The Preparedness Community’s Dangerous Failure of Imagination

The Preparedness Community’s Dangerous Failure of Imagination by Daisy Luther for The Organic Prepper

In Northern regions of an unstable country, a battle broke out yesterday in the streets of a small city. Meanwhile, in the Southeastern corridor, protesters continue to clash over control of a monument, and in the North East, rebels have been battling local authorities for control of the Capitol for 80 days. One city in the central part of the nation has isolated itself by raising drawbridges in an effort to quell the violence and destruction of ongoing riots. After a massive crime spreehe largest city in the nation looks like the setting of a dystopian movie.

The formerly prosperous nation has been rocked by disease, authoritarian measures, police corruption, and economic catastrophe throughout the summer. A hotly contested presidential race is spurring further division, and the level of violence is expected to increase as election day approaches.

It sounds like coverage of some distant, war-torn country. I remember when I was in college hearing daily coverage of the situation in Sarajevo and it sounded so far away that at some point, I stopped paying attention.

But now the war-torn country is ours.

The report above is about events currently taking place in Kalamazoo, Stone Mountain, Seattle, Chicago, and New York City.

And still, I see people saying, “It can’t happen here.” They say, “Our area is different.”

Have you checked your normalcy bias lately?

One of the things that Selco writes about often is recognizing that a new set of rules is in place, and acting on that immediately. The earlier you can accept that the rules of the game have changed, the better off you’re going to be.

But many people – including many preppers – refuse to believe that these things are coming closer to home. It’s difficult to accept that one day, the fight could be at your own door. This failure of imagination is something I see often in the preparedness community and, in my opinion, it’s as dangerous as refusing to prepare is.

Last fall, I ran a daily challenge to get folks to think through a variety of situations. Everyone was on board until I escalated the imaginary scenario.

On Day 15, I asked people how they could acquire food if they’d run through all their preps and still we had no grocery system in place. This challenge was loaded with excellent answers from people who really knew about the bounty they had outside their backdoor.

But then on Day 16, I asked people to take it one step further.

Today’s challenge is inspired by the course that I took in Croatia with Selco and Toby.

Yesterday, I asked you what food you could find nearby if the situation had devolved to the point that you’d gone through all your stored food.

Now, if the situation has devolved that far, you have to also imagine that there is no Rule of Law. It’s the Wild West. Everyone is a threat.

As Selco said to us, “You think this is hard? Now do it while everyone is trying to kill you.”

When the SHTF in Bosnia, the threats were everywhere. Snipers were shooting civilians from the hilltops when they went to the river to get water. Neighbors were fighting neighbors for their resources. It was mayhem for an entire year…So today’s challenge takes yesterday’s a step further.

How would you get that nearby food if everyone around was a threat to your life or physical well-being? Would you go at night? Would you move stealthily and slowly during the day? Go in teams? This thought certainly puts a new twist on things. (source)

Things almost ground to a halt with this challenge – just thinking through it was difficult for people. They couldn’t fathom such a reality happening right here in the United States of America. Several people went as far as to write to me about how I was just needlessly scaring people.

But if you aren’t willing to think through the true worst-case scenario, how prepared are you really?

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