The National Geographic reality show, Doomsday Preppers, has sparked a lively controversy, with some touting “preppers” as gun-slinging lunatics spreading contempt for mankind. Is this show unveiling a dark, troubled community of extremists? Or is this outcry simply the result of good storytelling?
It’s no secret the network’s aim is to shock viewers. If these preppers were allowed to come across as balanced, sensible individuals…. well, where’s the show in that? No doubt wardrobe, set design, and creative editing play a major part in turning what I suspect are harmless hobbyists into paranoid freaks for a captive audience to mock and ridicule. How much of the extreme and sometimes absurd behavior can be attributed to the hyperbolic lens of the television camera, I can’t say. I don’t doubt there are people who take prepping too far, but for the most part, I think what we have in Doomsday Preppers is an entertaining television show, not a fair representation of the so-called “prepper” community.
Even if the controversy is unfounded, it brings to light a valid question, at what point does preparedness cross over into paranoia? It’s a fine line, a grey line. Who can say how many cans of beans, jugs of water, weapons or Band-Aids constitute a healthy, reasonable supply? Surely, in a crisis, having too much is a far better problem than having too little. The line, then, must be drawn based on individual circumstances and comfort level. Preparedness is empowering. Paranoia is debilitating. Maybe it’s not so grey after all.
The way I see it, the “doomsday” these people are supposed to be preparing for has no finite description and no pre-planned itinerary. It could be any one of a million possibilities and I’m not about to presume the foresight necessary to make adequate physical preparation for even one such event. But behind the reality tv, is reality. Natural disasters, political tension, and loss of employment are all very real threats that a person would be wise to plan for. Having medical provisions, food storage and a generous supply of water stocked away for such a time is not paranoia, it’s preparedness. Like a life insurance policy, you hope the time will never come to use it, but you put it in place anyway because in real life bad things happen. The good news is, with the availability of survival kits, bottled water, and long term food storage lasting as long as 25 years, it’s easy to be prepared without making yourself crazy. Prepping can be an every six months chore like washing the exterior windows, it doesn’t have to be an isolating lifestyle.
So watch Doomsday Preppers for its entertainment value and maybe to pick up a few ideas to implement in your own emergency preparedness plan (scaled down to real life proportions, of course), and when drawing your personal paranoid/prepared line, make sure to place it well before preparing for the end of life as we know it destroys your ability to appreciate life as we know it.
I think the above description of preppers is a moderate, deliberate, well-thought-out narrative of who preppers really are. We are people who are willing to take the initiative to plan ahead for our own survival. This makes us good neighbors because the family who has planned ahead to take care of themselves are not as likely to be a drain on their fellowmen as people who have not plan. Keep prepping!
Very well said! This article hits the nail on the head. I look at it this way, we prep but not to the “extreme”. I think being able to sustain, off grid, with first aid, food, water, some electricity and armament is sensible. Ask the man standing on top of his flooded house in Louisiana if he was “prepared” for the levy’s breaking? Ask those trapped in high-rises if they were “prepared” for the rolling blackouts of electricity. Ask those trapped inside during blizzard storms and not able to get out for days if they were “prepared”. We are entering the highest year of solar activity. NASA has already stated that we could be hit with a solar flare that could knock out our entire electrical grid in one shot. This can happen at any time (not just during solar maximum). Also, the threat of rogue small rocks which could level a city could hit us tomorrow, the political climates around the world with loose nukes and germ warfare could take out large pieces of population and government. It is just a “better safe than sorry” situation. IF something does happen, like with global warming, then I would rather “have” than “have not”. If nothing happens…well I will eat 25 year old food
I like the program, I understand the producers are trying to make them seem flipped out for the sake of a good show. But I have learned a few things I didn’t know. The financial atmosphere is what worries me. With over 50% of our population on the take from the govt ( some jobs, many programs for the elderly and the lazy) Don’t yell at me about the lazy part, we all know many who collect instead of work. Workers can’t pay enough taxes in to support this percentage for long. We are only about a year behind Greece, and our president has slid us so very deep in debt in order to artificially prop up our economy so he can win the next election, (God forbid). Anyway by preparing what little my budget allows, makes me feel more in control. Like Jason said if nothing happens I will have a good pantry, if it does happen, I will keep my family from starving for at least a while. I don’t see how it could be wrong. We had an ice storm for 4-5 days, NO electricity. Which meant no groceries, registers won’t work, no cash, atm’s won’t work, no gas, stations don’t work. My pantry kept us fed. Even if these places work, we couldn’t have gotten there. The government is now supporting a couple of weeks of supplies in the event of an emergency. Some churches have supported a year’s worth of supplies for years now. What do they know that I don’t?? My Grandmother use to say charity begins at home, so we will try to take care of our home/family, everyone else needs to do what they can too. Beans are cheap and filling, stay away from rice…empty calories.
Very well rounded article. Prepping for huge disasters is fine but it comes in handy for the little things too. With a jobloss or sickness its comforting to know you have a year or so of food in the house… one less thing to worry about. If your car breaks down you can skip grocery shopping for a week or two and get it fixed. Its not about being afraid its about making life easier by being prepared for any mini crises or huge disasters that come our way.
Get a grip on who some of these people really are. Setting up elaborate booby traps, firing guns and arrows at pumpkins and pig heads, all the while living out their Walter Mitty fantasies. Now they grasp onto to that term “power grid”, like “ooh, a solar flare can destroy our power grid”. They couldn’t even explain what a power grid really is, much less a solar flare.