways that I can check what I have already thought of and what I NEED to think of.

For "Patriots", I enjoyed it heavily until the last couple of chapters. "One Second After" I really did enjoy as well. I took away things from both books that have shaped where I am going and what I am doing to prepare. Both showed incredible and dangerous possibilities. To be prepared for anything is the only one true weapon that we all need in the upcoming issues facing us. If you plan for a multitude of things, you will be better prepared than 90% of the populace.

[Lowdown3]

Interesting take on the book MB.

When I first read it as "Gray Nineties" in 95'ish (??) I was about 8 years or so into my preps. Luckily I had hooked up with the right people early on and learned a lot. Most everything written was pretty standard stuff to me then. The biggest "Oh man I hadn't thought about that" moment for me was the issues with the septic tank. Most everything else was pretty par for the course.

I think you have to look at it in context, he says several times during the course of the book that they had been preparing for a while before hand. He's changed the time line 3-4 times since first writing it as "Gray Nineties". I could see how newer folks read it and come with the posts (not yours, I've seen others that say this) that claim "That's impossible, no one could ever do all that." And yet, not being bragadocious I think they lacked a LOT of things in the book. I've read it so many times I forget the constant security mistakes they make left and right. We listened to the audio of it on the wife's Ipod last fall on a trip and the wife was constantly saying "big Opsec break again."

I think on one of his re-writes he should tie in the giving all the stuff to the passerby's from Seattle (Rasmussen or whatever) to the raid on the retreat later. Like have the family they help get jumped further down the road and give up the info about the group (and a LOT could be gathered from what all they gave them). But he's a big believer in charity and that would go against that, so I doubt that will end up in a re-write. I'm for charity also, but not at the expense of security.

[Rmplstlskn]

if my setup was even a pinch of theirs, I would not be on TV or Youtube even, showing it off......that was a "show off" move on their parts...but, someone has to do it, might as well be someone that has no ties to my group....

The Phoenix family gave up OPSEC as soon as they created a BioDome in their backyard, hikes through the neighborhood with their BOB's, and let their dwelling look like an abandoned property... All in a RESIDENTIAL, suburban neighborhood. They have no OPSEC to keep... No lose for them, except no MORE people know about them. Who knows, maybe the show helped them hook up with a more serious group in that area who are taking them under their wings since they showed such creative talent and hard work.

The mom with kids (husband was mentioned, but he did not participate much) had the most OPSEC damage. All her neighbors know about her BEFORE the show, I'm sure, but now more people KNOW her and where she lives. Her preps were still in the unseen and hideable stage and her home looked like every other home there... Until she fires up a generator and cooks food when whatever goes down... Then she is prey...

SouthernPrepper1 also didn't have much to OPSEC except for details and quantities. With his prolific Youtube presence, he has no OPSEC left... People will seek him out when whatever goes down... Most for help or for training, but some may not be so pleasant...

I think "maybe" the first family in Phoenix was show-boating, but not the other two. SP1 gave only enough of what he already talks about in his videos anyways. No big OPSEC issue there.

Just going on the show basically rulled out an OPSEC issues...

Rmpl

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Ok I see that it is reshowing on 30July at 7pm and again at 10pm for those who were asking

[Lowdown3]

BTT for the July 30th showing...

[qrprat77]

Oh Snap, I'll be at work. Have to find a way to tape it or something.
sigh.

[protus]

yeah no kidding i'll be hiding and wont have TV ;(