Quote of the day—Thomas

When I go into prepper mode (which I occasionally do), some colleague will say, “Oh. I’ll just come to your house.” After I push back the bile, I usually say something tasteful like, “Bring your daughter.”

Thomas
October 9, 2012
Comment to Guest Post: Four Alternative Stores Of Value
[Similar thoughts have come to my mind as well but I had never found the words to express them so well.

If I put a bunch of effort and money into making life possible for myself and my family in an extreme hardship situation and you just assumed you could mooch off of me if you ever needed to then if such circumstance came about you are going to be surprised at the price you pay for a handful of lentils and cup of clean water.—Joe]

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13 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Thomas

  1. I don’t have one good “stock” reply. It depends on the situation and person talking. With some, I just ask “so, you PLAN to be a looter? THAT’S pretty messed up. Does your wife/family know you PLAN to NOT support them?”, or “those that know they are welcome already have stuff stored with me. Those that AREN’T welcome are free to keep moving along”, or “have you researched how to survive in a refugee center? I recommend it. I have enough for myself and family ONLY” or “you are welcome to bring your supplies to my house to share. No supplies or needed equipment to share, then there’s nothing to share.” Or, when talking to a teacher “so you are telling your students you are preparing them for the future, yet you ADMIT you are not yourself prepared? Great example yo are setting.” Sometimes “do you know where my bug-out location is, and how to do a deliberate assault against overlapping fields of fire and obstacles?”

    I haven’t found a really good, one-size-fits-almost-all sort of response that is the right balance of firm, educational, rejection, and pointing out the lack of civilized attitude and understanding they have. All suggestions are welcome. I kind of like the “bring your daughter” line, except that those that know me a bit know that’s not really me. From a stranger, though, it might turn on a light for them.

  2. Kim Du Toit had an excellent post along these lines. IIRC it was a letter to him from a prepper describing the shock and horror of his liberal friends that refused to prepare. Lots of angy “Hoarding is illegal” and horrified “You’d let my children starve?!?!”

    No, I’m not letting your children starve, you are because you failed to prepare.

  3. I’ve been known to start discussing the old story about how Spam tastes a lot like long pork.

  4. Maybe your problem is that you’re doing too much advertizing. Maybe you should tell people to be prepaired, and follow it up with something like; “I really need to start thinking about it for myself and my family too, sometime.”

    If you don’t advertize your place as a well supplied fortress, no one will give you a second thought. For myself, I really DO need to start thinking about what I would do in a bad situation. Maybe next year… See; that’s not so hard, is it?

  5. @Lyle, I’ve not had anyone say anything like that to me. I just anticipate it happening.

    My preparation is, beyond guns, ammo, and explosives, my old room at my parents place on the farm still has my bed in it.

  6. The problem with having a Retreat to go to (other than the Joy of Getting There when TSHTF) is who to say it hasn’t been taken over by someone else before you arrive? And do you think the Squatters will just move on when you try to evict them?

    I know everyones case is different, but I’m coming to the conclusion that where I am today is where I will be when TSHTF. So I “Prepare” accordingly.

  7. Along with what Bubblehead Les said, what protection do you have against arson? Widespread arson usually happens with civil disturbances yet I’ve only heard of a few people who own their own firetrucks.

  8. @ubu52, “Civil disturbances” are extremely rare and would be dealt with quickly and harshly in rural Idaho. And our farm does have a water truck with crude firetruck capabilities. A true firetruck manned by a trained volunteer crew is a few miles away. Bulldozers and other heavy equipment is also readily available for crop, grass, and forest fires.

  9. Ubu —

    Also, by suppressing the arsonists, you tend to suppress the arson. . . suppress the rioting and arson sufficiently, and dealing with the remaining fire is so much easier, whether you’re doing it with your neighbors, or the local FD can now do it without needed armored vehicles.

  10. Those last two answers are really good except they require people working together — which means you may have to share your “prepper” stuff with people who didn’t prep if you want the help.

  11. @ubu52, In our farming community there wouldn’t be an issue with non-“preppers”. It’s essentially a way of life going back generations. Nearly every winter you are cut off from town for a week or two by poor roads. The electricity will probably be off for a half-day or more every couple of years and more than a day every five years or so. “Civil disturbance”? There hasn’t been one since we had the last Indian war. That was with the Nez Perce back in 1877.

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