"Preppers" they call them and it was a term used until recently a bit derogatory.
People who have been preparing for any kind of natural or human disaster for a long time, that is, now that disaster came and found us, jumped out as the "guru" of survival!
Today they talk in newspapers and magazines, from "Independent" to "Time", about what to put in our house, about the best ways of survival and such useful things and now everyone is stretching their ears.
The preppers know you see what essentials to fill their shelves with, they know how to make drinking water and they have already done their bidding for those occasions when contact with the outside world will not be possible.
And these circumstances are here, not perhaps in the absolute way they envisioned it, very close, however, to what they had in mind and worked feverishly all these years.
We have come across the term from individuals or even entire communities preparing their home or shelter for Revelation. Where "Revelation" everyone puts what they want, from biblical disasters to untold natural tragedies. Or the tragic human intervention.
Over time, we learned that the term differs from other types of disaster preparedness and response. But all of them have to do with providing basic human needs, such as air, water, food, shelter and good health, in times of disaster.
The survivalist, say, is the one who will leave civilization for the sake of nature. With a bag in his back he will take refuge in the forest and will try to survive with what Mother Nature has given him. He will set up his shelter near drinking water and spend the Day of Judgment hunting, fishing and collecting plants.
The homesteader, on the other hand, is more organized. He has made it refuge often of nuclear standard, on his own plot, also ensuring the longevity of his survival. In addition to stored food, it has a garden, a coop, a stable, a water purification system, etc., so that it is fully autonomous and self-sufficient.
The prepper is moving somewhere in the middle. He has turned his house into a shelter and will base his survival on food and water he has stocked. He is not self-sufficient, he is just well prepared for the future…
Prepping is more of a philosophy, a process, than a situation. After all, when you are preparing for something nightmarish, any knowledge or contribution is welcome.
This can include virtually anything from survival and skill development to simple stock placement. Or also ammunition. It all starts with this "and if?".
If evil finally happens, which could be a fire that excludes the city or the collapse of the global financial system itself, why find it unprepared? So instead of waiting in an endless queue for an antiseptic, he already has the antiseptic in his closet.
The right prepper lives constantly in such a possibility of disaster. He is learning how to produce his own food, he has already stored pasta and canned food for the emergency, while he also attends special seminars for all kinds of things. From alternative therapies to self-defense.
You will hear them say that they do not take the issue of survival lightly, nor do they trust the state and welfare structures. They take an active role and personal responsibility for themselves and their families.
The prepping had already taken on the dimensions of a social movement before the outbreak of coronavirus and justify the effort and expense of his followers. The philosophy they embrace? Save your clothes to have the halves!
In fact, they consider it perfectly reasonable and just as justified to prepare for a possible catastrophe. From a hurricane that will sweep everything to a 11/XNUMX terrorist attack. Or the very end of humanity.
The movement flourished during the 1990s in the United States, where we also find its most massive resonance. Although it does not end there, as Europe and Asia now play equally strong. Today it even has a great social stratification, attracting people from every income class.
Even more interesting are the prepping networks, as they cover a very wide range of what we would call survival. What τρόφιμα and in what portions do you store, how do you grow basic goods in your garden, how do you hunt and fish, how do you protect yourself from attack, etc.
Add here books, seminars, special shops and shows and you have the full extent of a movement that feels it lives under the state of a permanent threat.
The prepping is not general and vague, but practical and very specific. And his advice has a positive sign. What is included;
Clean water, first of all, which is also the most valuable commodity. The prepper stores sufficient amounts of bottled water. The even more serious one, however, has its own well.
The prepper loads the shelves with cans and pasta. But the right prepper cultivates his own food. Of course, everyone knows or needs to learn how to treat basic ailments with herbs, hunt prey, set traps and orient themselves with a compass and map.
Any contact with a basic knowledge of survival is not just welcome, it is imperative. As is the case with plastering masks, blankets, flashlights, batteries and the like.
Going deeper into the movement, one will even find practices of the exchange economy. Where self-sufficiency is the big issue, commodity exchanges take precedence. And gold of course, which will retain its value even after disaster.
In fact, if you are preparing for the final collapse of the system, then you have to go to the marrow. Have a detailed plan ready for the first moves and definitely a secluded farmhouse for you and your family to survive.
They always talk about material survival and the game has rules here. Escape to isolation is not always easy, so you must be ready to protect your own and your life. By the power of weapons.
You will hear some hardline preppers say they have had stuffed food for 40 and 50 years. Or others to confess that they have thousands in their drawers bullets. Still others raise freshwater fish in their pools and learn things about rebuilding civilization, such as bonding, knitting, etc.
When things get even more extreme, there you will find information on how to do armed patrols in your life. Hordes of impoverished "unprepared" will arrive at some point wanting to break your bunker. Here we are talking about a real delusion, reminiscent of rhetoric of a paramilitary sect.
You will now hear them talk about the "three B's", "bullets, beans, band-aids" (balls, beans, bandages), and how to use everything. Here, however, we have reached the extreme limits of the movement.
The fact is that the meteorite that collides with the Earth or the huge volcanic eruption have not happened yet, but a pandemic of epic standards has occurred.
And preppers, which once resonated in paranoid conspiracy theories, are now more relevant than ever. On their sites you will now see "simple" people, who just want to learn alternative ways to prevent Covid-19.
Prepping has become a phenomenon, as long as the pandemic refuses to at least subside. It is no longer a matter of the few idiots living in the Oregon forests, but of citizens who want to create a culture of survival.
After all, having basic goods at home today so that you do not have to go out every three or so seems more logical than ever…