“Is the SHTF already here?” is a thought that has been in my mind for a while. Traditionally, preppers became sort of mainstream in the Cold War, according to some researchers. For those growing up back then, their particular immediate threat was a thermonuclear war. With the Cuban Missile crisis back then, I can understand precisely this mind setup, no doubt about that. Growing up under that threat is no easy task. But I believe that the SHTF is already here and it’s nothing like anyone expected.
However, after the spectacular attacks of 9/11, we have seen that the real threats have been insidious, sneaky, and underground. The overnight Hollywood-style zombie apocalypse, although not impossible, is unlikely. Please allow me to define what the SHTF meant for me, for those new readers.
My SHTF experience
My former job was one that most Venezuelans coveted. Good salary (back then), full-coverage medical insurance for my immediate family and parents, myself included, and 34 days of vacations per year. With the relatively high stability of our jobs, we could walk into any shop in town and get enough credit to buy new furniture and appliances for the entire house every year. However, I preferred to invest in land, good vehicles, and gear for my home-based business (the CNC machining stuff and crops from my mountain cabin patch). (For more information about building a 3-layer prepper food supply, sign up to get our free book right here.)
After the hyperinflation, this job became, well, not worthy and I was forced to face prolonged hyperinflation. Along with losing my job, several other circumstances forced me to flee away. This was not one of my more brilliant moves, but sadly, those choices did not exactly depend on my criteria. After that, I went through my worst financial period in decades while the pandemic left its ugly mark on the world economy. My very own personal SHTF has lasted almost four years now. And here I am, much wiser. Maybe penniless as ever in my life, but much wiser nonetheless, and with the sense of adventure slowly returning. Perhaps that is what keeps me young.
Society has already taken a knee
There is something I do dare to say, clear and loud. A worldwide collapse is not necessarily a sudden, lightning-like change of scenarios. As Fabian and Selco have both written about, a slow-burning SHTF is more like it. (Unless it’s an act of God, like an extinction-level meteor, or a Carrington event that kicks us back to the 1800s, or a steampunk world). I have seen things going slowly downhill for a year and a half. Globalists push new “threats” that were never in the mainstream media for much too long to capitalize on fear.
My point is, the S has already H the F. Society has taken a knee. Worldwide, people get in line for the you-know-what. No matter if they die randomly in the aftermath. Don’t get me wrong, if you had it, good, and if you don’t want it, good. “My body, my choice, fellows.” I had the bug three times already, and here I am.
For many of us, things have already changed drastically, financial-wise. We have reshaped and reconstructed our income sources the best way we can. What once seemed feasible, like going to another country or region, is now a jump in the dark. With potentially harmful consequences, of course. What worries me most is the inability to go somewhere else, should we decide to leave again based on the inevitable necessity. Canada is asking for medical “assurances” that I’m unwilling to take because of my medical records and family illnesses, just like many other countries that once were on my list.
Maybe we are looking at the wrong “threat”
After 2020, I believe we can agree on this: anything can happen.
For example, the WHO reports new illnesses that are supposedly spreading. According to the WHO, treatment for these new “threats” includes blood transfusions and hydration by intravenous injection. (These “reports” have me thinking maybe it’s a good idea to preserve some blood units for all of us in the family and stash it at the mountain cabin. There is fair weather there, much cooler and without the 10°C or more variations in temperature down here in town. I can’t cross the country with these materials from the other house, too much risk of being seized on a roadblock.)
We hear about the ongoing climate change “issues” and some other mainstream media narratives daily. I find any information in the mainstream media, even if it comes from “official” sources, hard to swallow. Bits of truth, sweetened with rhetoric and ambiguity: that is what I sense in all this.
However, that does not mean there is no threat
It’s like fog. Maybe you can see 10 meters away, and you can make your way and arrive safely. However, you won’t see the looming threats. Nor will you know what can be happening in the neighboring houses. Therefore, constant research and good criteria are needed.
I hope this ends soon. The last thing I want is my kid growing up in this mockup of a country, a torn Republic unable to walk by itself. I firmly believe that conflict surrounds us. We just haven’t been high enough above the fog to see it.
Do you see an end to all this? Any comments? Let us know.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned, Jose
About Jose
Jose is an upper-middle-class professional. He is a former worker of the oil state company with a Bachelor’s degree from one of the best national Universities. He has an old but in good shape SUV, a good 150 square meters house in a nice neighborhood, in a small but (formerly) prosperous city with two middle size malls. Jose is a prepper and shares his eyewitness accounts and survival stories from the collapse of his beloved Venezuela. Jose and his younger kid are currently back in Venezuela, after the intention of setting up a new life in another country didn’t go well. The SARSCOV2 re-shaped the labor market and South American economy so he decided to give it a try to homestead in the mountains, and make a living as best as possible. But this time in his own land, and surrounded by family, friends and acquaintances, with all the gear and equipment collected, as the initial plan was.
Follow Jose on YouTube and gain access to his exclusive content on Patreon. Donations: paypal.me/JoseM151 or the BTC address 3QQcFfK9GvZNEmALuVV8D6AUttChTdtReE
As the Venezuelan Catholic mystic stated, “It starts here(Venezuela).”
I got the same feeling of Doom under 0Bama, who I believe is the puppet master behind feckless FJB. You just get the sense these guys are TRYING to cause chaos and ruin. We somehow survived 8 years of his majesty but we didnt have Covid and inflation like we do now and after the Afghanistan disaster and the purge taking place in the police and military, it seems SHTF is closer than ever. I think the Patriots are starting to wake up, but the corruption is everywhere, I fear we may be too late.
WOW: Maybe we are looking at the wrong “threat” What a strange (out of the ordinary) article you wrote. Just yesterday, I assembled a picture, a scenario, just as you write here, with the same conclusion, but a firmed up, one.
Keeping as a compass point, a north star”,the big agenda, the big picture, assemble the pieces. Global pandemicS- continual reports of bio problemS and vaxx things popping up- suggests bio-attacks are in the works and on the way more and varied along with their SOLUTIONS; Money RESET, currency to zero, global universal default and “reset” to a new “money” system. WAR (the people threatened by their own govt and foreign govts, (in usa case, our govt is provoking others to destroy us- the people arent doing that) Destruction of some nations with reformation of new ones [control (govt(s))]
Im 65, have never seen/heard of so many volcanoes and earthquakes- “oh, we just didnt know about them”??? c’mon.. that’s BS…
Global transformation of societies, Global reduction of people numbers, Global reformation of governments of certain countries to line them up under control, The successful demoralization of societies/whole peoples, to destroy their cohesive ability AND desire to resist. Shortage and lack of goods, and starvation FAMINE being engineered. GeoEngineering? …ALL ON A SCALE that shadows us so we cant even see it. Georgia guidestone stuff, One world new order, under ? machinations……… IF YOU SIMPLY FOCUS ON THE NEWS OF EACH DAY, you are watching a shell and pea game. Its not about the miniscule points of each day- its the synergy of the sum of the bazzillion parts- ok, some of them large. ORCHESTRATED. None of it unrelated. Look up. Work at developing the 50k foot view. And as tiny individuals, we are locked into our personal drama and fabric of our personal day. You asked.
Check out the Grand Solar Minimum, the weakening magnetosphere, geomagnetic excursion and the shifting magnetic north. These things can decimate agriculture by creating erratic weather, more hot/cold extremes, more erratic late/early frosts, more flooding, more droughts, more earthquakes, and more volcanic activity. Normal cycles. Not man induced. Not carbon related. TPTB obviously are not discussing this because they want us to look left into warming and locking us down, charging us for carbon, etc, instead of letting us know that we are in the middle of natural occurring cycles which will make things get really bumpy for a while, which is on the right by the way, they always distract and lead us into looking the wrong way. So we cannot properly prepare for what is happening if we don’t know. There are some speculating that because of these natural cycles, that they won’t admit what is really going on, they are 1) depopulating the earth to minimize chaos and competition for resources, and 2) lock down the resources which they can control and divvy out as they see fit. Famine will come just due to the hits that agriculture will continue to face, but the man-made fumbling of this entire thing will only exacerbate it. Prepare the best that you can, buy seeds, know how to use them, have a greenhouse, whatever you need, do it.
Dear Vita,
I see all the time new diseases that people didn’t even knew they existed because there was no a single mean to detect it. It’s the same with the weather patterns, whatever they say the reason for these changes are, I would dare to say. in my family the historic memory reaches over 100 years back, and they mention incredibly severe droughts and days of non stop rain. Mind you, news are controlled regarding certain topics. I do believe they’re trying to depopulate, indeed.
I think the near term 50K foot view is that our VP Kamala is on her way out…the bad news is she will probably be replaced by Big Mike in order to have a viable candidate to run against any Republican in 2024; if we even have an election. Dystopia will follow…
Actually, the rumor is Michelle Obama for VP so when the Sock Puppet “Gracefully Steps aside” she can select HER own VP. That way a Woman of “Color” replaces the Woman of Color.
Wanna bet it’s Obama himself? The Kingmaker ascends the throne again?
Soon we will call TODAY for all the Christmas Parade Terrorism and Mob Lootings the “Good Old Days”.
Dear Candace, great to know we share that vision.
Be safe!
What once seemed feasible, like going to another country or region, is now a jump in the dark. With potentially harmful consequences, of course. “the inability to go somewhere else, should we decide to leave again” Country XYZ is asking for medical “assurances” that I’m unwilling to take, just like many other countries that once were on my list. YOU SAID IT, MON! “just go here, just go there… live well as an expat… are you kidding? you think you wont be pointed out by the locals at the first sign of trouble? That your money will be any good in a foreign environment? Like bugging out- you will meet and pass people coming from where you think or hope you are going, to get to where you came from. That’s ridiculous. Read Selco, i mean READ it, take it in, GET IT. This aint the beginnings of a funnsy survival weekend. Have food for a year? what, and then what is going to improve after a year of global SHTF decline of all structure and institution and supply chain and food production, that went bad in the first place. It’s going to get better like when the sun “just comes out” after a storm??? for you and me personally, its going to be one long trek, day after day, with no books to read telling you how it all worked out. Its nice to read selco and know he made it. As and when all these things continue and ramp up and shtf we will have no assurances and you are on your own.
I agree with you. I have Selco’s book, need to finish reading it.
Jose, you can always come to Amerika. Just walk right across what once was our southern border with Mexico. You’ll be welcomed with open arms by the current administration, receive free everything, and not even any health concerns. They will fly you anywhere in the country you would like, (also for free), give you a place to live, (free, free, free), put money in your pocket, and even help find you a job that was once filled by an American. Just don’t wait too long. The government has already spent all of everyone else’s money and now have to print their own right out of thin air. May not be of any value much longer. Americans are too busy dividing themselves into tribes and fighting among themselves to even notice you’re here. Safe travels.
I’m in Central Texas and people have no idea the ramifications of our open border. Worse than you can imagine.
Great commentary, Whydah. The border issues & government spending are totally insane.
Thanks! That sounds too good to be true, but I should give it a second thought. I would have to get in shape first, and I have been told that Venez in Mexico are not welcome. But it is very likely that at the end of the day it will be a valid option.
Do you see an end to all this? Any comments? Let us know. ARE YOU KIDDING? It’s only just begun!
Dear Moose,
You are right. It is just beginning. The best we could do is find a place to settle down before it gets worst.
“Bits of truth, sweetened with rhetoric and ambiguity”
This is exactly right! Great article!
Thanks!
It was written heart-on-hand, so to speak.
Glad to know you liked it.
Be safe. ????
I think it is here already too… the frogs in the pot analogy. If something was to hit us suddenly, we’d be up in arms and ready to crush the threat, but this operation was designed this way on purpose, and yes, I was intentional with the words “operation” and “designed” and “on purpose” too. The quiet little lull before the storm, the tiptoeing way they are taking away freedoms “for your own good,” oops’ing as necessities are becoming more unaffordable or missing altogether, always shifting the blame or responsibility, will continue to build until it explodes into chaos. Controlled demolition right before our very eyes. We are in the middle of it hitting the fan. And I will have to quote you, “Society has already taken a knee.” So much truth in that. Wish it wasn’t so but look around you, you see it daily. No backbone, no will to survive.
Although the Author may be experiencing a SHTF in his mind, it is not the true SHTF experience.
Here in lies the problem, if we allow ourselves to believe something is a SHTF scenario (and it is not) then we will leave ourselves totally unprepared for the real thing when it does arrive. Just because your world (by your standards) is turned upside down, it is not SHTF.
Is a Job loss now, SHTF? Is a Divorce? Is failing to get that shiny new car, the new SHTF scenario?
Is every Natural Disaster an SHTF scenario? No they are not.
But I hope you see the problem here. As we water down the meaning of SHTF, it looses it relevance, it loses its most ugly meaning.
It is supposed to be on a par with TEOTWAWKI.
True SHTF, will never come in unnoticed. It will entail the loss of the ROL, Governments, Civilized Society, Electricity and Technology, etc. without an expectation that they will never return or not for a long, long time at least.
Now it seems as every minor inconvenience or unusual turn of events, is being called SHTF.
Why does this matter? Because of your mental state and your ability to deal with hard times.
If everything is SHTF (indicating that you are having trouble dealing with it), then where will you be at mentally, when something 10,000 times worse comes along?
Will you collapse into depression? Will you just ” Give up”?
How will you persevere and work through a real SHTF event, if you can’t deal with these other minor events?
Trust me, just such an event is coming and fairly soon. We are just seeing the events leading up to the Big event. So it you can’t handle these events, you will have trouble with the Big One that is coming up.
So now is the time to get mentally tuff, get your life in order and “buckle up”.
Throughout History lots of people endured a lot of hard times. A lot harder than the worst that most of us have had it today. Life is always hard and unpredictable.
To many people are acting like we are in a Fairy tale world. That world would be nice, but it is not reality. There is no Utopia.
It is time to start seeing the world as it really is: a hard unforgiving place. Now SHTF is a lot harder and a lot more unforgiving, than our reality today.
It is time to wake up and smell the Manure, that is reality.
It is just starting to pile up and is nowhere near the level of hitting the fan, at least not yet
Mic please do yourself a favor and read the article again. And once more. Then go back and re-read what you posted.
Evidently you fail to see the true meaning of what Jose just wrote about. Or, you´re just being really insensitive. I feel bad to to even bring this up, but how the thousands who died, got imprisioned, lost everything, and the millions who had to bug out and migrate since this crisis in Venezuela started more than two decades ago didn´t have it “10.000 times worse”?
Worse than what? A meteor? A nuke? Worse than 99% of first-world people with first-world issues and first-world prepping and survival fantasies? Who think they own copyright on SHTF and its meaning? Come on. If someone has legitimacy to call a SHTF, at least in my book, it´s Jose.
Trust you? Who are you, Kyle Reese? I know knothing about you but please, I´m all ears: tell me the not-so-much-SHTF stories of you leaving evertyhing behind – your home, relatives, a job you liked and made your living. Tell me how you handled such a huge drop in standard of living and facing an uncertain future like it´s a walk in the park.
“Life´s hard” – that´s true but a platitude, especially coming from someone who puts semantics and jargon above real life issues. Maybe you´d like to spend time in some real sh*thole lecturing trafficked women and enslaved workers (and their evil bosses) about your views on TEOTWAWKI and see how it flyes. “Wake up Haitians and Venezuelans, you´ll experience real SHTF soon”. Man this crap has zero net effect in real life and for real people with real issues, wake up.
But whatever, the kind of SHTF you describe has never happened, or else humankind would be extinct. Jose is precisely poring over the differences between real life SHTF (happens all the time, not yet in first world but maybe soon?) and this apocalypse fantasy you talk about. You´d do good to yourself to open your mind and listen. Perhaps ask some questions.
Fabian,
First, well said.
Second, it is a common failure of some to only see things “their” way. It is only this, if this happens. That kind of myopic thinking is what gets many into trouble and even worse. They are too locked into one way of thinking.
I tend to look to those who have, “been there, done that, bought the tee-shirt, worn and faded,” than those who never have.
Only those who have been through SHTF are ones who can speak to any degree of expertise or authority.
For everyone else, it will be OJT.
Thanks 1StMarine and Jim.
Just to clarify, I don’t mean to sound like I’m an authority on SHTF. I honestly, sincerely don’t think I am.
Sure, if I didn’t believe I have something important and relevant to share, I wouldn’t waste time writing about it, much less other people’s time reading what I write.
But that’s what I do, to the best of my ability and from the heart, to help others become aware about a different reality, and maybe grow more prepared for what can happen.
But – and this may not be important to others but it is to me – only because it has happened, and is happening. I don’t know where it will lead or end, but I know how it unfolds. I’ve been through it, and still do in many ways.
Can’t speak for others but from my experience and from what I can tell, I believe most other real-life survivors think like that too, and also share from the heart.
Whatever the case, though, I can assure: there’s no pride, no joy and no gain in living on crapland or having been through SHTF.
It may be fashionable today, with all that’s going on. Fine: I see as a good thing people waking up to reality and becoming interested and also invested in becoming more aware, more self-reliant, more prepared.
But there’s no glamour. SHTF is sad and we should do everything in our power to make the world a better place as possible, for as many as possible.
I know: life’s hard for people living anywhere, even in US or CA or peaceful Switzerland. I don’t assume differently or patronize anyone.
Basically, if it’s bad in Africa or there’s genocide going on in Yemen, famine in NK or tyranny in Australia, no other place can be really paradise. Because “What’s bad for the hive is bad for the bee”.
Finally, it’s not about mine or someone else’s “kind of SHTF”. That’s total BS and absolutely immaterial in the face of reality and history.
FACT: The world has seen zero meteors, zero zombie apocalypses, zero nuclear exchanges in the last 5.000 years. But thousands of plagues, economic collapses, big resets, and all kinds of wars in the same period. Make your bets.
The value of what Jose brings up in this article resides precisely on that. But as the world descends into madness (it’s one of those cycles), here we are discussing semantics (lol).
Sorry for the long rant and stay well everyone.
“But as the world descends into madness (it’s one of those cycles), here we are discussing semantics (lol).“
Laser-like accuracy there. ????????
~Jim,
Yeah, that right there!
Fabian,
You, and I, and Daisy, and Selco, and Jose and all the others, we know more than some, less than others.
Our various experiences, how we handled them, lessons learned, our mental attitude, and more is what is important.
Most so then, “. . . discussing semantics.” (thumbs up)
Absolutely, 1StMarine. Well said, that´s exactly the spirit.
Thanks Fabian, I had something typed out a few hours ago and had to leave it on desktop. If I’d posted it I’d be letting go of a whole lot more personal information than I’d like. So I instead went outside in the cold and snow and worked the flock and swore at my beautiful stupid sheep instead.
Your writing and Jose and selco are so generous with your time and words and I am great-full.
Thanks for speaking up.
Dear Fabian,
You seem to have understood with an incredible accuracy my vision.
Be safe amigo!
Sometimes the acronyms of the prepper community could stand to be a little more precise. I think what you are thinking about is more of a TEOTWAWKI(the end of the world as we know it) event. The author is correct in his use of SHTF.
A TEOTWAWKI is where everything for pretty much everyone in turned upside down. Whether via the infamous EMP or global “big one”. It effects how everyone lives. A SHTF can be personal, regional, national, short term or long. It is a much looser definition and not quite as extreme event.
Dear Colleen,
Glad to see my thoughts crossed the linguistic barriers and the message was clearly understood.
Be safe!????
If you have just lost your means of earning a living because you declined to submit to an experimental gene therapy, all your meager savings are gone and you can’t make the mortgage or car payment this month, one of your children is in dire need of an expensive medical procedure, your wife is pregnant and not working, either, then you, Sir, are experiencing a true SHTF scenario. A SHTF event doesn’t have to be defined by size, just impact… on you.
Dear Mic, I see you have your reasons to say everything you said. Mind you, every major crisis in the last…1000 years maybe? has been induced. Including the French Revolution. Stulin knows better. Maybe I should have mentioned the role of the Fabianist Socialism. Slow changes that will go unnoticed. I prepared for social turmoil and a general collapse, locally speaking. What happened was NOT sudden, and it was equally devastating. The former structures are no longer there, meaning something sinister is in place and a dark schedule is coming along, despite the general climate of “stable condition” I can sense it much better now I’m back at home. However different scenarios will evolve to different crisis. I really hope no one has to hunker down in a bunker in the near future. My intention never was to take any seriousness to the concept, but on the contrary. Those elites inducing the crisis know that sudden changes will stirr the pot and could expose them. Remember Epstein and the island? My take is, the sarscov2 situation was just another step. And I personally consider that the S , maybe hasn’t hit the fan yet, but the bucket is ready. And it’s a very big one…
Be safe mate!
AMERICA is a nation of government BUTT lickers,they believe anything their told ,BY THE GOVERNMENT,SCHOOLS,MILITARY,POLICE GANGS,CHURCHES,TEL-LIE-VISION,NEWS MEDIA,and the list is longer then your arm..LIKE PUTIN SAID..THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DO NOT REALIZE THEIR ABOUT TO DIE IN A THERMONUCLEAR WAR,they believe all the trash their told..AND that everything will be OK,The Russians are here,the Chinese are here,and 9 other nations,READY FOR THE WORD “GO”then they’ll loot and rape and murder till they’ve taken everything the dumbest nation in history has,including the women and children into slavery..AMERICA CAN NOT BE SAVED.THERE ARE NO MEN TO STAND UP..THE ENTIRE US MILITARY are in bed with the enemy..
The Russians are here,the Chinese are here,and 9 other nations,READY FOR THE WORD “GO” I forgot to mention the above!
Imagine a long flight of stairs with platforms in various places. Sometimes the steps down are small, and easy. Other times they are deep and sharp. Then there are platforms where everything is a long steady walk to the next set of steps. Sometimes the steps go up.
The steps represents America. It has a beginning and an end. The steps down are social/cultural/economic steps downward. The platforms are stability for that particular given time. Steps up are improvements upward.
Historically, The Great Depression was a big step down for most (but not all) Americans. Peal Harbor, Vietnam, the assassination of JFK, the 1970s oil embargo, 9/11, the Great Recession of 08-09’(some say is still going on), COVID, are just a few examples of steps down.
VE Day, desegregation from the Civil Rights movement, the space program, various upswings in the stock markets, technological advances, steps up.
There are various platforms of stability till the next step up or down.
Some declare the 2016 election of Trump was a step down. Others say that was just a symptom of a much larger malaise in American society be it racism, economic inequality, or the many social justice issues and America was in big, deep, mid-step down when the election took place.
The division in America was already there long before Trump.
And it continues today.
Just read any MSM news site.
The politicization of COVID.
Wokeness.
Since COVID, America has taken many steps down in many ways on the macro-SHTF, and for some, on the micro-SHTF. Contrary to what some may think, job loss, divorce, serious health issue etc. is a personal SHTF for some. Ever go to bed hungry or cold? Then you know what I am talking about.
Some will say this is not a SHTF event. As if there will be an announcement on the news that at 4:36pm ET, The S did in fact HTF. Or a White House press conference. A text message from (insert name of country here) launching a EMP attack. Or a email from a rouge organization who is about to hack the grid.
Look at Jose or Selco’s experiences. Many things leading downward till one day there is no food in the stores, or bullets are flying.
In some cases we are seeing empty shelves, now.
In some cases we are seeing bullets flying.
Will there be one step down that sends us falling down the staircase?
Or a series of differing steps downwards momentum that causes us to fall?
Everything will be going along fine, until it is not.
When the covid scare started, I saw it as a dress rehearsal by the Globalists for what they had ultimately planned.
After a few months I saw I was wrong. This was the real deal. I think it is a slow motion coup, a Globalist takeover of the world. Slowly at first, then all at once.
But the Bible says, once you see these things, look up, lift your head, for your Redemption draweth nigh. That is what gives me hope, even as I busy myself preparing for the scary times we’re in.
When you’re in a bog, you don’t know where the bottom is. Unfortunately, this SHTF has the same qualities: it’s miserable, hard to get out of and you don’t know where the bottom is…or if there is a bottom. Most stories about the SHTF have a designated start, usually sudden, and an eventual ending to aid in the story line. This is real life, and a slow oozing downward over a couple of years as many people attempt to maintain the status quo is the most likely scene. The zombie apocalypse in the movies? They in reality, are the homeless, helpless, desperate people looking for anything to stay alive that are so evident in many places currently. Their numbers are growing. Covid and its brothers? Misdirection so we don’t pay enough attention to the hat trick being played out in plain sight…financial profligacy, irresponsible social policies aimed at power, all the while we are at a point where the next war will probably be caused by a shortage of potable water and food. Just my take on it, I hope I’m wrong.
When that knock on the door comes demanding your guns or your immediate vaccination…that is when SHTF starts for the majority of Americans who are peaceful by nature but value their independence and freedom…god and guns. FJB!
There is a problem today in thinking. that there are multiple types of things.
This is confused thinking. It is part of the program of Disinformation, Division and Confusion.
Like the “31 flavors” or more, of sexual gender identity. There are 2 genders, Male and Female.
This is also found in the “31 flavors” of Antifa. Some are Anarchists, some Communist, some Anarchist/Communist, Etc.
Politics are another area this is common in. It pervades all of society.
It brings Divisions, so is it not surprising that Government’s can’t get anything done.
Everything has become grey. There are no clear cut lines. no right, no wrong, only what you prefer to think or feel. A “make your own realty”, type of world.
SHTF will be a wakeup call for many people. There is only one Reality and it is Black and White.
There is only those who are Alive or those who are Dead. No grey area. No “mostly Dead” or “mostly Alive”, those are false distinctions.
This type of confusion has spread to what is called ” SHTF”, there are now “personal SHTF’, “small SHTF”, incremental “SHTF”, National “SHTF”, etc.
There is only One SHTF. Just as there is only one TEOTWAWKI.
Either it is, the one and only, or it is not.
(When it finally occurs there will be no doubts about it. A patient can be sick a long time, progressively get worse. even seem dead, but once they are really dead, past a certain point, there will be no doubts about it and no bringing them back.)
Something similar has occurred with “Prepping”. We have Urban Preppers, Rural Preppers, Survivalist Preppers, Etc. Either you are a Prepper or you are not.
You had better be, an “ALL around” Prepper. Just in case you have to flee to the Urban area or the Rural area or to the Wilds of a remote area and be a lone survivalist. SHTF will not excuse you, if you are Prepping for one environment and have to flee to another environment or some other scenario, crops up.
The mentality of the Sheep, thinking in shades of grey, is not one that we as Preppers, need to follow. It is unhealthy thinking and will lead to problems down the road. It only creates artificial divisions, unhealthy planning and poor prepping.
Part of being mentally prepared for SHTF, will require clear thinking. Old School, Black and White thinking, not the Shades of Grey thinking. The grey thinking is what the Elite are pushing upon the Sheep and Society. It will destroy us as a civilization, in the End.
I see a lot of us are infected with this kind of thinking, It is not your fault, because it is so common, so easy to sink into it. Many of you probably don’t even realize how much of a hold it has on you.
Which is exactly why you must fight against it.
It is part of what has brought the World to the place it is in, right now. It has created the reasons that many of us are Prepping for.
The only one who seems to be confused is you in believing you are an authority when it comes to SHTF and prepping.
I would rather have the Daisy, Jose, Selco, ClergyLady, InTheBooniesTX, Matt in OK, ~jim, RedBranch, Whyda of the world, whom have either had their own personal SHTF or witnessed it first hand. What we have gained in our personal experiences of SHTF?
Grit.
We have been to the bottom of the barrel, dumpster diving, going to bed cold and hungry, sleeping on the floor, deployed to a war zone, lost jobs, and we have clawed our way out of that barrel. As more and more steps downward in this slow moving SHTF, I can say most of us recognize this tune and know how to dance to it.
Better than someone waiting for their specific definition of what SHTF is, putting them behind the power curve all the more.
My wife is a native of San Cristobal and I have friends scattered THROUGHOUT Venezuela. Have lived as a retired-with-pension (jubilado con pension) ex-pat American evangelist in very free, close U.S. ally Chile since September of 2014….as I could foresee my country’s current fiasco and disaster even before the Jade Helm exercises took place. Regarding Venezuela….you forget to mention the HILLARY CLINTON SUFFOCATING PORT OF MARACAIBO IMPORT SANCTIONS, with round one happening in January of 2015 but truly gaining tractor right around May. It’s too convenient to “tickle” American ears loving to hear about EVIL Chavez and his heir Maduro. But their failure to sell Venezuelan sweet AND high-sulfur crude oil in stinking, imperialists’ petrodollars is the OTHER puzzle piece that rarely gets mentioned, unless the reporter’s name is Abby Martin or YouTube’s “Florida Maquis”.
Somethings going on. Waited four weeks for my order that never came from Amazon. Today I declare another shipment “lost”. Now I’m wondering about my order I placed yesterday. Will it come or get lost too?. That would make it 3 shipments I have NEVER received from Amazon.
NEVER happened before!
From what i see we r coming to the end… Of the beginning of the end. This is a plan that has been in the works for many generstions. The formation of the federal reserve was the first move in their end game. I believe this new world where we will own nothing and be happy… whether we like it or not will be too well ordered to be dystopian, just not for us. We will have a choice, we can live in a ” Brave New World” or we can refuse to take their ” blue pill” and live in our own personal “1984”. There will be an insurrection, Then the real “dystopian overlord” will step in. It may not hit the fan but those who are not” some place better” will be plunged head first into the septic tank, at least that is the theme of the science fiction novel i am writing.
Jose, I appreciate your perspective. Like some commentators on this thread, I value the insight of one who has done this and been there, and lived to tell the tale.
As I see things in the States right now, it’s a hall of mirrors obscured by a dense fog. Truth has almost become a matter of opinion at this point. There are shortages, inflation, and bullets flying. I wish us all buenas suerte! I think we are taking those steps down to the basement and things will be all right, until they’re not. We may not like what we see, once the fog clears.
Thanks for your comments. I have heard bullets flying down here too. Things once everyone gets into Xmas mood change incredibly in this country…just to come back in January to a harsh reality. Just keep going on and tie all the loose ends you can while you have money and time!
Mr. Martinez, FYI blood is very perishable. Whole blood breaks down when frozen and can be refrigerated for only 42 days. Better to know everyone’s blood types and do instant donations.
As far as the rest goes, you have been a refugee and lost practically everything, definitely SHTF. Good article!
We must as members of the human race reach critical insanity before any one of the laggards come home to critical thinking and common sense , And the dread of what is red pilled after realizing they indeed are “out to get us”. And as such there will be a lot of Cogent Dissonance via Embarrassments to overcome the hurdles of stepping over those 1 percent that actually have beaten down the 99 percent taken power by fraud and evil intent to simply cast them away . Just say no . Ignore them and they become irrelevant . If the seek to enforce push back and in all ways please, If you give them your guns and ammo you should make every shot count .
The idea of storing blood is not feasible. Shelf life of whole blood is 35 days. Fresh frozen plasma can be stored for one year. IV fluids are normally are stored for about one month or less. If you were really serious it would be possible to blood type the people in your group and plan to transfuse directly from one to another as needed especially if you had a universal doner (blood type O Rh negative).
I’m seeing some distinct historical parallels and am truly wondering why more people aren’t preparing for what is to come.
They say that those who don’t read history are condemned to repeat it, so maybe we need to teach more history to people.
As to the argument about varying shades of grey preppers, SHTF, etc. I’m going to chime in.
My one grandfather was in WW2 and saw action.
He demobilized from the European theater in 1947 and was part of the reconstruction phases.
Him and my grandmother were products of the Great Depression when it came to their thinking.
They had a full pantry, grew a garden, kept cash at home, had supplies in case the power went out, etc.
My other grandfather was blind.
Him and my grandmother ran a cafeteria and a canteen.
Also being products of the Depression they kept a full pantry, grew a garden, kept supplies on hand, kept cash at home, bought all their business items with cash.
He also caned chairs, wove baskets, made customized woven tea/breakfast trays to make extra cash.
None of these people were PREPPERS.
They were my GRANDPARENTS.
And why do I say this?
Because the damn word never existed when I was a kid.
You want “black and white thinking”, versus “grey thinking”?
Kick the word “prepper” out of your vocabulary.
A “BOL”, “EDC”, “123” , “ABC” (whatever other alphabet acronyms you want to use), “bug out this” and “bug in that” doesn’t mean a thing except for consumerism and key board warriors who tell people its “too late you’re doomed”
Being prepared is perception and mindset. It is not the word “prepper”.
Perception is a sum of experience, knowledge, and thoughts that you have created.
What I might think is a big deal, someone else may think isn’t.
Case in point — I had an inmate try to blow me up in a hospital very early on in my Corrections career. It was a big deal to me.
To a veteran who stormed the coast of Normandy at the age of 18 and then spent the next bunch of years freeing Europe I’m probably a “pansy” and should “man up” because the horrors they saw make my episode look like a cake walk.
It’s all perception and what we bring to the table.
As to mindset, it doesn’t matter when the “epiphany” happens and people go “wait a minute, how am I going to get through XYZ and protect my family”
My grandparents and parents didn’t instill “prepper mode” in me, but they sure gave me the ideas that having stuff put back in bad times makes things a lot simpler.
Do YOU.
Whatever level that is, whatever you feel is needed for preparations, whenever you have that “epiphany” do what you can with what you have.
While we have the luxury of sitting at our keyboards and hearing/learning other people’s experiences, learn to fit them in to YOUR perceptions, YOUR mindset, YOUR plans and planning.
Am I a “prepper ready for SHTF”? Nope
Do I strive everyday to learn more, produce more, and emulate my parents and grandparents. Well I try very hard to and some days I even succeed.
My “epiphany” was to chuck out the word “prepper” from my vocabulary and substitute “be your grandparents”.
How’s that for “black and white thinking”?
As to the question if the SHTF already — well MY perception is that we are definitely in for some very “interesting” changes throughout the world.
Using the “frog in the pot” story I think we are definitely in the pot, I think the temperature is definitely being turned up, and it’s time to jump out of the pot and tell the others that it’s a lot safer out of the pot than in it.
Will they listen?
Not sure on that, but if more people were like my grandparents they’d stand a better chance of getting through than if they just sit back sipping their lattes watching Netflix and discussing the next social media craze.
-JOE,
Great post.
Well said.
I should have started with an apology to the poor mods who had to read it first since it was a little longer than the usual posting people send.
@Joe, I’m with you on mindset. My grandparents were the same. Had gardens, a few fruit trees, and canned all the time. I just hope for what we’re doing, we’re honoring their memory.
Good read.
I’ve always expected it to be a catastrophic event of some kind, but as you say its happening slow.
It seems we are like the frog thats just sitting in the pot slowly boiling to death.