Survivalists are some of the most misunderstood people in our lives today.
Their motivations are not in general what he media asserts, often not even close.
The way to change public perception, however, is to understand why survivalists are portrayed as they are by the media and in mainstream culture.
1. Preparedness is about preparing for end of the world disasters.
Despite what you may see on T.V., prepping is not about preparing for the end of the world. While those building bunkers, in preparation for some hypothetical asteroid smashing into the earth, are often the ones who receive media attention, the fact is, preparedness is really about preparing for those small-scale events in life that can feel like the end of the world if you’re not prepared.
2. Preparedness requires spending all sorts of money on fancy gear.
Preparedness doesn’t have to be expensive, in fact those who prepare by training , taking time to study the threats, and preparing themselves to physically and mentally face dangers are often the ones who come out on top; not the guy with the most gear.
3. Preppers are paranoid and live life in fear.
Everyone was born with something called the fight or flight response. This genetic gift has kept us safe since the beginning of time; alerting our body to danger, and pumping things like adrenaline to our throughout our body so we can react quickly. That said, living in fear is never good; but I don’t believe that’s what preparedness minded people do.
Preparedness is the key to killing fear; it is also the key to making sure it does not overcome you when things do go bad. It’s those who fail to prepare that will someday be overcome by fear, all because they failed to prepare for events we know will someday happen.
4. Preparedness is all about wilderness survival.
This is another idiotic notion largely fueled by the mainstream media and compounded by the rise of Survival T.V. Shows.
I’m not trying to knock wilderness survival, I spend a lot of times in the outdoors; so it wouldn’t be very preparedness minded of me to not have these skills, but for the majority of people who find themselves facing a disaster, these skills provide very little real-world help. The fact is, there are not many resources for dealing with urban disasters, and unfortunately a lot of the so-called experts have very little experience dealing with urban disasters, threats, and criminal violence.
in a man made or natural disaster, being prepared is something event he federal government strongly recommends.
Survivalists are usually not anticipating the end of the world, but that event that knocks out the power for more than a few days or other related events.
To read a more detailed review on the myriad of motivations and causes behind the misconceptions of survivalists, please visit Off Grid Survival.