The Glade 4.0

When the government itself is advocating that individuals take steps to understand certain basic elements of survival, and to prepare for certain worst-case scenarios, efforts to do so seem less "wasted."

Furthermore, basic survivalism preparedness is not only cheap, but immensely practical.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

It's not "immensely practical". Then everyone would be doing it.

What an interesting and deceitful misdirection. Learning and enjoying those activities are wonderful, none of them are bad activities. If that is what makes you happy go for it, you're a better person and a better father for showing your child self sufficiency.

These are all long time useful skills in feast or famine times. If you're a country boy they are regularly useful, city boy not so necessary, but good hobbies.

If you enjoy doing this, more power to you, have a blast.

Preaching an apocalyptic need for learning these skills is, in my humble opinion, buying into someone else's insanity and making it your own.

I hope you captured some of your daughters fish chase on camera, it would make a great thing to show your grandkids, great grandkids, etc. They'll probably even have home kits able to convert it to 3-D by then.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Keeping emergency funds is immensely practical, yet very few people do that...

Interesting characterization of the ARC and DHS.



I had something cool I was going to say in response, but Ladas said it cooler:




Practicality has nothing to do with utilization.


Furthermore, most disaster planners consider the veneer of society to be about 3 days, or 9 meals, thick.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

When one lacks the ability to survive a situation the more likely they are to wrap themselves in comfortable denial of the realities of the situation they are in. I can't blame Michael for this, he needs to do this or his will to live will suffer. After all whats the point of living a few more years only to die in a world you cannot hope to survive in?

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Really? I find that hard to believe, though I suppose it depends on the scope and severity of the disaster. Worldwide zombie invasion? Hell, 3 days is probably being optimistic. Collapse of the US electrical grid coupled with scattered terrorist strikes on major cities? Meh, society would survive.

All life ends at some point whether in a Mad Max style apocalypse or a heart-attack in bed. Are you saying there is no point to life?

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1) 3-4 days is the average amount of food the American family has in the home.
2) Look at Katrina as an example of how short a span it takes for societal breakdown in the face of a relatively localized disaster.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

Sorry I didn't fall in line with the portrait you were attempting to paint with your back-handed tidbits of wisdom. Guess painting with broad strokes to create an image of a life you can more easily treat with disdain isn't being deceitful, but showing the reality of a life being lived is, in your world. /shrug

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

If I could be so bold as to speak for DFK!, I'd suggest a better phrasing might be the "veneer of civilized society". I don't think that he's suggesting that "society", as a whole would disappear, but it would definitely fracture. His example of Katrina speaks directly to this process.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Fair enough.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

Practicality has everything to do with utilization. People do things that are relevant to their lives, a.k.a. "practical".

Yeah, I was actually thinking of Katrina as being an example society not breaking down, but I mean breaking down in the "get your guns or we're all gonna die!" sense. Certainly, after a few days without relief supplies, people will run out of food and there'll be some looting of stores and so on (which is what we saw in New Orleans), but the sense of civilized morality vis-a-vis other people wouldn't fall apart for a long time, if ever.

I'm trying to think of other things that are "immensely practical" with 0 utilization... can't think of anything yet.

edit:

Tying your shoes, driving, reading and writing, etc. are "immensely practical".

Survival skills in a modern society are marginally practical, if that.

Really RD? I guess we have different recollections of the violence that occurred in Louisiana. You speak of "some looting of stores"; I remember looting, murder, and violent assault. I know there were exaggerations, especially concerning the Superdome, but I really believe there was more than just some looting of stores.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

The fact that you think basic survivalism preparedness has 0 utilization just indicates how blatantly ignorant you are about the topic, and you're speaking as though you have a **** clue.

What is basic emergency preparedness, Lex? Do you even know?

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

Your lithium treatment would be one example apparently.

of course, that ignores you are using the wrong interpretation of "utilization". Practical things do have utilization, or they wouldn't be practical. However, that doesn't mean those people for which it is practical utilize those options.

Survivalism is about large-scale disaster situations with no expectation of fast recovery. Not very practical.

Basic emergency preparedness is about stuff like electricity going out, cutting your hand, fire safety, etc.

You aren't very good at making me feel wrong Vindicarre.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

I believe that without the immediate response for aid after the earthquake, Haiti, already on the cusp in some senses, would have devolved into the antithesis of what you consider "civilized morality".

Incorrect, entirely.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

Something that is "immensely" practical has a very high expectation of being used. A person who classifies survivalism as immensely practical is quite delusional.

"Survivalism" is about self reliance in the absence of assistance, if any is even available, for periods of time in what is a hostile environment, and has nothing to do with large scale disasters as the sole basis of definition.

And for the typical American, this only happens in a large scale disaster scenario.