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Live as a survivalist or die?

Would you want to survive the collapse of society

  • Yes, survive at all cost

    Votes: 34 82.9%
  • No, better off dead.

    Votes: 7 17.1%

  • Total voters
    41
Oh I don't think there ever is a profit fighting for something, sacrifice for sure, but no profit. It is the classic question be it fighting to create a new nation or restoring law and order after a huge disaster versus pulling back and waiting for the dust to settle.

I dunno about human nature, on the one hand so many decry the 'taker' mentality and the slow slide to chaos many think will cause this collapse of order, yet somehow believe in human nature. I guess the idea is those who survive and manage to cobble together some sort of order will be of a certain mindset and that human nature is what it meant.

How it all ends up-
I guess a lot depends on what started the mess. I see many collapses with only the cockroaches surviving. many diseases leaving so few survivors civilization is firmly set back. Funny thing about plagues is depending on how it is transmitted survivalists might be more at risk than more 'urban' folks. The Black Plague wiped out many isolated villages, got past guards at the town gate who turned away human carriers but of course couldn't stop rats. rather large population concentrations survived- monasteries among the most common due to better hygiene, cleanliness and grain storage so rats and fleas were not so common.

My backround is grunt. For me numbers count, a base to operate from matters and a mix of skills in the group an asset. I can see certain farm communities being strong points for what is left of civilization to cling to. These days crops like corn, and wheat are stored in elevators until right before the new harvest- highest price is right before harvest and many elevators keep at least half capacity in old crop to take advantage of that pricing. So these places will have a strong bargaining chip in trade, gaining 'troops' for defense and paying outlying farmstead outposts to be manned as an outer perimeter and guard stations to help protect the cropland. these communities have rather healthy amounts of fuel in storage vs the population due to the needs of modern agriculture so that is a plus. The farm supply stores have barbed wire and T-posts to help fortify the town, small welding/repair shops to fabricate fixtures for the strongpoints and perhaps a few 'tin-clad' vehicles.

The ability both in supplies and equipment to build fortifications, supplies to last through a lean time for food, a cadre population with a strong attachment to the town and surrounding areas, the ability to sort through refugees to decide who can help in the town defense...

Politically I see a far less democratic form but still not 'martial', more like an EYE-talian city state where a gaggle of rich old men and their families run the town with outlying 'barons' formed from the larger farmer clans we have around here. There is a grandfather with at least 3 of his sons living within eyesight of each other out there, a nice repair shop and rather large grain storage, equipment to build strongpoints, local fuel storage....

ahhh not that I have given this much thought ya understand... ;)

I agree with much of what you say except I think there are alot of bad people that would take the breakdown of law and order as an opportunity to live as takers. There would also be good people who would ban together to fight off the looter gangs and do their best to restore law and order but the ensuing battle between the two forces could last quite some time. I also think you would be far better off in a rural area than an urban one where gangs and criminals are barely kept in check even now.
 
I think the marauding isn't a way of life after collapse, I think it is part of the collapse. Assuming some people survive, order reestablishes itself eventually. The dangerous and scary survivalism amidst pillaging and plundering is part of the process of a real collapse. There are so many people now who are so utterly reliant on food and water being transported to them (and their waste away from them) that a real collapse would accelerate into chaos and disorder so quickly that the question this thread asks really only applies to a transitional, chaotic state that would be over (for better or worse) before too long.
 
Worlds of difference between unified battle to sustain the republic and an end of days anarchy, dont you think? One is definitely worth fighting for...the other...let the wretched refuse kill each other off first. The OP was not about rallying to defend the country...it was about an end of days scenario. The picture painted was that of a handful of survivalists pinned ina steel building with anarchy death and violence all around you. To that, my answer remains the same.

Perhaps i did misunderstand the original question. when some use 'end of days' they mean a religious event. i'm not sure i'd divide the events up, for me maintaining the Republic is part and parcel of ending anarchy. For that matter restarting our country from a series of hedgehog strongpoints scattered across the farmbelt is no different.

To me pinned in a steel bunker is just waiting to die, no real lesson to be learned nor hope for the future. I have not read this particular book but have read several others and watched that 'Preppers'. I am always struck with how you have to buy into the story in order for it to be believable. but it is entertaining.

There was talk of what is worth fighting,(and dying) for, what does a man stand for.

One philosophy carries the 'yeast' for the restart of a society and the other just hopes someone else will.

I suppose it is different for different folks, I'd rather die defending a farmland strongpoint from the wretched that just don't understand they need to die out there away from us, with a hope it will help create a society than devolve to aboriginal level while waiting for someone else to fix this. I don't plan on living forever and dying defending something beats dying of an infection up in the mountains like so many mountain men back in the day. if I recall history, few mountain men lived for long up there.

Either way, total anarchy or restoring the Republic the end result is the same, society is going to be rebuilt- unless there are no humans left.
 
I agree with much of what you say except I think there are alot of bad people that would take the breakdown of law and order as an opportunity to live as takers. There would also be good people who would ban together to fight off the looter gangs and do their best to restore law and order but the ensuing battle between the two forces could last quite some time. I also think you would be far better off in a rural area than an urban one where gangs and criminals are barely kept in check even now.

i'm not quite as judgmental- good people, bad people... more like those who are willing/forced to do whatever to survive and those who are not/not put in that position.

lets not limit the 'takers' to the 'urban' folks. most of suburbia are just as dependent on food and water bringing brought in a crap being hauled off, just have lawns to mow. I can see roving bands of suburban being a bit more dangerous, gangs are not near as well armed as the average suburban commando. ;)

And lets not overlook rural takers, robber barons have a time honored tradition of setting up tolls for travelers. Bridges near a small town can become excellent toll points, along with any restriction on passage, roads through swamps, dense woods, mountain regions.

Mountain bandits needed vital supplies can bushwack travelers or lurk near camp site grounds in their regions looking to plunder for what they want/need.

No telling where the takers will appear and what they will look like....
 
All this survival talk made me think about getting some 30 round clips for my 10/22. Guess what, everybody is sold out. DAMN!

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A) The newer carbon arrows are much more durable than the old aluminums.

B)In honing my (and others) skills I/we handmade bows using simple hand tools; axe, knife, sand/rocks (for sanding) and sinew for strings. We fashioned arrows from river cane, fletched with turkey feathers and tipped with knapped flint heads…one of my ‘crew’ was successful in harvesting a deer but the rest of us lost interest…but we ALL (4) did make weapons that were deadly enough...when the bullets/powder runs out one must be prepared...it still beats a spear.

All that you need to replace sandpaper is a piece of broken glass. Use the edge of it.
 
I'd want to live, hoping all the bad guys with guns kill each other and it will never come to that.
 
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