The Difference Between Preppers and Criminal Extremists

There was a time when preppers used to call themselves survivalists.
But the main stream media took over this term and used it so overwhelmingly negatively, that to call oneself a survivalist immediately branded one as an anti-social, Aryan-nation, racist, government hating, tax-evading, fundamentalist, dangerous extremist who was plotting to overthrow our country’s government by force. (Did we leave any negative adjectives out?)
Here’s the latest example – a man allegedly killed his wife and daughter then hightailed it to his hidey-hole in the woods. But does the newspaper headline describe him as a murderer on the run? Nope, the headline calls him a survivalist, and the lead photo shows a picture of his underground lair’s main entrance door.
The clear implication – ‘survivalist’ and ‘murderer’ are synonymous terms.
So we now call ourselves Preppers – people who prudently prepare for possible problems in the future. How long will it be before the main stream media starts painting all the extreme loony-toons types as preppers rather than as survivalists (most journalists haven’t yet realized we’ve changed the name we use to describe our beliefs, values, and actions)?
The thing is that the people who were, from time to time, sensationally described in newspaper headlines and breaking news reports on television as survivalists never were ‘real’ survivalists.
Good survivalists might have some disagreements with the present government and some of the social engineering it conducts, but they’d never dream of actively resisting the government other than at the ballot box and through lawful lobbying.
Good survivalists might occasionally have arguments with neighbors and also family members, but they’d never dream of murdering them.
Good survivalists might plan, prepare, and even construct a retreat somewhere as a refuge subsequent to a massive collapse in society, and they’d even hope it to be a place of comparative safety in such a situation, but they’d never in their wildest dreams think it to be a place they could hide away in at present, and resist being found by the lawful authorities. Furthermore, they’d doubly never never dream that if they were found, they could safely hunker down and not get captured.
But anti-social loony-toons will do all these things. Why does the press then over-generalize and say ‘this guy planned for future disasters, and was a loony-toon. Therefore all people who plan for disasters are loony-toons?
That’s the same as saying ‘This guy votes Democrat (or Republican), and he also murdered his wife and children. Therefore, everyone who votes Democrat (or Republican) also murders their wives and children too’. Or, for another example, that’s the same as saying ‘This guy had a fatal accident and killed another motorist because he was drunk while driving his Toyota car. Therefore all people who drive Toyota cars are dangerous drunk drivers.’
The flawed logic is the same in both cases. But even though thousands of Democrat supporters commit murder each year, no-one suggests all Democrats are murderers. Even though Toyota cars are involved in thousands of fatal accidents each year, no-one suggests that all Toyota drivers are dangerous.
Any sensible person understands and appreciates the need to conform to the laws of the society they live in, because they are also sensible enough to understand the consequences. All sensible people realize that it is totally impossible to win against a confrontation with the country’s law enforcement forces. This is as inevitable and certain whether it is the lone murderer written about in the article linked above up against a mix of 50+ different SWAT team members, or the entire 112 Branch Davidians in Waco Texas up against many hundreds of ATF, FBI, Texas Rangers and Texas National Guardsmen, with armaments up to and including two M1A1 Main Battle Tanks.
Furthermore, we suggest that Preppers are more sensible and more prudent than the average person. If a person builds their life around being prudent, being cautious, being sensitive to future potential possibilities and negative outcomes, aren’t they the sort of person who is least likely to embark on risky and unlawful behavior that is absolutely guaranteed to lead to negative outcomes?
One more thing. You may or may not choose to incorporate some prepping into your own lifestyle, but you should welcome the presence of preppers in your neighborhood, and you should befriend them. When your food and water runs out, while delicious cooking smells are wafting across to you from your prepared neighbor; when you’re shivering in the cold and dark, while their lights are still on, aren’t you going to want to be best friends with the preppers next door?
It is unfortunate that the MSM have taken over the word ‘survivalist’ and re-purposed it to mean ‘crazy wacko violent loony-toon’, but now that they have, and now that we have a new term of our own – ‘prepper’, we probably should accept the difference. Preppers are good, survivalists are bad.