Positive, Negative and Neutral media

[NorthernRaider]

Tell you what I am starting to ponder on more and more, with the increase in media coverage from the likes of Nat Geos DDP or DDPUKP and Discoveries Surviving Alaska and Doomsday bunkers plus the almost constant stream of doomsday documentaaries that we in the established prepper community are starting to come under more and more scrutiny, and a lot of it I dont like and other bits are making me ever more nervous.

The requests for interviews or participation in TV shows continues, other folks fear the documentary makers are likely to become or evolve into enqueries from investigative journos not looking for truth or accuracy but for the next shock horror ratings booster to fill their peak time advertisers demands.

Already I have seen subtle implications that preppers are all far right wingers which means they are probably politically active, which means they must be voilent thugs etc.

The fact that most preppers are more interested in growing veg than violence, or carrying a garden hoe instead of a gun, folks who prefer off grid peaceful sustainable communities to gun infested city streets has nothing to do with the media desire to vilify another part of society to please the chav tv addicts.

So anyway my thinking is beginning to evolve more along the lines of, still using forums for research and info, but as a prepper bulds up more contacts and solidifies their relationships with others of a similar persuassion I now think that those establish preppers should start to put some distance between themselves and the various modern media sources and living a lower profile lifestyle.

I trust neither the state to put my best needs first, nor the media to be balanced, fair, accurate or impartial and I think their constant presence is going to cause us problems in time.

[bigpaul]

with all the stuff in the news about GCHQ and the American PRISM spy network thingy, I think you may be right but I just don't see how we can get low enough to be off the radar without coming offline completely.

[River Song]

@BP - there is a difference of course between coming off-grid and coming off-radar.

Coming off radar is a little more difficult in the UK than in the US i think. The networks involved such as HMRC, DVLA DHSS etc etc etc all tie in. However it is worthy of a thread all of its own. Watch this space

[Jonas]

I suspect that if I've been on various prepper forums for ten years, it's probably a bit too late to worry about being "off-radar" now.

[Mortblanc]

I think you guys need not worry so.

This site is one of the tame ones and of no real concern to TPTB.

There are some real scary sites out there but they are "invitation only", hidden under several layers of internet security and you are not going to stumble over then on an google search as most people make it here.

Your 5 rolls of TP, three cans of soup and the Banshee and six arrows does not even make one of the surveillance techs smirk.

I know of churches over here that consider their right to worship at risk. They have stockpiles of food to keep their congregations several hundred alive for months and means to put up a significant defense.

I just returned Sunday from a 10 day camp of 250 that meets each year on the same weekend. Everyone simply shows up. Woodcraft/survival skills taught daily in classes for adult, teen and child. Shooting competition on situation course morning and afternoon. Archery field competition each afternoon. Homesteading/food prep/food preservation seminars throughout the week. Those fellows are not even politically radical or socially withdrawn, simply concerned about emergency situations.

You guys take four months and 100 posts to organize an RV for 6.

And most other internet prepper sites are the same; disorganized, widely scattered, untrained, out in the open in cyberspace.

There are some seriously twisted prepers out there. Over the years I have known of several that had enough equipment of supply one of your SAS units for a major mission or organize the overthrow of a small nation.

The Spying our government has done was more directed toward the opposition Party and their campaign plans during the past election and against organized grass roots conservative political groups than individuals. That was proven by the continued successful terrorist activity we have been experiencing over here.

Not being in GB I am uncertain what your megalomaniacs are frightened of.

[Tarrel]

My gut-feel is that, when TSHTF, the various security services and law-enforcement will be too busy avoiding total social meltdown to worry about individual preppers. A prepper who also has a high profile in a political organisation might be a different matter. I'm happy for those more 'in the know" to overturn this viewpoint though.

I do agree about the main stream media though. I can't think why people volunteer for these programmes. You could argue that it's an opportunity to present the case for prepping, but this message gets lost in the sensationalist noise that the programmes insist on generating.

[bigpaul]

(11 June 2013, 15:12)Tarrel Wrote: My gut-feel is that, when TSHTF, the various security services and law-enforcement will be too busy avoiding total social meltdown to worry about individual preppers.

your probably right, we've already said in the past that when TSHTF TPTB wont have the numbers of Army and Police(even if they ALL report for duty-which they WONT) to "police" the whole country,they'll be too busy with the "radicals" and Anarchists, to bother with us, so I don't think we've got anything to worry about, especially here out in the middle of nowhere.

[Straight Shooter]

Do what I do....if approached do the obeone kanobe " its not him your looking for, its not him we want lets move on " ....but I do think of twisted puppy a lot ........is this wrong?

[preservefreak]

something small that came across to me from the 2nd preppers UK show was that they were all dressed nearly the same way. I think that the public is starting to get an impression that "that's what a prepper looks like".

I still think that the general public is more likely to come take our supplies than the army

[bigpaul]

(12 June 2013, 11:07)preservefreak Wrote: I still think that the general public is more likely to come take our supplies than the army

they can try, please try!!