Episode-1011- What is Modern Survivalism Really All About
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Learn from the Past, Live in the Now, Plan for the Future
Every day I get an email from some company that wants something from the TSP community. They want to promote some new gadget or gizmo, on occasion it is something really new, cool and useful. More often then not though it is some repackaged crap or over priced assembly of commonly available components.
Since I have told off just about every major network executive like those making the horrible crappy “Doomsday ________” shows they contact me less frequently but it still happens. They are always looking to discuss the “end of the world” and do a good job of feigning false support of the idea.
Additionally of my 200-500 daily emails a good portion are new audience members that are in a huge state of fear. Most just found out recently that everything isn’t okay and super and that real threats exist. They are generally focused on one or two major threats and freaked out. The ones who have been listening to Alex Jones are generally the worst.
These are three very different groups of people, but they all have the same problem, they don’t really know what real survivalism is all about. Yep real survivalism, but I call it modern survivalism, today we discuss why. In short to me, modern survivalism is a lifestyle that builds redundancy first around our needs, then around our wants and lastly around luxury so that we can live a better life.
Join Us Today As We Discuss…
- The bullshit statement, “I am not a prepper I am a real survivalist”
- What my real goals are for my nation and the rest of the world for that matter
- Why reactionary prepping is dangerous and counter productive
- How to decouple from fear based action
- Balancing the reality of true threats with common sense
- Why understanding needs is important
- Food
- Water
- Shelter
- Energy
- Security
- Sanitation and Health
- Why living life effectively when times are good is the best form of preparedness
- Insure your needs have redundancies
- Build real wealth in every way you can
- Bet neither on failure or success, either way you will lose
- Develop skills and knowledge daily
- Learn from others but don’t try to be who they are
- Trust yourself more then anyone else, including me
- Learn from the past, live in the now, plan for the future
Resources for today’s show…
- Members Support Brigade
- Join Our Forum
- TSP Copper
- Harvest Eating – (sponsor of the day)
- Free State Project – (sponsor of the day)
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.
Knocked this one out of the park jack.
Good listen.
Might be among the top 3 of all TSP podcasts to which I’ve had an opportunity to listen. Bravo! While the information is not entirely new some of it really hit home for me today.
Today’s podcast will be a great resource to share with those I’m still trying to get onboard.
Once again perfect timing for the perfect show. I think you are in my head again.
Did I miss revolution is you 2.0 video? Or is it not out yet?
Thanks for doing this show, Jack. Maybe my email about the SurvivalBlog commenter who said “I am not a prepper I am a real survivalist” gave you some food for thought.
I asked last week, and Jack said he expects to have it this week.
Hoping to see it in the next day or two too!
Mick
Intended to reply to the above “Did I miss revolution is you 2.0 video? Or is it not out yet?”. Sorry.
The assholes… I don’t claim to be a prepper or a survivalist. And I’m not a neckless d bag either. I think its funny when people think they need to face trouble to prove something. I live in a CCW state so it’s not a good idea to just to stomp out like your 10 foot tall and bullet prof. Fight your battles on your home ground when every you can because at home because the law is on your side. I live in CASTLE law state too. Be smart and avoid jail. Also keep your head when drama comes. you can always freak out later when its all over.
I also hate this idea that everything is one way. I’m an NRA member and a Democrat. Why is that so hard to understand? I drive and SUV but work in the solar energy field and want renewable fuels. Why is that so hard to understand? Do I really need to go on?
@Matt with how many elected officials who say they are Democrats fail support a fundamental right that you say you support it is very hard to understand. See I can’t look the other way when a so called leader takes an oath to the Constitution and has already said he won’t follow it. Both Democrats and Republicans do this in mass (I am talking politicians here not citizens).
I am not being a dick, I really want to know how you can be an NRA member, a supporter of the 2nd amendment and then vote for a person that wants to take away the very rights you hold dear? Oh and don’t worry I can ask rephrased versions of that question to just abut any voter, certainly I can do it equally with other issues with Republican voters.
@Jack,
Like there’s a difference between them. Matt could be voting for particular issues that he thinks are more important to him. In the end, both sides of the two-party system fail miserably, and equally at upholding the constitution. Do you really want to go down the list? Because I guarantee you there’s plenty to go around. No, I’m not a Democrat.
@charlie, are you even aware of who you are talking to? I spend half my life telling people the two party system is a failure. Sure I will go down the list on both sides, I do it all the time on the air. Please read my comments to “Matt 2” below.
No disagreement then.
Exactly, Matt. I am a democrat and anti-theist/militant athiest and don’t get why the 2nd amendment issue is so wrapped up in conservatism and the religious right. To me it makes perfect sense to me as a far-left registered democrat.
@Matt 2, Okay but all that makes me ask is why are you a democrat. How can you vote for people who 9 times out of 10 want to take away a fundamental right that you find valid? I mean I don’t want to tell you how to think I just firmly believe that just as many unhappy democrats could be much happier as libertarians as there are unhappy republicans who feel the same way. I know libertarians who are Christians, I know some that are Deists (myself included), some that are agnostic and some that are atheist. I even know a few that are Buddhist (which really makes a lot of sense) and some that are pagan.
Somehow these people who always seem at odds politically just seem to get along when you remove BULLSHIT and LIES and the attempt by government to run our lives from the equation.
Yes, you are absolutely right. To be honest in my day to day life I can’t stand most liberals and my best friends are almost exclusively libertarian.
I agree with the libertarian views on the individual, in terms of one’s control over their body, who they fall in love with, etc. Where I disagree is in terms of having no social safety net and minimal government. I believe that the government must be involved in certain areas of life (minimal support to the poor, FEMA, etc.). I know all too well that the social safety net isn’t perfect and is taken advantage of, but I also believe that some hard-working, responsible folks are victims of the economy and that as citizens of this country they deserve that the state help. Personal responsibility isn’t the answer to everything when the individual does not hold power over their situation.
@Matt 2 but do you not think the current so called “safety net” is far from minimal. Also who told you that all libertarians wanted no social net, trust me bud there is plenty of room for you in the libertarian world.
OK, thanks for pointing that out. I generally focus on your skills/tactics shows, if that makes sense. I am listening to Episode-680- 14 Steps to the Personal Libertarian Lifestyle, and found that you specifically mention that you can believe in welfare within the first few minutes. Thanks for guiding me to look further into this.
Matt 2,
You asked “why is the 2nd Amendment associated with the Right?”
Easy to answer: You described yourself as a “militant atheist”. There are far more militant atheists attempting to stamp out religion in the public sphere than there are theists who actually want to impose their religion. (Exception: Islamists).
Second reason: The Right looks at individuals, and recognizes that some individuals may do bad things, but most don’t, and thus you legislate to address the INDIVIDUALS who do bad things. The Left looks at groups, and if anybody in a group does something bad, then ameliatorive measures must be applied to the entire group.
Now, you also refer to a social safety net, yet what you are supporting is not a social safety net, it is a government safety net. There is a huge difference between the two. The former is people volunteering to help other people. It starts with family members helping one another, then extended family/friends, then neighbors, etc. The second is, at its core, people with guns coming along and forcing you to help somebody else. Based on the gun-holder’s determination of who gets help. With, of course, the gun-holder getting a cut of the help, off the top.
So, you may want to work on clarifying exactly what it is you support.
Jack, I always like it when you do episodes like this. Not because they necessarily touch on anything you haven’t said before, but because they help to reinforce those themes at just the time I need to have them reinforced (as if living 60 miles from NYC didn’t just do that) and because your passion for what you do really shines through. It’s infectious.
I know that one of the ways that your show has changed my outlook is the concept of taking care of yourself FIRST so you are in a position to take care of others. This seems to be right in line with Mollison’s prime directive of permaculture as well. I come from a much more left-wing starting point than most of the other listeners seem to (at least those who comment regularly) and this was one area in which I had to re-evaluate my thinking and move away from the false dichotomy bullshit. I was already moving in that direction before I found your show in 2010 — but listening to you definitely helped to hasten that along.
Thanks for putting out a great show!
Speaking of history, a favorite quote of mine from Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
Peak oil people are batshit crazy???
NO, damn people hear all the words not just the ones you pick out, MANY PEAK OIL PEOPLE ARE BAT SHIT CRAZY, see the MANY. And many are, if you think we will have no oil and no power and be in 1850 society by the year 2020 due to peak oil you are bat shit crazy and many in the peak oil arena do, I’ve talked to them.
Actually, Jack, you didn’t say “many” you said “most” (00:25:57). And I think there’s a difference in meaning there.
I’m not “hurt,” just a little taken aback.
I just don’t think the fine folks responsible for TheOilDrum dot com web site, as well as the think tank called the Post Carbon Institute deserved that one.
Well I didn’t mean most, try doing a 1-1.5 hour show 5 days a week and you will occasionally misspeak. I do say many though, not you at all from what I have seen.
Yet there are many peakers that have been forecasting total gloom and doom for decades and it is going to be in the “next five years” for the last 20 plus years. I remember distinctively a graphic in my 8th grade science book (that would have been 1984) that said we only had 35 years of oil left, as in before we were totally out of it. The book was published if I remember right likely about 81 or earlier as I also remember three student names in the cover who had the book before I did. You know I do remember shit like that right, I mean I know it sound a bit specific but that is the type of memory I have.
Now correct me if I am wrong but 1981 + 35 would be 2016, so according to an actual text book being used in an 8th grade science class there should be NO OIL by 2016, do you believe that. Note this was not when we will hit peak, it was where there would be no more. It also said we had 115 years worth of coal and went on to explain how coal was bad because it was causing GLOBAL COOLING due to smog, yep it sure did. I so which I could get a copy of that book!
Now every time I go to a wilderness gathering or a permaculture thing (I actually do some that I never mention so I can have peace and actually be a student some times) I meet peakers, they are generally 20 somethings in or just out of school. They are convinced we are done with all oil in 10 years or less. They have to be getting that shit from somewhere right?
Let me ask you this, how many of self called “peak oil believers” feel that for the next 10-20 years at least you won’t see much difference? I know one, ME, are you another one? We can look at reserves and global demand and see that is the case. Oil may get really expensive, it may hamper the economy, as it does it will likely make us take a new look at alternatives, which is good. But in 2016 if you want to fill up an SUV there will be many places to do so. Anyone that thinks there won’t is indeed bat shit crazy.
@ Modern Survival – I live about 60 mi NW of NYC, and my town was definitely hit by Hurricane Sandy — pretty much all of the downtown area is still without electricity and the trees leaning on houses and power lines have just recently been cleaned up. After getting up before 6 AM today (Saturday) to go and sit in line for 1.5 hours to fill up my car and several cans with gasoline, I was reflecting on this exchange between you and Oil Lady. I think that what’s going on in my area is going to be a much more frequent and widespread trend within the next 5-10 years. You may be able to fill up that SUV, but maybe not exactly when you want to and without waiting in line for a significant amount of time. Especially in the instance of even minor outside shocks to the system of extraction, shipping and refinement.
For what it’s worth, I also think that most people who are exposed to Peak Oil go through a process that, at one point, results in them thinking that we’re going to be at a 19th century way-of-life within 10 years. I’ve been following that field for over 10 years now and I know I was once there.
I agree the Rambo types are not real survivalists, as they do not recognize the community concept needed to survive long-term situations without rule of law.
I have family who have just entered the prepping world this year, but they have the fear of God and hysteria that Obama is going to extend the elections, declare Martial Law, and start rounding up Republicans in good standing, and organize Muslim extremists to fight Christians on American soil. These family members are hardcore loyal Republicans who have stated they would move to Israel if Obama wins the election. They believe, listen, and subscribe, to TheBlazeTV and buy every book Glenn Beck shamelessly plugs, and that this is the scenario that will play out in the end times. These Beck followers are like crazy people in their paranoia worse than the NATGEO people who confine their feigned survivalism on a television show.
The people I know who listen to Alex Jones are of sound mind and do not believe there is much difference what happens in the November elections, most are Classical Liberals who do not support allegiance to a political party. In fact, the Alex Jones people I know are highly educated, have started small businesses from the ground up, are active in civil government, and all have a better understanding of our monetary system, geopolitics,better than the average uninformed person off the street.
So I believe you are stereo-typing Alex Jones listeners.
I will just say this. Fear-based marketing can be labeled on any blog or person that talks about prepping and sells products of preparedness. I never understood attempting to separate the fact that ammunition, surplus food, can be classified as fear based. I would rephrase that as “ethical salesmen of prepping products” versus calling every survival blog out there fear based.
@Sage I am not stereo typing Alex Jones listeners, as I myself listen to him and would not know what he says if I didn’t. If I am stereo-typing anyone it IS ALEX HIMSELF. What I reported to you accurately is what happens to people new to the reality of our current situation who listen to AJ.
I also have to ask you where the fuck you got this idea from,
“I will just say this. Fear-based marketing can be labeled on any blog or person that talks about prepping and sells products of preparedness. I never understood attempting to separate the fact that ammunition, surplus food, can be classified as fear based. I would rephrase that as “ethical salesmen of prepping products” versus calling every survival blog out there fear based.”
When the fuck did I say that? I never said such a thing, you know often when we hear anything we don’t like we tend to then hear what we expect to come with it. Sage my ass man, seriously. We can disagree on the Jones thing but you are being completely dishonest with the above statement.
I am not trying to be dishonest Jack. You mention “fear being used in marketing of products” in your podcasts all the time, and you mentioned it specifically in 7:18 of this very podcast. So I didn’t pull something out of thin air.
What I was trying to articulate is your bashing of “fear based marketing.” I see this as a hypocrisy, since the products sold on every survival prepper site can be classified as based on fear. Just ask the question what are you prepping for? The answer no matter what will be based on some fear, even you appear to agree with me in your podcast.
Re: Alex Jones
“Terminal with dumb-ass of fear” was your exact label for Alex Jones listeners, I wasn’t dishonest or made this up.
If that isn’t a label what the hell is it?
Look it’s your podcast, you can say whatever you want. But calling me dishonest when I criticize you on something that makes zero sense to me is not very productive.
I actually agree with you on the majority of your podcasts, I just can’t comprehend why you consistently attack people that listen to Alex Jones, when people that listen to Fox News, and Glenn Beck, can be equally “terminal with dumb-ass of fear.”
@Sage you may not be trying but you are still doing it, you just stated that,
“Terminal with dumb-ass of fear was your exact label for Alex Jones listeners”
This is COMPLETELY totally inaccurate in context, you know fucking better. Either that or again once you hear one thing you don’t want you are tuning out and hearing what you expect.
What I said was that when a person has just become aware of the reality of threats to our existence and has discovered Alex Jones as their first resource they often become terminal with dumb-ass of fear. And by God that is far different from what you just inferred. You are acting as if I said all AJ listeners are terminal with the dumb ass of fear.
Likely when the media does what you are doing here it makes you want to pull your hair out and now you sit and do the same shit. Again I don’t think you are doing this intentionally, I think you head something you didn’t like and then developed selective hearing to hear what you expected after that.
“I never understood attempting to separate the fact that ammunition, surplus food, can be classified as fear based.”
Yes, I did not word this phrase above correctly I can see how this could be misinterpreted. I was trying to give an example how anything can be fear based. For that I give you a mea culpa.