My, how times and attitudes have changed.

Bill Masen - August 12, 2021

Soooooo I just read this insightful article from the TP blog.

https://preparedpro.xyz/blog/new-statistics-on-modern-prepper-demographics-from-fema-and-cornell-university/

And it got me thinking about how WESTERN values, judgements and opinions have changed since 1990.

Back then at the collapse of the Cold war and Soviet Union we holier than thou westerners looked down our collective noses at how the proletariat of the eastern block lived.

“Har Har Har look at those agricultural Lada cars, they have no fuel injection, no ICE or onboard computers, their suspension systems travel 8 inches to cope with the dreaful roads, isnt it funny watching them being repaired in a barn with a hammer and chisel.”

or

” My god look how these peasants live compared to us sophisticated westerners with our modern apartments, electronically managed homes, electrically heated homes, air con in everything with our 24/7s, Deli’s, Coffee bars etc on every corner. “

“Just look at the eastern Europeans with their log piles, wood burning stoves, vegetable gardens,fish ponds, smoke houses, pigs, goats, chickens and cattle. They are having to grow and preserve their own food, they are generating their own power, digging bore holes and wells and having to rely on wind pumps to bring the water up. Just look how primative they are with no doctors in the community, everyone has to have self reliance skills because they cannot rely on the state or the system.”

My how we laughed and mocked those easterners who were NOT reliant on just in time deliveries, supermarkets, cops on speed dial, home with only occasional mains utilities.

“Hah, we have perfectly manicured lawns instead of Veg gardens, We have Poodles, Pekinese and electrically heated and filtered pools whilst they keep chickens, rabbits and pigs. We have boundless supplies of fresh water from the Rockies to water the Napa valley and to keep the golf courses in vegas lush and green”. We tamed our wilderness and turned our forests into parks whilst those ignorant peasants woodlands are used to get firewood, make charcoal, still full of Deer, Wild Board, Turkeys, Grouse, Pheasant, Bears, etc. Heck they dont even have power distribution pylons and masts supplying power 24/7/365 they way we have, They have to be ready to weather frequent power cuts. they are so backward in places they have to make their own diesel and alcohol to power their primative cars.

They are so primative and backwards they have learned NEVER to rely on the State, Government or System to keep them fed, watered, illuminated, cool, warm, healthy, clean and mobile…

Is that a worm I see turning? 🙂

11  

Good morning Bill,

So true, …… but was it 1990 or when Nixon and Kiss went to the Middle Kingdom to start the domestic US restructuring ?

The Napa Valley water … throw in the Imperial Valley and their lush ag products … It’s Fed money allowing for this and this money is borrowed from overseas sources (not Trinidad and Tobago)

At end of Cold War Russia ditched their buffer states for better arrangements at nominal costs. They reconfigured their middle class for it to be smaller … something similiar going on here in the States ?!

American homes are financed.  It’s not really “equity” getting accumulated when factoring in the taxes. The raxes and a few other annoying items “readjust” the situation.  Yes, the worm gear is slowly turning and invisible to the artificial US middle class.

During Soviet times there was indeed rationed health care.  Armand Hammer, CEO of oil company Oxy (was Nixon’s back channel to work real matters with the Soviets) had a “love child” and later got to meet the adult person.  The dental work was so bad, Armand Hammer made arrangements for rehab work. Today, here in the States, rationed health care is real rough on much of the middle class – except for the Preppers.

The statement has since been removed from the web, .. First Lady Hillary Clinton was at an AFLCIO meeting and was with some national labor leaders in a casual, quiet setting. She was recorded as saying “It’s hard to threaten your creditor”. Preppers avoided the mortgaged luxury and are now in thriving mode.

Note that China’s middle class has a higher standard of living than America’s middle class. The new Ford electric pickup truck is being designed for the Chinese market. Nearly forgot – China’s middle class has an upward living standard; the US middle class has a lowering one.

We preppers are faring AOK.

 

 

And coincidentally  https://www.foxnews.com/us/first-water-cuts-us-west-supply-arizona-farmers

 

Good afternoon Bill,

Very interesting.

Spasiba.

 

Vsegda pozhaluysta

 

only applies to preppers and similar types, the masses still dont know any better.

 

The more time I spend researching the more I am inclined to look to Eastern Europe and certain African States. These people have kept a lot of the more traditional and pre electricity ways of living at the fore of their lives, sometimes through necessity, othertimes through choice. I have a number of Romanian friends and have visited their homeland several times and boy! do I envy their way of life. Not only do they live what I suppose we would call a simpler life, but their sense of community is very strong, whether it’s harvesting, killing and processing a pig or bulk preserving, family and neighbours get together to make a day of it.

But it’s not just the lifestyle, in the African States their ingenuity is astonishing and some pretty amazing solutions to problems have come out of necessity. The Zeer Pot is one, simple solar lighting using just one LED bulb and a plastic bottle to amplify the light I could go on, but I’d get boring. I’m a big fan of simplicity, where possible I like passive or people powered alternatives to what we rely on in modern life. 

I have also often thought about how I would manage this or that without a modern or electrical item, but then I remember that a large part of civilisation doesn’t have them and I put myself in their shoes to find a work around. 

So, yes, this worm has indeed turned and I’m happy to admit I like it!

Don’t get me wrong, I love my 21st Century lifestyle and I very much appreciate what I have, I do like to think that there are a number of things I could do without or as mentioned earlier have a neat alternative.

 

I’m with you Jenny. I love my 21st century lifestyle, but appreciate and wish at times things were simpler and less reliant on a grid or on-demand services. 

Maybe one day a big disaster will hit that will force us to adopt some of those ways of living. Knowing, learning, and practicing those skills and methods today will help us be ready and resilient for that day.

 

Good afternoon Jenny,

One item I saw in use in sub-Saraha Africa – believe not developed there – is a “water wheel”.

About the width size of a large motorcycle tire, the axle is made so it can be filled with ~ 1 gallon of water and rolled back to dwelling with attached rope.

It’s not available – nor publicized – here in US.

Could not find a source … even checked with some Peace Corps contacts.

 

Ingenuity right there, I love the word and it’s meaning.

I remember watching a programme about gathering water in the Andes mountains where running water is scarce. They use what I can only describe as hairy soccer goal nets that capture the frequent mists that roll around the area and as the water soaks in it trackles into receptacles at the bottom of the nets. These examples are why I have such faith in mankind to survive pretty much anything thrown at it. There are a very few scenarios that I can’t foresee someone, somewhere surviving. 

 

Yes those moisture vapour nets work well especially when you have a breeze coming in off the sea each morning, the condensate can be enough to sustain a family.