Preppers as futurists
2September 28, 2012 by Rikkomas
I came across some articles about Prepping went for a hunt and ended up in someone’s blog.
I knew Bear Grills, the hippy and the marine and the others but always though they were just showing off skills to survive in a particular scenario. After visiting these sites instead a new picture arose: Survivalism as a symptom of a deeper research for isolation from the society.
Can we consider Preppers as Futurists?
Sadly no, they’re conceiving only 1 future and they chose the most apocalyptic.
Future studies help creating multiple scenarios and most of the time I tend to remove the best and worst scenarios (it is easy to think about them and it is better to invest time and resources towards other deeper and darker scenarios)
Still even these scenarios can have some outputs so, thanks to the Preppers, I’ll think about having a little survival kit in my house and I’ll be happy to rediscover some basic rules on living without external support.
Weapon of Choice 
Hi Rikkomas –
You make a really good point about Preppers. Many people do tend to think of preppers as weird folks who run around with tinfoil hats warning that the sky is falling. But there really is more to it than that (although some of us are like that I suppose).
By and large, preppers hope for the best and plan for the worst. We like to prepare for all kinds of scenarios, including the apocalyptic collapse that you mentioned. The most likely scenario by far is the loss of a job or loved one. But it can also be a community-wide event such as a flood, a city-wide event such as a tornado, a regional event such as a hurricane or earthquake, or even a nationwide event such as a economic collapse.
Fortunately, one prep fits most. Storing food, water, and other supplies will help tide the prepper over until things can be restored to normal. If it that doesn’t happen for quite some time, preppers also learn skills to help us adapt to the new reality.
For more information, you can read our “What is Prepping” page (http://preppingtosurvive.com/what-is-prepping/) and Why Do You Prep? post (http://preppingtosurvive.com/2012/04/11/why-do-you-prep/).
Thanks again!
Joe
Hi Joe,
nice insights man (and good links); in the end we’re both attracted and driven in our decisions by Future so we’re part of the same thinking process.
Rikkomas