"Survivalism" vs. "Choosing to Prepare"

CitizenQ

CitizenQ

Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
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B Finnigan said:
...If you wear a seatbelt does that also make you a survivalist?
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My $0.02.

Survivalist. Bad connotation IMHO. I'd rather be known as a "person who chooses to prepare." Semantics? Perhaps...however...I see the difference in terminology as a friendly and unthreatening way to communicate the common sence and civic responsibility for all good citizens to prepare...just like in the good old days when preparedness was promoted as a common responsibility of every good American.

athomeprep.jpg
 
Those are good thoughts.... I share them and give a similar explanation to anyone who asks: Why do you need all that "stuff"?

Being a Boy Scout being prepared seems to come naturally to me. Besides the many variables of "survival" challenge me nicely.
 
I agree 100%. I never liked the term survivalist. Even in the preparedness comunity it conjures up more of a militia, anti government image. Even the term "survival knife" has taken on a Rambo, fantasy knife kind of thing.
 
I agree. That's the whole point of my new site. Doing your best to never get to a survival situation in the outdoors, but making sure that you are prepared enough to have fun.
 
When talking to the "general public" is use the term "Wilderness Living"... only around friends and likeminded people does the word "Survival" pop up.

I like the term "Preparedness".


Rick
 
around here "survival" without the -ist, is nothing to really startle people, it just generates positive interest mostly

but if u would say something like: a "person who chooses to prepare." then that would incline something dreadfull, cataclysmic and a very negative image of somebody gone insane with a doomsday scenario

i, myself am ok with both images tho :D
 
I have no problem with the term survivalist. I could care less if a couple of losers have mucked the term up by their actions, because like anything, there is good and bad. There is good survivalists and bad. The fact of the matter is, being a survivalist has little if anything to do with their negative manifestations. It was only an asset that they associated with and used to help them.
 
I'm a survivalist, a woodswalker, woodsman, bushcrafter, camper, hiker, hunter and the list goes on. But what it all boils down to is that I prepare because someone told me when I was a boy scout, to BE PREPARED and my preparations are just another part of taking care of my family, my loved ones and myself.
 
I am not a sheep. They can go stand in FEMA food lines. They can rely on government and 911 to protect them. I will take care of my own. I am a sheepdog.
 
longbow50 said:
I'm a survivalist, a woodswalker, woodsman, bushcrafter, camper, hiker, hunter and the list goes on.
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Just thinking out loud here fellas. As I have learned more I am coming to the conclusion that there is a difference between "survival" and "preparedness." For me, "Survival" is bushcraft, but preparedness is planning and a well-stocked pantry. Many of us urban/suburban citizens would have little use for bushcraft...there just ain't enough woods or wildlife around to make it useful. Certainly many of those who "prepare" would have a hard time getting by if they were plunked down in the wilderness with only a knife and their wits whereas a "Survivalist" would have a better chance to get by if the sceanario was suburban/urban. Those who prepare do so to different degrees, and with different goals in mind. I was in Dweeb's Manhattan apartment a month ago. He opened a closet and proudly showed me his "go bag" proclaiming that it had "flashlights and candy bars" in it..."we learned that from 911!" he said. I said "dude...I can live for two (2) weeks locked in my car with the stuff I carry in my trunk....you should see what's in my basement."

Just some thoughts...no arguments with what's been written here.
 
I prefer preparedness as well. I have little intention of surrendering my possessions and going minimalist. It's important to know the skills number one, but being prepared with the proper gear to coast through a tough situation doesn't require a whole lot of time and effort to reduce the stress on those who you need to care for.

Keep those tools ready and available and it'll sting a lot less.
 
The vibe that I pick up with people that use the term survivalist is that they know that they should be much more prepared but are too lazy. When they see the common sense preparations that me and my wife have done I get the "that's probably something I should think about" comeback. But they never do.

How can any intelligent person in this country watch the national (or international) news and see what happens to people that are not prepared but never do anything about it? Just about every summer one or more major hurricanes hit the south and southeast. huricanes are the one natural disaster that can be predicted several days in advance. But every year I see panicked people trying to buy water, batteries, flashlights, generators and plywood at the very last minute when everyone else is trying to also.

History only gives us two choices, learn from it or repeat it. Have we not as a collective society learned that the government will most certainly drop the ball every time there is a disaster?

We all know the three most told lies:

I have had a vasectomy.
I will respect you in the morning.
I am from the government and I am here to help.
 
I prefer not to let politically and financially motivated people dictate reality. If radical extremists want to demonize a term and beat the war drums to fill their bank accounts, I couldn't care less. If they were not using the words "survivalism" and "survivalist" to get media attention and money, we wouldn't be having this conversation at all.
 
one of the interesting elements of survivalism is exactly that it is the raw essence of life devoid of all human petty nonsense common to civilised society
 
It might "only" be semantics, but semantics is the art/science of saying exactly what you mean.

Self identified "survivalists" generally want bad stuff to happen so they can live out their fantasies, and will probably either turn into short lived bandits or remain hidden and crying in their parents' basement if the bad stuff really does happen. They often have some borderline mental or emotional issues, and some even develop fetishistic focus on camouflage, "tacticool" gear, knives and firearms. (Just ask the guy who got *coughs* bit trying to *cough* perform an unnatural act with an autoloading shotgun and hit the bolt release!)

People who are "prepared" are ready for the nightmares to come to life, but really don't want them to happen; rather they would just like to live a quiet, ordinary, peaceful life as a productive part of society. They are actually able to function in society, and have a realistic view on the world. While considered a little out there by "normal", unprepared people (they even have a name for what we have "general anxiety disorder"), they consider us useful rather than being a danger.

I'm not a "survivalist", I'm a "preparedness geek".
 
ironraven said:
It might "only" be semantics, but semantics is the art/science of saying exactly what you mean.

Self identified "survivalists" generally want bad stuff to happen so they can live out their fantasies, and will probably either turn into short lived bandits or remain hidden and crying in their parents' basement if the bad stuff really does happen. They often have some borderline mental or emotional issues, and some even develop fetishistic focus on camouflage, "tacticool" gear, knives and firearms. (Just ask the guy who got *coughs* bit trying to *cough* perform an unnatural act with an autoloading shotgun and hit the bolt release!)

People who are "prepared" are ready for the nightmares to come to life, but really don't want them to happen; rather they would just like to live a quiet, ordinary, peaceful life as a productive part of society. They are actually able to function in society, and have a realistic view on the world. While considered a little out there by "normal", unprepared people (they even have a name for what we have "general anxiety disorder"), they consider us useful rather than being a danger.

I'm not a "survivalist", I'm a "preparedness geek".
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This is the biggest bunch of BS I have read in quite some time, you should just write ad copy for the southern poverty law center. The next time something terrible happens, you can go on "The Justice Files" or whatever and talk about the need to ban guns, etc., etc., etc., this is simple bigotry.

You are all over the place, GAD - Generalized Anxiety Disorder - and all the rest of this nonsense! You're perpetrating every negative stereotype about some people in the gun world and you would never do that when it comes to races of people - point being - bigotry doesn't only have to be about racism.

The other folks in this thread, they just posted their opinion about the terms involved. I don't agree with them but they have a right to say it. But you? Your opinion, yeah, you might have a right to it, I guess a lot of people have rights to opinions no matter how negative and bigoted they might be.
 
Robert H said:
I prefer preparedness as well. I have little intention of surrendering my possessions and going minimalist. It's important to know the skills number one, but being prepared with the proper gear to coast through a tough situation doesn't require a whole lot of time and effort to reduce the stress on those who you need to care for.

Keep those tools ready and available and it'll sting a lot less.
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I agree. I just refer to what I do as "Preparing to Survive".;)
 
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