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Preppers: Meet the paranoid Americans awaiting the apocalypse
theweek.com ^ | July 12, 2015 | Rod O'Connor

Posted on 07/13/2015 8:20:26 AM PDT by PROCON

BY ALL APPEARANCES, Bob Valenti is your average upwardly mobile suburbanite. The 40-something father of two has a couple of advanced degrees and a high-paying job at a high-flying technology company. He has an aggressive retirement plan and plenty socked away in college funds for his kids. As of last year, he also has a plan for surviving the end of the world as we know it.

A few years ago, Valenti (who asked that his real name not be used, for reasons that will be clear soon enough) and his wife traded their Chicago townhouse for a gorgeous $800,000 residence in Downers Grove, a suburb west of the city. The idyllic, 12-room house features handsome walnut cabinetry, a sprawling yard, and a basement that holds the beginnings of what will ultimately be a year's stockpile of food and emergency supplies. Valenti recently ordered a box of 50 lighters and is squirreling away batteries, which he believes could someday be highly valuable for bartering. He has 25 pounds of meat in his freezer and another 50 at an undisclosed location out of town that he refers to as Plan B. Should he and his family need Plan B, he has a couple of 30-pound packets of "survival seeds" there for jump-starting their own farm.

Valenti, who otherwise seems like a perfectly reasonable man, is preparing for society's collapse, which he believes could come any day now in the form of a global pandemic or the implosion of our highly leveraged financial system.

(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: globalwarminghoax; popefrancis; preppers; romancatholicism; shtf; society
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Valenti, who otherwise seems like a perfectly reasonable man

There is nothing unreasonable about being prepared.

Isn't that the Boy Scouts Motto?

We buy life insurance....just in case.

We buy homeowners or renters insurance....just in case.

To portray "Preppers" as anything but reasonable folks looking at what's happening in this country today and call them paranoid is absurd.

1 posted on 07/13/2015 8:20:26 AM PDT by PROCON
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To: Kartographer

Pingy


2 posted on 07/13/2015 8:20:44 AM PDT by PROCON (Wow! They're faster than Stalin.)
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To: PROCON

Global Pandemic? Financial meltdown?

I rate EBT card glitch as a higher probability.


3 posted on 07/13/2015 8:22:31 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie ( A system of government that makes the People subordinate to a committee of nine unelected lawyers)
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To: PROCON

Be professional, be polite, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.


4 posted on 07/13/2015 8:23:28 AM PDT by glorgau
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To: PROCON
I hope Bob has guns and ammo at his Plan A, B & C locations because Chicago is going to burn when the gibmedats go feral. As for the media portrayals of preppers, expletive deleted.
5 posted on 07/13/2015 8:24:34 AM PDT by outofsalt ( If history teaches us anything it's that history rarely teaches us anything.)
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To: PROCON

6 posted on 07/13/2015 8:25:32 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: PROCON

‘Paranoid’ eh?

As opposed to what? Waiting for the Fed to come out and rescue you? Ha ha ha .....


7 posted on 07/13/2015 8:26:01 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot (Pravda + Useful Idiots = CCCP; JournOList + Useful Idiots = DopeyChangey!)
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To: PROCON

When the topic comes up amongst friends and/or relatives, I simply ask, “Do you have a first aid kit in your house? Do you have a fire extinguisher in your house? If so, why?”


8 posted on 07/13/2015 8:26:19 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.)
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To: PROCON

I’m always prepared but don’t worry about being prepared for Armageddon. The only way to prepare for that is to try to live a good and faithful life.


9 posted on 07/13/2015 8:27:36 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Sad fact, most people just want a candidate to tell them what they want to hear)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
When the topic comes up amongst friends and/or relatives, I simply ask, “Do you have a first aid kit in your house? Do you have a fire extinguisher in your house? If so, why?”

Great retort.

10 posted on 07/13/2015 8:29:15 AM PDT by TADSLOS (A Ted Cruz Happy Warrior! GO TED!)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

I was talking with a fraternity brother and his wife and they started talking about how they were “prepping”.
They live in a townhouse. In a large city.
I told them they sucked at prepping.


11 posted on 07/13/2015 8:29:17 AM PDT by AppyPappy
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To: PROCON
Valenti

What you gonna do about me?

12 posted on 07/13/2015 8:31:09 AM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: PROCON

Bob’s first priority should be to get as far away from Chicago as possible. NOW. The suburbs isn’t far enough.


13 posted on 07/13/2015 8:31:15 AM PDT by TADSLOS (A Ted Cruz Happy Warrior! GO TED!)
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To: PROCON

Paranoia is a worthless media hack writer pooh-poohing another’s preparation for some mania that needs to be devalued and debased, ultimately crushed out.

Flowery words and contorted descriptions of preppers’ actions don’t hide the fact these ghouls are somehow aghast at actions by others that is within the law, harms no one, and is something that needs ridicule.

Frankly, this writer (I don’t even remember, nor care to) his name) will be one of the first to perish. But he can be content that his ideals and dogma “felt right to him” and that “he cared”. Tell that to the feral youth that kills you over something you have that won’t even extend their existence one day when it really hits the fan.

An utter piece of sh!t.


14 posted on 07/13/2015 8:31:15 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: PROCON

When Republicans hold all 3 federal branches of government, I bet Pajama-Boi Rod changes his tune.


15 posted on 07/13/2015 8:32:50 AM PDT by TexasCajun (Hillary: Ethically Sleazy & Politically Stupid)
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To: glorgau

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Mattis


16 posted on 07/13/2015 8:36:54 AM PDT by headstamp 2
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To: PROCON; Kartographer; Marcella
To portray "Preppers" as anything but reasonable folks looking at what's happening in this country today and call them paranoid is absurd.

No, it's part and parcel of The Agenda:

Preppers = hoarders = evil capitalists;
Preppers = Militia = Terrorist/traitors (yes, I've actually heard that from the VFW);
Preppers = paranoids = religious bitter-clingers = RAAAcists (yes, I've heard that on social media);

The idea being to Alinsky to death anyone who is against Our Lord And Savior, The Obama, the Messiah, The Won.

17 posted on 07/13/2015 8:36:55 AM PDT by Old Sarge (Its the Sixties all over again, but with crappy music...)
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To: cripplecreek
I’m always prepared but don’t worry about being prepared for Armageddon. The only way to prepare for that is to try to live a good and faithful life.

There are a lot of people that have led a "good and faithful life" in the Mid-East and Africa that are being persecuted and suffering privations that "being prepared", or being a "prepper", would have saved them from.

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.1 Timothy 5:8

While that speaks more towards the good and faithful part of it all, it holds just as true for the material side of things, as well.

18 posted on 07/13/2015 8:37:41 AM PDT by Turbo Pig (...to close with and destroy the enemy...)
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To: cripplecreek
I’m always prepared but don’t worry about being prepared for Armageddon. The only way to prepare for that is to try to live a good and faithful life.

Same here. It's going to be a spiritual battle and that's why in my daily prayers, I ask God for the gift of discernment and His guidance, especially during the End Times. They're coming!

19 posted on 07/13/2015 8:40:33 AM PDT by rochester_veteran (All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
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To: PROCON

you can find the longer article here: http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-2015/Suburban-Survivalists/


20 posted on 07/13/2015 8:48:45 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the 2nd one...)
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