Community! Community! Community!

[Lowdown3]

Good Lord do I get sick of hearing that sometimes.

"Ban together with your community", "the community will come together" blah diddy blah blah blah

Here's more on those great grasshoppers you'll "commune" with if this is your plan-

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/05/26/number-of-the-week-half-of-u-s-lives-in-household-getting-benefits/

HALF of them get gubmint benefits. Wow!

"No, but our subdivision will ban together as a community, everyone pitch in, dig victory gardens and sing kumbaya together."

Call Bravo Sierra on that again. They will be looking/watching for another handout. When it doesn't come, like all good COMMUNists they will seek to take what you have (preps none of them have) and "redistribute" it for the good of all.


"Oh but you must be one of those retreat on a mountain top with barbed wire and shoot all comers type survivalists then." Nope. I'm just a realistic person and basing your PLANS on the GOODWILL of people you don't really know is a fools errand. The irony is that we probably interact with the community more than most of these fools that think they will suddenly step up to the plate after the fact.

Yet many do it and think they are being altruistic, or will be the "hero of their subdivision" when the times comes. The reality of it is they will "fall on a knife 18 times backwards" by one of those good neighbors of their's looking to feed their own family.

So consider the article- HALF of the population gets benefits. That means HALF of your neighbor and HALF of my neighborhood. That means HALF the people in the city and HALF the people in the country. The difference remains the math- their are less "halves" in the country than there are in the city. :)

Always been a numbers game, always will be a numbers game. Problem is people can't take the emotions or feelings out of it.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Ask the folks in the Balkans or Africa how well community worked. Folks who lived beside each other for generations suddenly began killing each other over differences or religion, politics, power or GP.
There are some that will make it but overall I say no they won't.
If you can get your community together now and prepare and train that would be one thing but thats a rarity.

[BioG8r]

Most of the folks that live around our place are on govt bennies.
I have a "sneaking suspicion" the first few weeks of a bad situation will involve some hard decisions!
There are a good number of people within a couple of miles that are "lifestyle preppers", meaning they do it because they have always done it.
I think they will be good community members but I feel sure we will all continue to live seperate, do our own thing and get together when necessary for trade, help and fellowship.
I study the worst case scenario and am comfortable in the knowledge that I may have to protect what I have.
I wish I could talk to the neighbors more openly, but that would be a definite breach.
Before my father passed (a prepper before prepping was cool, LOL) we would talk about who will be good neighbors and those who won't, he would say "We'll just hide and watch"!
We do have a local Homemakers Club that is very active in canning, preparing and fellowship. The ladies actively work on straightening things out while we EAT. The men do play a role but we are mostly in the way. So we network, talk farming, shop and sports! It is a good forum for learning about what's up.
Two of my long time - sum it all up, favorite sayings are - Que Sera Sera (Whatever wil be, Will Be) and C'est la vie (Such is Life)
Both sound a little limp wristed but.... they are very true, I will do my best to to influence the outcomes in a positive manner but,,,

[JUSTIFIED]

Patriot Lady and I go back and forth on where to move once we sell our home. There's a nice property in the town where I work that would serve many of our prepping needs, even though it's in town....but everytime I read something like these comments I start looking at isolated properties all around the state! The more we learn the more we're thinking isolated suits us as we don't have much faith in our fellow man...especially when the bottom falls out. We're not social animals anyway. We enjoy our privacy and each other. Got some possibles to look at online this evening. Just need to get our home sold!

[SeldomSeenSlim]

"Oh but you must be one of those retreat on a mountain top with barbed wire and shoot all comers type survivalists then."

You say that like it's a bad thing. :p

[JUSTIFIED]

You say that like it's a bad thing. :p

Chuckle....that's what I was thinking, Seldom! We just decided that once we sell our home I'll likely quit my job and we'll find a property in either the northeastern or southeastern part of Oklahoma. I've been at my job long enough I can leave my retirement where it is and eventuallly hook up with another county, or not. Where we are looking there are lots of hills, trees and secluded acreages! We're finding homes that are half or less than a third the price of our current one and they fit most, if not all, of our prepping/bol needs. We're looking forward to "falling off the map" and discouraging visitors!

[jimmycthemd]

I live in a subdivision near Atlanta and don't have the option of moving right now for several reasons. Will our 'community' come together and grow Victory gardens and sing around the campfire? NO!! There are a few neighbors that'll band together to help defend what we have but it's be a loose alliance at best. Is this a desireable situation? No. I'm getting things ready to be able to temporarily relocate for several months but am not quite there yet. Some of us are not lucky enough to be able to live away from populated areas. My job requires me to live not much more than 20 minutes away so if I relocate I lose my primary source of income. My wife has a little (but not much) more flexability. What this means is that we don't have the option of isolated living conditions. Not crying the blues, it is what it is so I have to do the best I can under less than ideal conditions. Soon I'll have about three months of LTS plus another month of short term storage. I'm slowly planning and building up the water sources and supplies. I'm pushing 60 so a change of career is not an option right now.

Let's not look down on those that are less fortunate in their locations. Some (preppers or not) don't have the same flexability as others.

[SeldomSeenSlim]

This might be for another thread, but I think folks in urban areas sell themselves short. My sister's neighborhood is about the size of my property. The downside is that there are a ton of people, but the upside is there is a ton of stuff. It's not like I can grow an electrical outlet or whittle a carburetor. Folks in the boonies have a lot more natural resources, but most folks live in the city because of the modern resources available. It always costs me a bunch of money when I visit, just for the fact there is so much to buy. If it exists, there is a store that sells it and that store is probably only a few miles away if not right around the corner.

Size of property doesn't change the needs it only changes the scale. My "yard" isn't that much larger than most suburban yards. The big difference is mine is surrounded by more land instead of more houses. For me it's easier/cheaper to expand whereas in the city it's easier/cheaper to make more efficient use of space. Might not have a ton of room outside to grow food, but with cheap grid electricity a 2 car garage could be turned into an indoor greenhouse. Might not have access to a well, but a cistern doesn't take much room. One doesn't have to live in the middle of nowhere to use solar and lot of cities have programs to subsidize it. To me it's all about looking at what you have and figuring out a way to make it better and sustainable. Doesn't matter if you're living in an apartment or have 15,000 acres of prime land.

Urban, rural or middle of nowhere, spontaneous community is sketchy at best. Trust is important and it has to be earned over time.

[protus]

Ask the folks in the Balkans or Africa how well community worked. Folks who lived beside each other for generations suddenly began killing each other over differences or religion, politics, power or GP.
There are some that will make it but overall I say no they won't.
If you can get your community together now and prepare and train that would be one thing but thats a rarity.

imho those that think it will be easy have never supervised a crew of people over goal /time frame related events.
In other words.. it looks and sounds good on paper till you have to motivate neighbor joe and sally to actually work and not sit in the shade...

[Lowdown3]

I live in a subdivision near Atlanta and don't have the option of moving right now for several reasons. Will our 'community' come together and grow Victory gardens and sing around the campfire? NO!! There are a few neighbors that'll band together to help defend what we have but it's be a loose alliance at best. Is this a desireable situation? No. I'm getting things ready to be able to temporarily relocate for several months but am not quite there yet. Some of us are not lucky enough to be able to live away from populated areas. My job requires me to live not much more than 20 minutes away so if I relocate I lose my primary source of income. My wife has a little (but not much) more flexability. What this means is that we don't have the option of isolated living conditions. Not crying the blues, it is what it is so I have to do the best I can under less than ideal conditions. Soon I'll have about three months of LTS plus another month of short term storage. I'm slowly planning and building up the water sources and supplies. I'm pushing 60 so a change of career is not an option right now.

Let's not look down on those that are less fortunate in their locations. Some (preppers or not) don't have the same flexability as others.

LOL, guess you missed the point. The point was on the whole BS idea that the "community" was going to rescue you, make up for piss poor planning of yours, etc. Had little to do with LOCATION. I even wrote this part here-

So consider the article- HALF of the population gets benefits. That means HALF of your neighbor and HALF of my neighborhood. That means HALF the people in the city and HALF the people in the country

Which I assumed would make it clear.

FWIW, their are fools in the country that believe others will come to their rescue as well as their are fools in the city/suburbs that think that being amongst a bunch of useless idiots will be a GOOD thing.

Ironic that this happened today but I stopped at a C store earlier while working. An older fella was shuffling near his truck, like moving slower than a drunk puppy shuffling. He was holding on to his truck. As I dumped my trash I noticed at least 8 people in various cars, walking by him, etc. doing NOTHING to assist the old fella. He seemed perplexed and absolutely stumped by the curb and step up to the store. I walked over to him, "hey how ya doing, you need a little help?" The fella looked me in the eye and just stuck his hand out. I took it and helped him up the the little hump there and into the store. I went to the bathroom, the store was full of people and of course their was still those 8 people watching from their cars. As I came out, he was struggling again, had anyone of the 20 plus people that saw him gave a rats arse about him to help him? No. I helped him get back in his car. Don't know the guy from Adam and those from the staff here will tell you, I don't touch door handles in public, pickup salt and pepper shakers with napkins, etc. (hate germs) but I helped this old fellow get into his vehicle. The 20 that sat, looked, gawked, laughed and did NOTHING is the "community" that all these pollyannas think will help them or somehow be some benefit to them when the time comes. THEY WON'T BE.

They will steal from you, sit and watch you die, just like they would have this old man.

I'm nothing and I tell the story not to pound my chest, I tell the story to shame the other 20 and to make a point. DO NOT RELAY ON THE GOODWILL OF OTHERS FOR YOUR SURVIVAL.

And that my friend, is what the point was. Location is important to survival but yes a lot of people makes compromises in that. Being in this 26 years and training hundreds of people, I can tell you that only about 2% will take it as far as they need to. That's their business.

The point of the post was about not being a ****** and depending on the good will of useless sheeple for your survival. Anyone who does that- WHETHER RURAL OR URBAN- is a flipping fool and dooming their family.

[JUSTIFIED]

Jimmy said,
"Let's not look down on those that are less fortunate in their locations. Some (preppers or not) don't have the same flexability as others."

Jimmy nobody's looking down on those who can't move. The vast majority of folks are in situations where they have to stay where they are and just do all they can with what they have. We're not wealthy, just a bit more fortunate than some in that we can move anywhere within our state. We may decide not to do what I said above until later. Just depends on what we find at the time we sell our home.

[Grinnan Barrett]

In my neighborhood folks are more involved in keeping their country club image together rather than think about what might happen to the world around them. staying in place looks less and less likely for most of us. It saddens me to say that some folks we thought were on board are more less on for the ride to the shooting range and then off to golf. GB

[jimmycthemd]

Guess I did miss the point and stand corrected. I'm making progress in that direction albeit slow...but that's the way I work. When I reach a roadblock or difficult problem I research, think about it and try to come up with the best practical solution that'll work to my advantage both now and in whatever situation arises. And no, my subdivision won't be a miniature Jerrico (the mini-series). I agree whole-heartedly that too many (95+%) of people these days depend WAY too much on the government to bail them out. Today's government is, in general, a burdon, not an insurance policy (read my signiture LOL).

[Lowdown3]

Now you got it! ;)

Yet to many of your neighbors AND MINE, "I'm from the gubmint and I'm here to help" means FREE CHEESE AND A CHECK FOR MY CHITRINS!

Usually the best way to kill a "I'll ban together with my neighbors in a subdivision" thread is to mention how many retards you see on TV after a child is found in a bad way, after body parts are found in some dude's freezer. What is almost ALWAYS said by the "neighbors" living next door to him-

"We didn't know Mr. Jones was a satanic cannibal, he just seemed like a nice old man that kept to himself..."

Seriously, how many neighborhoods are full of pedophiles, miscreants like above, etc. How are they going to react when law and order is no more? Going to suddenly become good citizens? Not likely. More down to earth, how many people in a neighborhood are HOOKED on prescription meds they feel they cannot live without- i.e, anti depressants, heart related pills due to poor health choices. How are these people going to react?

Too often the "community! community" approach is pushed by people with NOTHING to add to the "community." Too many people watched that ridiculous show "The Colony" and figured a survival group was about DRAMA and acting like idiots. What were we just discussing about the negative impact of survival fiction on people? Guys I've seen this first hand. I've helped a lot of people over 26 years, I've been all around the country, I've trained hundreds of people, I've seen all kinds of approaches and attempts at solutions to the problem.

We aren't talking about 5 drunk bubbas with guns standing out on their porches for three days after a hurricane, we are talking about long term problems. People will "tolerate" a bad situation only so long before they "lose it" and/or seek to better their predicament. If the only way they know to "better their predicament" is to steal, threaten, cajole or coerce you or others to help them get your stuff, they will.

[Pop_45]

i am one of the ones who depends on my heart medication to survive. It all started when I was a kid. When I was 7 I was diagnosed with Rheumatic Fever. True I made some poor choices but regardless, I know I will not last more than three or four months past a full blown TEOTWAWKI. But then, I'm not prepping for me. I'm prepping for my family. My grand kids especially.

I've been trying to instruct the grand kids in basic survival skills such as fire starting, hunting small game, making do with whats around you. This summer I will be helping one of my grandsons make a couple of spears and a throwing stick (atlatl). I'll be teaching his sister how to shoot as well. Their dad (my second son) has finally realized that the world is not so perfect and has started learning to garden, and is now raising a few chickens and ducks.

So even after the collapse, and I'm gone, my son and grand kids will be able to carry on.