Disaster planning for regular folks (2015)
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Disaster planning for regular folks (2015)
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Re: Disaster planning for regular folks (2015)
#2> In the US in the 90s, your lifetime likelihood of victimization was estimated to be around 80%; the odds of suffering criminal injury hovered at 40%.
Any source? These figures seem absurdly high, and I say that as a former resident of NYC in the 90s.
Re: Disaster planning for regular folks (2015)
#3Of course, there is a non-trivial cost to spending time dealing with this stuff, particularly the less likely outcomes.
As with any risk assessment, one has to judge the probability of certain events and act accordingly.
The thing that bugs me about this culture -- and I don't include the author of this piece, who sounds imminently rational and level-headed -- is that a lot of people in this space seem to want these outcomes. In some extreme cases, they relish it or see it as a forgone or morally good outcome.
We should be putting most of our energy into avoiding catastrophic scenarios, and making these outcomes less and less feasible. But I fear that it is increasingly difficult for people across the political spectrum and below a certain socio-economic line to not be extremely cynical about society, and therefore the future. The result is "prepping" getting more attention than building a better world.
Re: Disaster planning for regular folks (2015)
#4As someone who has never had to truly live through a disaster (knock on wood), I found this story to be compelling in thinking about disaster planning: http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/index.html
>On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina became the largest natural disaster in United States history. After the levees failed, it became the largest man-made disaster in United States history. This blog is a chronicle of what happened to myself and my family during those events. It is also a documentation of lessons learned from a survival and recovery viewpoint.
I think it delivers a lot more backstory on what happens when you don't prepare for something, which you don't get simply reading a how-to list.
Re: Disaster planning for regular folks (2015)
#5The book Eternity by Greg Bear had an interesting take on this. In that book (spoiler) there is an exchange of nuclear weapons between the U.S. and Russia, which devastates the surface of the Earth.
But many people survive, and a society quickly develops post-war. But it is dominated not by those who were most individually prepared, but by those who contributed the most to their neighbors and communities.
There is some overlap of course; some preppers have a lot to give and do so. But the ones who isolate in compounds with their hoard for too long emerge into the new society to be met with scorn, or even outright violence in some cases.
I had not thought about it that way but it kind of makes sense. It’s easy to like someone who is helping you. And shared hardship can bond a group of people.
It’s a great book, in addition to this aspect (which is a somewhat minor part of it).
Re: Disaster planning for regular folks (2015)
#6If you want to learn how to do disaster planning as an organisation, a really good example to follow is Waffle House, who take it extremely seriously. https://disasterphilanthropy.org/blog/preparedness/disaster-...
Re: Disaster planning for regular folks (2015)
#7First line, from 2015.
"In the public consciousness, its portrayals have all the makings of a doomsday cult: a tribe of unkempt misfits who hoard gold bullion, study herbalism, and preach about the imminent collapse of our society."
Well, that hasn't aged well...
Re: Disaster planning for regular folks (2015)
#8Of course, there is a non-trivial cost to spending time dealing with this stuff, particularly the less likely outcomes. As with any risk assessment, one has to judge the probability of certain events and act accordingly. The thing that bugs me about this culture -- and I don't include the author of this piece, who sounds imminently rational and level-headed -- is that a lot of people in this space seem to want these…
Yup. Also people who write things like CollapseOS, and many HAM radio people. They fantasize about being relevant and important, and their hobby is a way to indulge in those fantasies. No wonder they secretly want the worst to come to pass – it’s the actual point of it all.
Re: Disaster planning for regular folks (2015)
#9First line, from 2015. "In the public consciousness, its portrayals have all the makings of a doomsday cult: a tribe of unkempt misfits who hoard gold bullion, study herbalism, and preach about the imminent collapse of our society." Well, that hasn't aged well...
Why?
Re: Disaster planning for regular folks (2015)
#10First line, from 2015. "In the public consciousness, its portrayals have all the makings of a doomsday cult: a tribe of unkempt misfits who hoard gold bullion, study herbalism, and preach about the imminent collapse of our society." Well, that hasn't aged well...
> a tribe of unkempt misfits
If anything, it's an accurate description of preppers. Together with the unsustainable individualism.