Why do many people not have basic emergency supplies?

[Sgt Nambu]

Can't really say ignorant, as in the OP's example that particular sheepel recognized something could happen & has happened, but someone else will magically take care of everything. Even when they agreed that prior event failed taking care of...its fixed. Like magic...

Sounds ignorant to me!

 

[nwslopoke]

For Oregon even if the first and 2nd responders wanted to help it's a rare day that every one of them are available. In a state of 3.5-4 million people the odds of you getting what you need from a few thousand government workers is pretty rare. Vernonia semi disaster got more community help than gov aid.

Portland is eating itself now and there's no disaster. Just saw a woman get face punched on YouTube from a few days ago. So best be prepared to handle your business.

 

[Alexx1401]

[QUOTE="druiseeker, post:

I want to understand why so many people don't have even the basics. When did it become popular to be unprepared? To me, survival basics are: air to breathe, shelter/warmth, water, food. I can understand someone sticking to a minimal emergency kit. Especially if they're living on a tight budget. There are a lot of other things that would be nice to have. Weapons, first aid kit, tents, sleeping bags, packs, etc. Most could survive without them, but would you want to be in the situation of needing and being without? These types of things are the basics of staying alive. Are they suicidal? Do they need to see a psychologist?[/QUOTE]

For the same reason so many will not own a gun, saying 911 will help. People like this have never had a real "emergency". They change their mind after they have. Often too late then. The rest choose not to see the news. People hear what they want to hear.

 

[Alexx1401]

I know lots of people can't afford to really prep but even buying a case or two of bottle water at Walmart only cost $6 dollars and you can go to the dollar store and buy a week 's Worth of canned goods for $20 bucks it's just ignorant stupid or just plain don't really care think it will never happen to them

I always tell those who "can't afford it" they don't have to break the bank. Every time you shop pick up an extra can or two of something. Some water next time. Soon you have a good stock. Buy stuff you eat anyway and rotate it out. Simple and does not need to cost much at all.

 

[Alexx1401]

Why do I now have an advertisement covering my last post? OK . These new center of the page ads are bubblegum! I cannot read anyone's post that is infected with these things. Who thought these were a good idea?

Group owner knows about it and is i'm sure working on it. I have had to change browsers a coupe times to get around it.

 

[AMProducts]

I was talking with a woman here in Salem the other day about prepping. I was buying several large cases of bottled water and she was asking if I was having an event. When I told her I was replacing some emergency supplies I'd gotten into, she made some snide comments ridiculing "preppers". I didn't (and still don't) understand where she was coming from.

I asked her if she had ANY supplies saved up. She said no, she didn't need any as she would be taken care of by the government. I asked her if they took care of people during Katrina very well. She admitted that they didn't but that it was an "oversight that has since been corrected. It wouldn't happen in the future." I was/am astonished. I've heard similar rhetoric, but this was insanely stupid. I recommended she at least look at the FEMA or Ready.gov websites. I walked away. I couldn't think of anything else to say to her.

I started prepping when I was young. We didn't call it prepping then. It was being minimally prepared. We kept a stocked pantry with 1-2 months food, camping/hiking equipment staged for travel, paperwork in order, etc. Common sense lessons learned by my grandparents. They insisted their children continue passing the lessons on. They were depression era folks and really didn't have a good time growing up.

I want to understand why so many people don't have even the basics. When did it become popular to be unprepared? To me, survival basics are: air to breathe, shelter/warmth, water, food. I can understand someone sticking to a minimal emergency kit. Especially if they're living on a tight budget. There are a lot of other things that would be nice to have. Weapons, first aid kit, tents, sleeping bags, packs, etc. Most could survive without them, but would you want to be in the situation of needing and being without? These types of things are the basics of staying alive. Are they suicidal? Do they need to see a psychologist?

I've just taken to telling people "oh my community service group is doing a trail cleanup this weekend". Which depending on how you read it could be "my militia will be out beating hippy bubblegum out of the forest" or "our nature friends will be picking up garbage".

I have some definitive opinions on "prepping" but this is mostly because people have a penchant of acquiring mounds of crap they will never use and then thinking themselves better for it.

Not to be too harsh about it but, frankly, this woman's opinion is just fine, during the next major disaster she will die, and the rest of the world will go on. Evolution doesn't measure who is richest, smartest, smuggest, most popular, only who is left. Perhaps one day humanity will no longer have to carry the burden that these people are, and our future generations can look down from their space colonies and get a chuckle thinking about how naive humanity once was, depending on the fallible human organizations to save them, something not practical when the nearest rescue is 5 light years away.

 

[11Charlie]

I have found that some people want to but don't know how or what to buy. Even if they had the stuff they wouldn't know what to do with it, if the SH!T does hit the fan.

 

[Alexx1401]

I have found that some people want to but don't know how or what to buy. Even if they had the stuff they wouldn't know what to do with it, if the SH!T does hit the fan.

Sadly a lot of people are pretty helpless these days. If food does not come out of a window at the drive though they don't know what to do.

 

[Joe13]

I have found that some people want to but don't know how or what to buy. Even if they had the stuff they wouldn't know what to do with it, if the SH!T does hit the fan.

Sadly a lot of people are pretty helpless these days. If food does not come out of a window at the drive though they don't know what to do.

This is the biggest one... yea people can open and eat a cold can of soup but hygiene and first aid are useless unless you have some basic skills in those areas.

 

[Alexx1401]

This is the biggest one... yea people can open and eat a cold can of soup but hygiene and first aid are useless unless you have some basic skills in those areas.

Yep. I doubt many kids these days bother with things like Scouts where basic stuff like that is taught. If they get hurt and can't go to a clinic or ER a hell of a lot of them would no doubt be totally lost. Hell a lot of them can't function if the damn cell phone quits working.

 

[etrain16]

Yep. I doubt many kids these days bother with things like Scouts where basic stuff like that is taught. If they get hurt and can't go to a clinic or ER a hell of a lot of them would no doubt be totally lost. Hell a lot of them can't function if the damn cell phone quits working.

Funny how few people remember phone numbers anymore. I make a point of dialing numbers directly rather than dialing from my contact list - just so I can remember those numbers in the event my device fails and I need to call someone. I love technology, including smart phones, but I am keenly aware they can, and do, fail.

 

[etrain16]

This is the biggest one... yea people can open and eat a cold can of soup but hygiene and first aid are useless unless you have some basic skills in those areas.

I'm thinking of trying a bath or shower sometime, I hear they're all the rage now

 

[cigars]

My wife chides me because I keep a ton of the Costco multi packs of toilet paper. We will never he wantin' for the TP when SHTF. Eventually, she will thank me.
If those SHTF zombies want my TP (and there will be a lot of them) they will have to pry it from my cold, dead (but clean ) hands.

 

[Joe13]

My wife chides me because I keep a ton of the Costco multi packs of toilet paper. We will never he wantin' for the TP when SHTF. Eventually, she will thank me.
If those SHTF zombies want my TP (and there will be a lot of them) they will have to pry it from my cold, dead (but clean ) hands.

Stocking up on stuff like that (stuff you will use eventually because it's a reoccurring staple) is smart IMO.

We buy 2 when we we only need 1 of something that we will for sure use if we skip our monthly trip to Costco.

Being without a job for a bit and a day, having stocked basics saved us a lot of money and squeezed us through the really rough times. SHTF or not.

 

[11Charlie]

Some of this comes back to my thought about making military mandatory for kids when they graduate from high school. They would grow up a ton and be more aware of how this world functions. Make exceptions for the kids who get a scholorship to college.

This would do two things.
1- knock the lazy out of the lazy kids and make them think twice while boosting our numbers in the armed forces.
2- reward the kids who work hard and are ahead of the curve

OK make it three it just might help out the stupid gene pool as well

 

[Certaindeaf]

Many people are retarded. good talk

 

[rick benjamin]

elementary school cub scout pack
Learned knife safety, knots, measure a tree's height, teamwork, camping, make a pinewood derby car.
Joined the scout troop.
Learned tracking, field craft, canoeing, camping, teamwork.
Earned an EGA, learned more stuff.
Be prepared
As best I can.

 

[FortunateSon]

Being without a job for a bit and a day, having stocked basics saved us a lot of money and squeezed us through the really rough times. SHTF or not.

SHTF is a relative term. It could be a geographically huge event, affecting the entire region, or it could be personal to you, like losing a job. Your were prepared enough to get you through hard times. That qualifies as SHTF in my book. Well done.....

 

[Ura-Ki]

Call it what you want, Stupid, Ignorant, blissfully blind, denial, false hope, belief in the system, belief in the goodness of the fellow man, what ever it is that deludes these Sheeple, isn't my problem or concern, but it does tell me one important thing, this is not a person worth consideration of helping.
Like many of you, I grew up with a family that went through some hard times, and we always put up a little here and a little there, we didn't have a lot of money, so we grew what we could, killed what ever we needed, and preserved all we could, and most times, we just rotated stuff out. There were winter storms that took down the power for several days, and travel was next to impossible, so if you didn't have enough, you went with out.
People in the bigger cities and towns are blind to the facts, and it will be there undoing when things jump the rails, too bad for them, but I aint going to care. sad, but I got to look for me and mine, and the rest can look elsewhere.

 

[Fjordforder]

What I`ve noticed is that it seems the same people who deride logical thought are the same type that never wear a seat belt.

The same type that toss cigarette butts out the window during the dry season.

The same type that don`t wear life vests when on a boat.

The same type that pull batteries from smoke alarms to refill those in the TV remote.

The same type who call for open borders, and carry "Refugee Welcome!" signs.

The same type who reliably vote Dem, but that`s none of my business...