Originally Posted by
JPGreco
I'll play;
Before I begin, I WILL DEFINE SURVIVALIST as to MY USE. It is in agreement with most here that a survivalist is a loose term to describe anyone who chooses to prepare for any kind of possible situation. From simply a few days without power to a zombie apocalypse. Within that segment would be sub groups defined by what they are planning to prepare for. I guess the easiest and quickest way to sub group them would be simple, intermediate, prepared, and extreme. Simple would classify as a few days without power or some other minor issue. Your home is not endangered and the local government is not breaking down, just maybe slow to respond (ie, Sandy, and the recent Nor' Easter/Blizzard in my area). Intermediate would be situations of longer term disruption or short term displacement from your home. Prepared would be classified as people who are prepared for extended periods of disruption or displacement. Extreme is preparing for the socio-economical breakdown of the US or zombies.
Basically it's grouped by very likely, likely, less likely, and unlikely.
My thoughts on your first post is that you impose the very small subgroup of extreme survivalists to all survivalists. Someone who is well versed in the outdoors and has a solid plan in place is not preparing for the zombie apocalypse.
Your first point is "when... (it) goes to far". Well first, who are you to judge someone else? You said why not use any stationary pole to practice tying knots. Ok, well tell me, how many stationary poles in your home resemble situations for lashes? How many stationary poles are easily accessible to practice basic knots on? Regardless of whether I agree with you on the matter of it being excessive or warranted, what I do know is not everyone is versed in knots and need more specific areas to practice on. I was a Boy Scout and practice many knots in the situation to use them. Prior to that, well, we practiced on poles we set up. Setting something up to improve on a skill is not going to far if you NEED it. Who are you to judge if its too much for someone else? I don't need a knot tying rig, but I would never judge someone else who may need one. If I were camping with friends and they wanted to learn knots, I would set up various situations for them to try different knots.
Your second point has to do with innovation. Since i don't know what life hack is, I can't comment. I will say innovation for the sake of innovation is never a good thing. If its not broke, why fix it? The majority of concepts survival come from situations where they were needed and succeeded. At least in ACTUAL situations, not zombies.
It's potentially dangerous. This point is actual irrelevant. You are guaranteed only 1 thing in life and that's death. I will agree that I could be killed by any number of things that are beyond my control, and that includes things that I may think are within my control. However, you never actually addressed WHY being into survivalism is actually potentially dangerous, all you did is point out other things that can kill me. All I can say to that is that everyone does things everyday to prolong their life. Do you eat, drink fluids, breathe? Yes, then you are actively prolonging your life. Well, if a hurricane rips through my area and reduces access to food and clean water and I want to actively prolong my life then I'm going to prepare. That's all there is to it. Unless you can point out WHY SPECIFIC aspects of being a survivalist is life threatening, its a moot point comparing preparation to uncontrollable things that could kill me. More importantly, if I'm prepared, I may save someone else's life, which I may have in my life because of what I had learned previously. At the very least, I prevented a very long and scary drive to a hospital and was able to treat the person on site. The ENTIRE point of being prepared is to increase your odds of surviving and helping others, if that's your belief, to survive by controlling the only thing you can, yourself. If you feel that to be an absurd statement, you do not understand the concept of survival and being prepared.
It attracts crazy people. Well, all i can say to that is so does politics, religion, sports fans, sports, video games, board games, card games, racing, land ownership, renting, work, play, love, hate, etc, etc, etc, etc... There are crazy people in every walk of life. There are also very knowledgeable, kind, generous, and loving people in those same walks of life. If you go looking for them, you'll find them, so all I can to this point is that it is also moot.
Now, since you never summed up your opinion, I can only assume, based upon your OP, that you feel being a survivalist means that you are eccentric crazy person, who has put their life in danger, and it's pointless; an exercise in futility. Please do not take this as a personal attack. I have based this upon the presentation of information in your first post. Since you offered no conclusion, I could only formulate my own from the info presented. If you feel otherwise, please, elaborate.
I believe preparing for any event that is within your scope of vision and ability to prepare for is never a bad thing, regardless of how severe of an event that is. As long as your actions aren't imposing on another's rights, you are well within yours to live your life as you see fit. Do I understand everyone I come across or even agree with them? Obviously no, but nobody ever said I had to. However, for the most part, the people here are all of a similar mind set. To be able to take care of yourself and loved ones without having to rely on outside assistance for whatever situation you for see, whether it be minor or major. Though the common thought process here is that preparing for a major will take care of most minors.
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