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Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)
9 April 2014, 09:06,
#1
Smile  Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)
Defining Prepping and Survivalism
There is an interesting few threads running on SUK about WHAT IS PREPPING and SURVIVALISM
As compared to Camping / Bushcraft / Wilderness survival

So in MY opinion I would describe it thus

PREPPING AND SURVIVALISM is the term used to describe an entire LIFESTYLE or SKILLSET(s) a sub culture of mainstream society if you wish.

PREPPING or SURVIVALISM is the COLLECTIVE term used to describe people who adopt in full or in part a lifestyle involving self-reliance, self-determination and mastering to a modest levels as many practical skills as they can.

In no particular order the SKILLS and CRAFTS that Survivalists and Preppers tend to learn or adopt are things like

Growing as much of their own food as possible
Small Scale Agriculture such as raisng chickens and rabbits for food
Small scale brewing
Jam and preserve making
Permaculture skills
Food preservation
Home Security risk assessing and adaptations
Self Defence skills
Researching and archiving skills
Medical skills and Homeopathic skills
Designing, building, operating and maintaining their own off –grid power generation systems
Building their own wind turbines
Vehicle adaptation and Maintenance
Vehicle fault diagnosis
Tyre Changing
Making their own biofuels
Wilderness and Bush craft survival skills
Urban foraging and survival skills
Political sciences and risk asessment
Ploughing and tractor driving
Winter driving skills and winter vehicle preps
Reconnaissance and report writing
Knitting, weaving and cloth making
Rappelling and abseiling and other mountaineering skills
Light engineering such as building their own wood burning stoves and DIY water treatment systems
Skill at arms with various tools from Bows to rifles, to staffs to bare hand fighting
DIY skills for adapting the home to be more suited to prepping
Off road driving skills
Sail and power boat operation
Canoe and Kayak use
Mountain biking skills and bike maintenance
Angling skills
Horse riding
Emergency dental repairing skills
Communications and Signalling skills (EG CB / Ham radio setup and use)

In summary the skills and crafts list can go on and on, but as you can see Bushcraft and Wilderness survival are only individual PARTS of a greater skillset that make up the whole sub culture known as Prepping and Survivalism.

And as a wise chap pointed out to me in an E mail only last night, not only is Bushcraft and Wilderness survival NOT Prepping and Survivalism (it’s a part of the whole or an ingredient in the cake).

Very often those who are such strong advocates of learning Bushcraft and Wilderness survival in some (not all) cases they do so as people who live in large towns cities and ignore the greater need to master URBAN survival skills first.That is a concern the community needs to address.

Hope that helps clarify the occasional confusion

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9 April 2014, 09:24,
#2
RE: Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)
You seem to have missed one massive point about prepping and survivalism. It's about a disaster situation survival, e.g. SituationX.

A homestedder or an off grid hippie commune would cover some of the skills and be considered as preppers by the above definition.

Add the fact that it's about surviving a situation forseen by the individual/group being defined, then you'd be getting agreement from me, 100%.

One question though, is it really important to define what prepping and survivalism is?
Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism - Thomas Jefferson
Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither - Benjamin Franklin
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9 April 2014, 09:44, (This post was last modified: 9 April 2014, 09:46 by NorthernRaider.)
#3
RE: Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)
S13
You seem to have missed one massive point about prepping and survivalism. It's about a disaster situation survival, e.g. SituationX.

NR No sir, its about what Survivalism and prepping IS as a sub culture not what it is FOR eg Disaster survival, terror attack, economic collapse, EMP, Zombie apocalypse, Labour wining the election, Tsunami, Quake etc Smile

S13
A homestedder or an off grid hippie commune would cover some of the skills and be considered as preppers by the above definition.

NR again its not about WHO it applies to but WHAT it is as a sub culture, There is probably more people out there living as preppers but would never in a million years call themselves such Smile

S13
Add the fact that it's about surviving a situation forseen by the individual/group being defined, then you'd be getting agreement from me, 100%.

NR Surviving & THRIVING

S13
One question though, is it really important to define what prepping and survivalism is?

NR apparently so because there are still people who think Prepping and Survival IS just Bushcraft and wilderness survival Smile
And those folks are already very well catered for on forums like Bushcraft UK, Ludlow SG etc Smile

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NR apparently so because there are still people who think Prepping and Survival IS just Bushcraft and wilderness survival Smile

ESPECIALLY the News papers, MEDIA and many newbies ( and self appointed experts on You Tube Smile )

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9 April 2014, 09:51,
#4
RE: Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)
Ah, another pointless list of shit...
Reply
9 April 2014, 11:03,
#5
RE: Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)
(9 April 2014, 09:44)NorthernRaider Wrote: Point 1.
S13
You seem to have missed one massive point about prepping and survivalism. It's about a disaster situation survival, e.g. SituationX.

NR No sir, its about what Survivalism and prepping IS as a sub culture not what it is FOR eg Disaster survival, terror attack, economic collapse, EMP, Zombie apocalypse, Labour wining the election, Tsunami, Quake etc Smile

Point 2.
S13
A homestedder or an off grid hippie commune would cover some of the skills and be considered as preppers by the above definition.

NR again its not about WHO it applies to but WHAT it is as a sub culture, There is probably more people out there living as preppers but would never in a million years call themselves such Smile

Point 3.
S13
One question though, is it really important to define what prepping and survivalism is?

NR apparently so because there are still people who think Prepping and Survival IS just Bushcraft and wilderness survival Smile
And those folks are already very well catered for on forums like Bushcraft UK, Ludlow SG etc Smile

NR apparently so because there are still people who think Prepping and Survival IS just Bushcraft and wilderness survival Smile

I'm going to answer these as the 3 points I've labelled them as.

Point 1.
Prepping, as a subculture is defined by the people, whom are united in the fact that they are getting ready to survive a SituationX. It's not about being self sufficiency. Self sufficiency is a part of prepping, but a self-sufficient person is not neccessarily a prepper. A 4x4 driver isn't neccessarily a prepper. An arts and crafts teacher is not neccccceeeessssserily a prepper, even though they're teaching skills. Same with even Ray Mears, he has the skills, but he's not a prepper (to the best of my knowledge). They're just people that get on with what they do.

Point 2.
That doesn't make sense in a logical format. Once again, a subculture is the people. Using self-sufficiency as an example...Prepping and Survivalism isn't about being self sufficient. It's about the people and what they're being self sufficient for. A hippie in a commune growing his own plants is not a prepper. He might be 'accidentally' prepped if something did happen, but he is not purposefully prepping. If you have such a spurious link for prepped and prepping, then any farmer with solar panels, is also prepping and is a prepper. That makes no sense. He's just being a farmer, and the hippie being a hippie. A culture cannot exist without the people, and the people are defined as a 'united cultural movement' because they have one uniting factor, the survival of a SHTF situation, e.g. SitX.

Point 3.
Well thankfully everyone on this forum has agreed that prepping and survivalism does involve bushcraft and survival skills to some extent or another, so you don't need to preach to the converted. I'm not sure if pushing the fact that prepping is not a single skill set, is of much benefit to anyone on the forum.

Point 4. - Not mentioned, but one I'd like to bring up.
NR, you sometimes come out with complete gem's and really useful information, but this thread is clearly better defined by BM's wording. It's of no use to the forum...the same as every post in response (yes, I am actually wasting my time and I admit I am doing so haha).


Please check what defines the requirements for a culture. It's the people.
Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism - Thomas Jefferson
Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither - Benjamin Franklin
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9 April 2014, 11:10,
#6
RE: Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)
All opinions are valid and I accept them all at face value.

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9 April 2014, 11:25,
#7
RE: Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)
Has someone hacked NR's account?

I think maybe NR has started smoking weed and is very chilled out. Very odd. I think I preferred the grump old NR that hated me back. It's weird hating someone that's being amicable. But not too weird so that I'll stop wanting to push him into a swimming pool, or something like that haha.
Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism - Thomas Jefferson
Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither - Benjamin Franklin
Reply
9 April 2014, 11:31,
#8
RE: Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)
Study this guy for the answer "Niccolò Machiavelli" I'm always willing to learn no methods.

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9 April 2014, 11:37,
#9
RE: Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)
(9 April 2014, 11:31)NorthernRaider Wrote: Study this guy for the answer "Niccolò Machiavelli" I'm always willing to learn no methods.

Already have. The Prince was one of the first books my father used to read to me as a child.
Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism - Thomas Jefferson
Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither - Benjamin Franklin
Reply
10 April 2014, 10:58,
#10
RE: Defining prepping and survivalism (an attempt anyway)
"The Prince" as one of my History tutors called it "A manual for despots" the essence of which is "if you can't be respected or loved, it is better to be feared".
Regarding the debate above, defining Prepping and Survivalism is a subjective position, being dependent on how you personally see and understand it, it is different things to different people. The subject is not set in stone, and we all take our own paths through it.
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