The Post-Election Public Mood: It’s About to Hit the Fan

Freedom Outpost ^ | December 3, 2012 | Gordon Runyan

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Freedom Outpost has previously reported on the fact that gun sales represent at least one booming sector of the American economy since the re-election of Barak Obama. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to interpret that piece of data in terms of sociology: What must people be thinking? That’s a legitimate question, and it’s easy to think of an answer.

Horror icon, Stephen King, has a theory that the same sort of “weather vane” indication of the public mood can be discerned from the popularity, or lack thereof, of current scary movies. In his nonfiction book about creating horror fiction, Danse Macabre, King theorizes that if horror flicks are enjoying a great deal of success, that’s an indication that the public at large is nervous or fearful. If the horror industry tanks, that means the public is generally optimistic about the future. (And, by the way, horror flicks have been doing really well since about 2008. I’m just sayin’.)

I believe I’ve stumbled onto another bit of information that says a great deal about the public mood. And that is, as a writer whose wares are on sale at Amazon.com, it behooves me to keep an eye on what’s selling and what isn’t. What are the hot topics?

Well, before the November election, books about President Obama and about political theory in general were flying off the shelves. But now, checking the same bestseller lists that used to show those books doing well, it is plain that the mood has shifted. Those sorts of books have been supplanted and upstaged to a large degree. And the genre or theme that has replaced them is [insert drumroll here] Disaster Preparedness.

Books about how to assemble a “survival preparedness kit,” or more popularly, a “bug-out bag,” are all the rage. Freedom Outpost, as always, is here to help. Save your money: the information is widely available for free. In fact, here is a link to the aptly named Bug Out Bag List website which has done a good job of consolidating it for you.

Caution: As I perused the provided links, I noted that my computer started acting “wonky” when I tried to access the list provided at the Ready.Gov site (the third link on the “other lists” list.) You might stay away from that.

So, here you go: A short list that represents what experts seem to agree are the absolute essentials of disaster preparedness. Of course, the number of other items that might well be extremely useful is endless. But this seems to be the general consensus on critical items:

• Water. Shoot for at least a 72 hour supply per person at about 2 gallons apiece per day. Don’t forget pets.
• Food: Again, 72 hours is the consensus minimum. You want stuff that won’t go bad, is lightweight, and won’t require cooking or the addition of water.
• A manual can opener.
• Crank or battery-powered flashlight (with extra batteries.)
• Crank or battery powered radio.
• A first aid kit.
• Special needs items like critical medication, and infant care supplies.
• A supply of cash in small bills.
• Extra house and car keys.
• A lighter.
• A pocketknife.
• Duct tape.

As you’re considering this, recall that the folks affected by Sandy were without basic services like water and electricity for a lot longer than 72 hours…

Is this the perfect list for you? That’s doubtful. The perfect list is the one that fits your needs to take care of your family.

But back to our sociological experiment. Let me ask, what’s going on in the public mood that prepping is suddenly all the rage? I’m guessing the answer is probably the same as with all the gun sales. Is there some alarmism involved? Probably. But I think it’s more about people simply coming to the realization that they can’t really depend on anyone, especially the government, to make sure they survive a crisis. It’s still good American advice: Trust in God and keep your powder dry.

For more discussion about how Bible-believing patriots specifically ought to respond to darkening skies, caused by their own government, get the book, Resistance to Tyrants: Romans 13 and the Christian Duty to Oppose Wicked Rulers, for less than a decent cup of hipster latte’.

[SW6906]

Look at what happened in NY after Sandy: it was only a few days before there were pictures of people dumpster diving. Now that was an area wiped out by a disaster, but empty store shelves after a couple days will cause the same thing.

Picture Korean store owners on rooftops with rifles....it won't take long for that to happen.

[Sooth2222]

The urban libs are like the proverbial frog in a pot of water. By the time the pot boils, it will be too late for them to get out.

Here at the -- mostly red -- Jersey shore, it was unpleasant being without power after Sandy, but somehow we survived without resorting to cannibalism.

I'd want to avoid living under any of those blue spikes, in any case.

[djf]

My best advice is pay attention to it, but don’t let it take you over.

True story.
My wife died in 2000. I made it through that, barely.
Late summer 2001 I found I had alot of extra space, so I decided I should stock up on stuff. Went to the store and bought about 100 bucks of canned goods, and arranged it in a closet.

One week later two planes slammed into the WTC towers.

Since then, I have stored a pretty good amount of food and tools and water, etc. I wonder if it’s worth it.

If you get into survival-at-all-costs mentality, you are constantly wired. You are on a hair trigger, thinking any event, might signal the end.

It’s an existence, but not a cheerful one.

Sometimes ya gotta just sit back and smell the roses!

For those who still have family, today you should just hug them like there’s no tomorrow...

[djf]

And then get yur rear to the store and buy a case of beans!!!

;-)

[xsmommy]

i know, i’ve been depressed too!

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“For those who still have family, today you should just hug them like there’s no tomorrow...”

Absolutely. We are all very finite on this Earth.
I’m sorry about your wife. I’m sure that there are times 2000 seems like yesterday.

[Sooth2222]

Within hours after Sandy here at the Jersey shore, one of the larger local supermarkets was open, on generators, and with their ice machine going at full-speed.

FEMA hadn't even gotten out of bed, yet. I give the market an A+.

FEMA (and the phone and power companies) get a D-.

[tiki]

Now that’s funny.

[Redleg Duke]

"What will you do when all the middle class obuma liberals are chased out of the big cities by savagery, and they show up at your doorstep begging for food and protection? Some will have babies and little kids in tow"

Aim lower and don't lead them as much.

[Sooth2222]

My wife was a Girl Scout and a Scout Leader. After 9/11, we had most of the stuff that Homeland Security recommended (and people were laughing about) already on hand. After the disaster of 11/08, we added a shotgun. Now after Sandy, we'll add a generator -- probably guaranteeing that we'll never need one again.

My contention is that out here in "red country" in the suburbs, exburbs and rural areas, most people have skills. We don't need the cities nearly as much as the cities need us.

If Camden NJ and Detroit disappeared tomorrow, would they be missed? Why?

[Texas Fossil]

Thanks for posting the incredible map.

For others, here is the link to the article about it:

Technology Review highlights 3D Purple America election map

http://eqn.princeton.edu/

http://eqn.princeton.edu/2012/11/technology-review-highlights-3d-purple-america-election-map/

[thesearethetimes...]

Sound advice all my FRiend.Thank you, and please accept our condolences on the loss of your wife.

May God bless and keep you.
Tatt

[EBH]

There is a reason for those 800+ FEMA camps. Make no mistake about going off the cliff to a SHTF moment.

The government, especially the 0bama regime has had years to lay in their plans to deal with this. They already know the hotspots, New Orleans showed them what to expect.

They will let chaos reign in the hotspots for about a week, cordone off escape and then load people onto busses or trains for the camps.

[Buckeye McFrog]

What will you do when all the middle class obuma liberals are chased out of the big cities by savagery, and they show up at your doorstep begging for food and protection? Some will have babies and little kids in tow.

I've been preparing for Muslims to show up when the other 6 billion people on the planet get tired of taking crap from the 1 billion Followers of the Prophet and vote for the Final Solution.

My mother, greatly moved by the holocaust, has prepared me to make the right decision on that day.

[Kartographer]

Preppe’s PING!!

[MrB]

Whatever the cost - DON’T BE A REFUGEE.

[Kartographer]

Look what is happening right before your eyes and take heed. There’s a Great Storm coming you can feel it.

Listen to what the bible says: A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. NIV Proverbs 22:3

One of the things that will hurt is the fact that many will not except that a breakdown is occurring even as they watch it happening before their eyes. Why don’t they realize it?It’s caused by a condition called ‘Normalcy Bias’ a mental state people enter when facing a disaster.

It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.

A good article on ‘Normalcy Bias’ is on our own ChocChipCookies Blog The Survival Mom:

http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/12/29/normalcy-bias/

You either prepare and stand on your own beholden to no one or you become dependent on others to provide your basic needs and become their ‘serf’. Me I don’t want to be beholden to anyone for providing what is needed for me and mine. I certainly don’t want to have to kiss some ‘gubberment’ third class bureaucratic to try and coax some help from them, I don’t want some ‘jack booted’ thug herding me in line and telling me where to stand, sit, eat or sleep. And last but not least I don’t want to be shut up in with a bunch of ‘zombies’ and have to worry about not only trying to get basic necessities but having to fight to keep what I manage to get.

Its your choice you can prep or you can stand around on a bridge waiting for FEMA to bring you a bottle of water, a MRE, a warm blanket and a kiss for your boo-boo and maybe you can even get your picture as you stand there on the national news.

For those who are just starting or are old hands at prepping you may find my Preparedness Manual helpful. You can download it at:

http://tomeaker.com/kart/Preparedness1j.pdf
NOTE! THIS IS A FREE DOWNLOAD. I DO NOT MAKE ONE CENT OFF MY PREPAREDNESS MANUAL!

For those of you who haven’t started already it’s time to prepare almost past time maybe. You needed to be stocking up on food guns, ammo, basic household supplies like soap, papergoods, cleaning supplies, good sturdy clothes including extra socks, underwear and extra shoes and boots, a extra couple changes of oil and filters for your car, tools, things you buy everyday start buying two and put one up.

As the LDS say “When the emergency is upon us the time for preparedness has past.”

Again I like to recomend FReeper’s ChocoChipCookie Blog The Survival Mom (Please Blog Police let this one slide!) Where you can get lots of useful information like:

http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/11/20/8-morale-boosters-for-any-worst-case-scenario/

http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/02/02/survival-priorities-the-rule-of-three/

And More

“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger.
Underestimation can be fatal.”

[rockrr]

It’s ABOUT to hit the fan?

I took my mom to a Christmas concert last Saturday. Y’all remember Christmas, right? Holly-jolly Christmas? Ho-ho-ho?

Everyone there (and I mean everyone) was grim and standoffish. It took the performers a long time to get the audience to relax and enjoy the show. And that was a festive event. The attitudes I routinely encounter on the street range from sullen to outright hostile!

Now I could understand if this were a conservative town - considering the magnitude of our loss. But I live in liberal la-la town where the average Seattlunatic’s feet rarely touch the ground. These are the bastards who won. They should be full of gloat (in addition to being full of shiite).

I’d say it’s already here.

[Resolute Conservative]

More importantly:

1. At least 1 firearm per family member, the more the better. A good combo of rifles and shotguns (for close in work) and a handgun or two.

2. Plenty of ammo, preferably your weapons are a common caliber or two.

3. Rope or parachute chord, tarps, and axes/chainsaws.

4. Two way radios, both for family uses and contact with other defenders.

Now when you run out of stuff give the libs a dose of their own medicine and take their stuff.

[Resolute Conservative]

Forgot maps because expect GPS and internet access to be non-existent.