Someone Please Define What a Survivalist Is?

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I'm hearing different remarks about survivalists, as if it's a bad word or a bad person. Could you people please define what a survivalist is and why it is or is not a good thing to be?

-- Barb-Douglas (bardou@yahoo.com), July 08, 1998

Answers

Nature provided all creatures with the ability to survive. Sometimes the old, weak, and the young do not make it. A female bear will take on a male bear 2x her size to insure the survival of her cub.

2000 years ago 5 people with spears would take on a male bear for the meat to survive.

Everyone is a survivalist. Humans, of this time, just have an easier time of it. It is called luxury. Some or all of those luxuries may not function very well in the near future.

How will you survive if the food stores are all close and your power is out and your water will not magically come out of the tap.

Perhaps you should by some "survival gear". Hikers call it "backpacking gear". Hunters call it "hunting gear". The one thing about all this gear is it is designed to function in "uncivilized" areas. You know, no power, no heat, no running water. While you are at it, pick up some dry-goods(no refridgeration required).

If "survival" is bad, then it's time to nuke the planet because we all do it everyday, just to a different degree.

j

-- j (yada@yada.com), July 08, 1998.


Barb-Douglas,

I've written an essay on this, entitled "Y2K Survivalists, Safe Havens, and Bugging Out." You can find it at my web site at http://www.yourdon.com

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (yourdon@worldnet.att.net), July 08, 1998.


survive: verb, -vived,-viving. v.i. 1. to continue to live or exist. v.t. 2. to continue to live or exist after; outlived. 3. to live through ( adversity, misery, etc. )

My definition of a suvivalist.

survivalist: A person who actively prepares and trains for situations of an adversarial nature.

A survivalist just doesn't stock up on dehydrated food, MREs etc., they occasionlly eat these kinds of food to get used to them. A good food storage plan includes regular rotation of the food.

A survivalist not only has a bug out bag, but they go on "camping" trips to test out everything in their bug out bags.

Preparing for survival is an ongoing exercise. You have to find out what works and what doesn't work in your plans and equipment.

A survivalist stays informed of world events, politics, the weather, etc. Only with proper knowledge can one adequately prepare.

A survivalist is prepared for anything they can imagine. Whether it is the mundane like a flat tire, or a natural disaster, they will be prepared to the best of their ability. A survivlaist just doesn't prepare for one thing; ( like Y2k ) they are prepared for anything!

A survivalist is adaptable; if sometihing isn't working they way they planned they improvise. They try to expect the unexpected.

Well, I could go on, but this is enough. Remember, in preparing for whatever Y2k might bring, you also have to prepare for the possible lack of emrgency services like the fire department, EMS, police, etc. Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. aren't going to stop because of Y2k. If anything they will make things worse.

-- Frank Andrson, Jr. (Zanazaz@Earthlink.net), July 08, 1998.


Ed.......

Excellent essay. For those of you who haven't read Ed's essay, I suggest you read it! It's frustrating trying to tell other's, especially family, that things may get bad, and they think you've gone off the deep end! My sister works for an insurance company and she said that they have everything under control, that they are 100% compliant! I asked her if they are writing any insurance policies for companies that aren't Y2K compliant to protect them from law suits, etc......she didn't know what to say!

-- Barb-Douglas (bardou@yahoo.com), July 09, 1998.


Barb-Douglas, that's an excellent question, and the answers are thoughtful.

Ed, thanks for your insight.....and for this forum!

We compartmentalize. We play word picture games. A 'fundamentalist' becomes a bearded Ayotollah or a shouting preacher, not one who accepts the fundamental tenants of whatever doctrine we're talking about. We develop code words, and we talk in them, without addressing the issues behind them. It's easier to call someone a 'doomsayer' than it is to lay down a creditable case why you don't agree with them. So, rebuttal comes in the form of 'pollyanna' or 'denial-head.'

My opionion, and only my opinion, is that anyone who prepares for any potential disruption is a survivalist. I became a survivalist the day I bought my first auto insurance policy, if not before. So, with regard to Y2K, anyone who does any more than read about it is a survivalist.

We all have different views on how bad it will be, and most of us will prepare according to that view. Those who honestly believes y2k will result in total breakdown, martial law, suppression of the populace, no lights for the remainder of human existence, and so forth will prepare for that scenario. Those who believe that the lights will flicker briefly at midnight, but that the ball will continue to drop and that there will be a grand party in Times Square will prepare for that scenario.

Unfortunately, in the meantime we resort to one word labels. Intellectual laziness?

-- Rocky Knolls (rknolls@hotmail.com), July 09, 1998.



Gosh and golly - you folks are actually thinking, you just haven't been watching enough TV or reading enough Time or Newsweek or U.S. News and World Report. ;)

For the mass media's take on survivalists, translate a speach by Hitler or Goebels about the jews, substitute the word survivalist for jew, add a few colored pictures of guns, a sprinkling of hoary quotes from the Anti-Defamation Leauge (what an interesting historical 180 degree switch and abuse of the english language), the Southern Poverty Law Center, or some other hate group, and bingo - you've got an article about survivalists via mass media misinformation.

For an informed look try http://tseinc.com/~kenseger/surv and click on TYPES OF SURVIVALISTS.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@tseinc.com), July 15, 1998.


Kurt Saxon has this to say on that:

There's a problem with the definition of the term, "Survivalist". I coined it. It means one who expects the collapse of our system and prepares to survive it. It has no connection "at all" with race, politics, religion or resistance to authority. The media uses the term to describe any violent group. Let's not permit the media to use the term as a catch-all for those they disapprove of. If you fit my definition, let's discourage its misuse or invent a new, uncorrupted term to describe people who simply want to learn to provide for themselves, their loved ones and, hopefully be an asset to their community.

-30-

-- chuck petras (cpetras@stratos.net), July 15, 1998.


A true survivalist is a caretaker of the earth. So said Tom Brown, Jr. It is the most important concept that we teach at our wilderness survival school in San Diego.

-- Susan Conniry (mconniry@mail.gcccd.cc.ca.us), August 18, 1998.

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