Views on TEOTWAWKI: US vs. Canadiens (& Others)

[Cpl Punishment]

In that respect... the American way would be to hope you're tougher than the other guy.... while the Canadian way would be to hope you're smarter than the other guy?

No offense, but what you describe is more the French way.

Wait, aren't you fairly close to Quebec?

 

[dawsonbob]

No offense, but what you describe is more the French way.

Wait, aren't you fairly close to Quebec?

LOL.:thumbup::thumbup:

 

[XMP]

My life you may take, my integrity...NEVER

There you go with those abstract ideals, like I was talking about earlier

 

[Horned Toad]

Your example of the great depression is a good one: close, but not the end of the world. As Koyote points out, it's a big country and there are few single points of failure.

How much of the US was rural in the great depression? Even up into WW2, IIRC something like 70% of the vegetables in this country were grown in victory gardens.

People, and by this I also include Canadians, are more resilient than not. We are all descended from millions of years of survivors. Think about it: for millions of years your progenitors survived everything that the universe could throw at them, literally. Just to make you. Well done.

We are a lot tougher than we realize. Regular bipedal cockroaches.

Think about for millions of years it was survival of the fittest and I am guessing here but I would bet that if you didn’t contribute to the tribe or group you didn’t stick around or eat. I doubt when you are scrabbling for survival you are going to tolerate anyone that cant contribute. Now look at us, as a species there is a lot of dead weight. How many millions of people are there in the US that if the powers goes off tomorrow are not going to have a clue of what to do except to wait till it comes back on.

 

[kgd]

Now look at us, as a species there is a lot of dead weight. How many millions of people are there in the US that if the powers goes off tomorrow are not going to have a clue of what to do except to wait till it comes back on.

Lump charcoal is somewhere about 14 on my list

 

[The Government]

I dont know If I would call preparedness pessimism. Our cars have air bags because we are prepared, not because we are pessimistic.

 

[dawsonbob]

I dont know If I would call preparedness pessimism. Our cars have air bags because we are prepared, not because we are pessimistic.

:thumbup:

 

[Rick Marchand]

Mag
It seems you are teaching your son that his belongings, even though they are only "things' have no value and that it’s ok to let people take from him, teaching him to be a victim. Right is right and wrong should punished regardless of "fun". You let someone take your pancakes, then where is the line drawn where do you stand up? Your son’s breakfast? Your family’s car? Your daughter’s innocence?
Or is this just redistribution of toys instead of wealth like the U.S. is trying to do now...

I'm sorry, in light of the pancake analogy, perhaps my logic got blurred... you've misinterpreted my meaning.

Actually, I'm teaching him NOT to be an irrational, narrow minded, insecure thug, who who validates violence with a twisted sense of honour and integrity. I'm teaching him to have enough confidence in himself to not let pride, greed, jealousy, anger or vengence cloud his judgement.

At no point did I ever mean to lay down and be stepped on... to be a victim or to stand by while others are victimized.

When faced with no alternative, my retribution is swift, focused, complete and final... because I am comfortable in the knowledge that I did what I could to aviod it.

Ideally, it's about having control of yourself in order to facilitate control of the situation... but we all know things aren't always ideal... it's a struggle.

Well worth it, IMO.

Rick

 

[Rotte]

it's a struggle.

In more than one way.

BTW, come over for pancakes anytime. Keep an eye on the wife though, she's been known to swipe a flapjack or two in her day.

 

[SGP]

Think about for millions of years it was survival of the fittest and I am guessing here but I would bet that if you didn’t contribute to the tribe or group you didn’t stick around or eat. I doubt when you are scrabbling for survival you are going to tolerate anyone that cant contribute.

That's not exactly true. There's plenty of evidence to support the care of the sick, elderly, and disabled right down to the earliest members of our genus. The Neanderthal known as Shanidar 1, for one, lived to ripe old age with one arm, one leg and one eye. Survival is a group effort for a group outcome in anything but the shortest term and most desperate circumstances. If any situation is really bad enough to justify the kind of "survival of the fittest" you're talking about, it'd probably be a good idea to keep the guy with the broken leg alive so you can eat him when you run out of belts and boots to boil.

 

[coyotebc]

This is an interesting sentiment that I think runs counter to the American myth that many folks on this forum subscribe to. We tend to believe and take pride in the notion of rugged individualism. We pride ourselves on being the jack of all trades and self sufficient.

I find the is a nice thought, that doesn't quite pan out when given serious thought. But there is a germ of truth. The notion of the individual runs very deep in the core of the United States ideal, even if it is more myth than reality.

Do some studing and you will see I am right. Look at earthquakes in California and how people banded together, or the Chicago fire.
When I took a course on Emergency Response it was one of the things that kept coming up.

 

[XMP]

Like the Donner party, right

 

[coyotebc]

One is about communities and how they react and other a small party.
Same can be said when draughts in places like Africa results in violence. Usually this violence is between tribes that have been enemies for centuries and the draught is only an excuse for violence not the cause

 

[SGP]

Exactly! I read Cormac McCarthy's The Road last week and it's been gnawing on me (ha. ha.)

 

[Mark Nelson]

This is the kind of thing that just seems like a very unlikely scenario. If hyper inflation a economic collapse come about, AND the Canadian government decides to enact martial law and confiscate all arms as a result, I suppose the majority of Canadians would not be very happy about it.

But this is a very unlikely scenario. Even more unlikely in the US, though there are plenty of survivalists who seem to think this is already happening. It borders on science fiction, where the parameters of doom are already set, all we need to fill in the drama. Go outside this little circle of doomers we occupy, and most regular folks think this sort of fatalistic belief is just nutty, sounding like the rantings of the guy pushing a cart through skid row and talking to himself.

I can't say how things will be different between our countries. I am not even sure what will happen here. I just look at this

http://www.usdebtclock.org/


and I believe hyper inflation could happen. That a financial collaspe can happen. It is like a train coming down the tracks. Call me a doomer if you will! Watch those numbers spin by for a minute and tell me how it ends well?


Edited to add. I would hope that people would come together and help each other get through the hard times, no matter what country. Oh and I would have my H.I. villager AK at my side!

 

[coyotebc]

In Canada there are millions of un-registered firearms so it is unlikely wholescale confinscation would work

 

[PrimitiveMan]

Ooops, I meant "confiscate"

Anyway,

If rulers of ANY country want to confiscate pancakes, they just make it illegal to possess them. Law abiding people then hand them over and eat waffles. People are sheep.

All they have to do is say, Anyone possessing a pancake after Jan 1 will be considered a felon and will be subject to sitting in the corner, er, I mean 6 months incarceration.

 

[Cpl Punishment]

<Sigh> OK you can have my pancakes.

But I'll shoot you in the face if you try to take my bacon!

 

[Gaurdian_A1]

As i said before, the biggest enemy to the human race in the event of one of these eotwawki scenarios is going to be ourselves....there is going to be inward fighting, just to survive. weather we want it that way or not.

hell, on certain shopping days, people are so desperate to get the good deals that they camp outside of stores until they open up, then they trample over eachother like pathetic animals, fights break out, people get hurt..all for a patio set thats on sale.

so now apply our pathetic human nature to a situation far far worse , where people are afraid for thier lives, trying to survive. Then add guns, knives, any weapon you can think of...There will be confrontation and inward fighting.

best advice we all need to consider is that if mass panic present itself..GTFO of dodge...fast.

 

[Horned Toad]

That's not exactly true. There's plenty of evidence to support the care of the sick, elderly, and disabled right down to the earliest members of our genus. The Neanderthal known as Shanidar 1, for one, lived to ripe old age with one arm, one leg and one eye. Survival is a group effort for a group outcome in anything but the shortest term and most desperate circumstances. If any situation is really bad enough to justify the kind of "survival of the fittest" you're talking about, it'd probably be a good idea to keep the guy with the broken leg alive so you can eat him when you run out of belts and boots to boil.

I have read about that and I figured someone would bring it up. I would think you didn’t get to be old back then unless you were a contributing member of society. I would think an elder back then would know all the stuff we like to think our elders now know.

Also they have found Neanderthals with healed up broken bones. If a hunter gets banged up getting food for a tribe, are you not going to take care of him till he can hunt again?


If you have a 20 yo old who does nothing but sits around and say “where’s my food” are you going to keep him around or run him off.