Author of The Dark Secrets of SHTF Survival and SHTF Survival Bootcamp Online Course
If someone asked me, “What is your takeaway from the last two years?” I would say, “Illusion smashing.”
Almost all the key events that happened in that period of time we would have said “oh that is never gonna happen” if someone asked us that 3 years ago.
To be more precise, I would not have said that…but most of the average preppers would say that because they kept saying “oh it will never happen here” or” no, not in US, we are different”.
I would not only never say that, even more, and quite contrary, for freaking 10 years I kept saying and writing “it might (will) happen there” or “it might (will) even be worse there” and so on and so on.
There is quite an important reason why I am pointing out so bluntly that I was right, and most of the Preppersphere was wrong. And no it is not because I feel good because I was right.
The reason is this- I want to point out something again here, and most of Preppersphere probably gonna think and say “naah, he is wrong”, so…remember that I am often right about these things, no matter how ridiculous might sound.
SO…
About losing
It is a bit hard to explain what in essence I am meaning by this, so I’ll try to additionally explain.
Learn to recognize when you are losing. Learn to accept defeat and live to fight another day. Learn to mentally accept defeat and still operate day by day. Every major military strategy book advises against fighting battles you cannot win, including The Art of War. I wrote about this more than once in past years, but times now require me to repeat all this and to yell about it maybe.
There is something about today’s way of living, that keeps sending us the wrong messages. There is something actually about the society of consumerism that keeps saying to us again and again that each of us is special and precious and unique, and that we are all winners, and so on and so on.
I do not have anything against positive psychology as a way of help, but I am very against the mentality where you think you are something special and that you actually cannot lose.
Understand this: if you truly believe that you are invincible in a way that you are special and that you can not lose – then when you are defeated you are gone. You are not gonna be able to live and fight another day.
I am sorry, but no, you are nothing special.
Especially in hard times, you can be swept away by your small mistake. Simply in one minute you can lose all of your possessions, and if you up to that moment were hardcore “I am special” it will crush you because most probably you will not be able to cope with that situation. You’ll be shocked.
You will lose many times, sometimes more sometimes less…that does not mean life is gone when you lose. Quite contrary you’ll be richer with valuable experience from that loss.
It’s happening right now
There is a huge myth that the “fall of society” will require you to step out and fight in a blaze of glory against tyrants and oppression and that it is going to be very clear to everyone who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.
Honestly, did you believe that?
In reality, people are gonna be slowly stripped out of their rights through the process of making you “not acceptable” in the new society.
So on the day when you step out from your house with a rifle in your hands to fight “oppression and tyranny,” you’ll be shot by a neighbor who sees you as a terrorist, and he is gonna be afraid for his two kids.
Or months before that you’ll be slowly stripped of whatever you own.
If you own a business you’ll be slowly left without customers through the process of portraying you as a “not acceptable” for new and “free” society, then you are gonna lose that job completely, then you are not gonna be able to pay rent or your kid’s college… if your kids do not leave you (in hate) years before that because you are maybe portrayed as a terrorist. Maybe even your kids will give you up to authorities because you are collecting weapons and constantly talking about freedom of speech and rights to own weapons and the school and media have brainwashed them to believe this is evil.
Now if all this above sounds familiar to you – it is not only because similar things are happening around you. It is also because I wrote about it years ago but most of the Preppersphere said “Naaah, not here. Selco doesn’t understand America.”
Well, it is there.
Now, what you can do?
You cannot fight the system, at least not in the way that popular movies and books and the Preppersphere portray it, because if you do it you’ll be taken out.
So…
You need to learn when it is time to stay put.
By staying put I do not mean “surrendering” or “agreeing” with everything that goes against your basic and core beliefs and philosophies.
I mean staying put more like being a bit more silent about your beliefs because now it is time to stay put and get better prepared.
It is not time to get arrested, jailed, canceled, portrayed as a weirdo, or even a terrorist. The line between “let’s forbid them to talk about things” to “let’s erase them” is not that long.
Learn to stay put, FFS, at least for some time, and be ready. This is the truth of survival mode.
In this heated and crazy situation, people can get shot because of raising their own country’s flag, not to mention announcing that you are a patriot and that you are ready to fight tyranny.
It can happen there. It IS happening there. But you can survive it.
Be gray. Make plans. But fight battles you can win.
About Selco
Selco survived the Balkan war of the 90s in a city under siege, without electricity, running water, or food distribution. In his online works, he gives an inside view of the reality of survival under the harshest conditions. He reviews what works and what doesn’t, tells you the hard lessons he learned, and shares how he prepares today. He never stopped learning about survival and preparedness since the war. Regardless of what happens, chances are you will never experience extreme situations as Selco did. But you have the chance to learn from him and how he faced death for months.
- Read more of Selco’s articles here.
- Buy his PDF books here.
- Buy his best-selling paperbacks, SHTF Survival Bootcamp, SHTF Survival Stories, and The Dark Secrets of Survival here.
- Take advantage of a deep and profound insight into his knowledge by signing up for his online courses SHTF Survival Boot Camp and learn the inside story of what it was really like when the SHTF with his online course One Year in Hell.
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Real survival is not romantic or idealistic. It is brutal, hard and unfair. Let Selco take you into that world.
the military is now full of these “special” snowflakes.
Gray is a good color. I’ve left social media almost entirely, having stopped trying to convince others of anything a long time ago. I mirror others when they bring up controversial topics and stay noncommittal, turning the topic as soon as possible. People have made up their minds. Honestly, if the elites plan to take all private property and assets then buying land in the middle of nowhere doesn’t seem to be all that useful of a strategy. The rules are what those in charge say the rules are, and they won’t allow anyone to keep anything. So I’m building up what skills I can for long term while keeping my head down short term. Not one word to anyone about prepping! I look good in gray.
I concur!! We do look smashing in gray! I’m also with you on why to buy land in the middle of no where — though it will buy some time, I think; anything to get out of the cities!! But I believe, like you, that the elites will be taking all our land/private assets away. Skills are the way to go.
Jayne, I love the way you spell your name. My middle name is the same. And I agree with you. Gray has become my favorite color.
I think that being a “grey man” to the general public, is a good idea right now.
I would remove questionable bumper stickers or other items that might upset Liberals and make you and your family “targets” for their aggression.
But I would never advocate giving up or not resisting the current tide of Politics.
In some states or areas it is easier to do so, than in others.
The winds of Politics tend to change rather quickly. So I would not give up, nor can I accept an assessment that this is how it will be from now on or get worse.
Much like I did not accept the Covid 19 restrictions would go on for years. In my State we are pretty well back to the pre Covid 19, normal.
Some people still wear masks, but there are always a few of those types of people out there.
Even though other countries (and some states) are still doing or threatening lock downs, masking, etc.
Don’t get caught up in sweeping Generalities regarding anything, especially Politics or “woke” culture.
I think I see signs of it’s demise on the Horizon. People are waking up, here in the US, (including some Liberals) and they don’t like what they are seeing.
The Change that will come from this may not be without violence. As the “other side” will fight hard to try to keep their new found Power, but in the End, they will lose.
The Majority are not on their side, they act like they are, they might even believe that lie themselves, but it is still just a lie.
Interesting Selco mentions flags.
This past 4th of July weekend, and especially on Independence Day itself, I saw more cars, trucks, and motorcycles flying the Stars and Stripes than I have ever seen before.
Most of the homes up here have the American flag flying.
And then this morning I read the Utah chapter of BLM has declared the American flag as racist.
I get the idea of “staying put,” but if I were to change a given habit that I have been doing for years, that would attract more attention.
Sir, with all due respect I don’t believe that you understand Americans. Many of us took an oath to “Protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States” and that oath has no expiration date attached.
You might try understanding the Battle of The Alamo and/or the words of Patrick Henry, ” Give me Liberty or give me death”.
There is a reason why our National Anthem ends by stating that America is “The land of The Free and the Home of The BRAVE”.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t believe the same is said about Bosnia?
You are seeing betrayal but I’m seeing “live under cover”. Your no good to the nation if your butt is rotting in prison or all your 2A resources have been confiscated.
Another way to put this; live 2 lives. One is the live everyone sees; social postings, what you talk about, no politics to be part of, etc. The other life is the real you. Your friends and family are on the same page, you are quietly prepparing for the realities of this crazy world swirling around. These 2 can intersect-to a point. But the gray person knows what is coming, trying to survive it, and making sure that their circle thrives in the coming chaos. Life one is just the window dressing.
Sandra T.
There is an old saying which states, ” If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything”. Of course the other saying which fits is, “All it takes for Evil to triumph is for Good Men to do nothing”.
Gray Man or Good Man?
Roger that,Selco. It is sometimes very difficult for me to ‘stay put’, or to remain ‘gray’. Honestly with things going on the way they are,I don’t know how long I can do it. The fact that the FBI is no longer the apolitical agency it’s supposed to be, is really quite frightening.
The problem with this philosophy is when do you ever stop sliding down the slippery slope to becoming the cause of your own enslavement? I like SELCO but he would do well to remember Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s admonition to Russians:
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation”
I am not grey….I am RED, WHITE and BLUE
I love how people who have never been through anything think they know more than someone who has been through something.
You are no good dead or rotting in prison or without your tools of resistance. Going around strutting like a rooster is a fast track to handing things over to a regime.
Apparently we have forgotten our very own history. We did not win against the British by lining up on the battle field in neat little rows and trading shots. We won because we fought like the native fighters. Strike from cover and fade back into the wilderness. That is the perfect gray man scenario right there.
If you make yourself a target before the battle begins you are toast plain and simple.
Way back in the ’80s when it wasn’t legal to homeschool my mom decided to do it anyway. Did we tell everyone and brag about it? Nope. We stayed home during school hours and told everyone I had transferred to a local Christian school. It wasn’t entirely a lie as they were who sold us the textbooks and gave me a yearly test.
Colleen, We Patriots maybe “no good rotting is prison” , but you are just plain NO GOOD! Try growing a spine
?? Seriously. A thoughtful critique and you go all snowflake and character attack on me? Yeah you are going to survive real good with character like that.
You have ZERO idea of what I am doing, what I am planning on doing, or capable of doing. If y’all think you are going to deal with the impending situation by going at it like it’s an action movie, you are going to have a very painful introduction to reality when it all shtf.
Error #1 You assume that by not strutting around like a rooster that I(actually we, I’m married) are surrendering to the reset. Being gray man is actually practicing OPSEC until the time is right. Error #2 That flash, volume and showiness guarantee success and that guerrilla warfare(figurative or literal) aka going gray man, means hiding in cowardice or giving up. Error #3 that this is going to be easy, that we are a guaranteed a win just because we are the good guys and that it won’t really hurt too much or destroy your life. True revolutionaries are willing to sacrifice everything in order to try and create a better life for their children or descendants. BUT one must wisely choose the battles engaged in because senseless loss of life, property or advantage is throwing yourself or tools away just to make a bang! Bangs are noise without substance. Every single sacrifice Must, Must count for the greater good of America.
Volume or visibility doesn’t equal wisdom. Camouflage was invented for a reason.
Boo Hoo, poor baby! OPSEC is just an excuse for being a frightened little girl. As far as having a zero idea, you have no idea who I am, what I have accomplished in life or what my plans are.
Given this post, you seem to really suffering from “Rambo syndrome” not I.
Tell me, how was Hitler defeated? By people “hiding out/ going gray” or by American Patriots kicking his butt?
I’ve been shot at more times than I can remember, fixed/treated more gsw’s and knifings than most people see their entire life on TV.
What you don’t seem to understand is that Selco gets off putting Preppers down. Maybe it is because he is a Serb, who NATO bombed the crap out of. Oh, by the way, Russians refer to Serbs as their Little Brothers.
?? You seem unable to see the forest for the trees. You seem obsessed that going gray means cowering in a corner doing nothing. I have clearly and repeatedly stated otherwise. Attack the argument not phantasmal word definition based upon assumptions.
We defeated Hitler with a standing army that was fully supported by both the American government and the civilian populace. That is an apples to oranges analogy. In this case we would be the civilians going up against the standing army, or at least aspects of the standing army(I don’t believe all the military would go against the civilian population but some will). Plus this isn’t a nice clean war with battle lines, declared leaders and a cohesive battle plan. All we have are scattered civilians, with great heart and conviction, no plan, and no leadership. Little pop up groups will be put down like rabid dogs and declared such on the national news and have zero impact on the ultimate goal. Like I said this isn’t a movie where a little band of teenagers takes out the invaders with grandpas guns and grit. 😉
The only put downs I’ve seen in his stuff is aptly directed. He seems to be against the deluded types who think they are all that because they prepped soonest, bigger than anyone else and have more toys(weapons) they are going to strut it out and cower the big bad gov when it comes knocking or maybe even take the fight to them. This isn’t a game, a movie or going to be fun if/when it happens. It is all the bad things you have ever seen wrapped up into one big ball dropped right into your lap, your spouse’s lap, your kid’s lap and your parent’s & grandma’s lap. Ugly with no back up to pull you out.
If you don’t go guerilla, gray, you will go down in a blaze of glory and leave no mark for this nation because you burnt out when you could have stuck it out a fought.
Okay – personally insulting Selco is out of line.
He doesn’t “get off on putting preppers down” – he is here to help and to share the reality of his own experience, and what’s more, he is one of my closest friends. It’s fine to disagree, but insulting our writers isn’t okay. We all need to look at different opinions and learn from the experiences of others. That doesn’t diminish your own experiences.
Keep it civil.
I am only here due to Selco so I concur, ok your little pansies you come up to New York City with it’s gun control laws and SWAT teams and you pull that big bad militia shit, your brains will be over the streets before you can say Donald Trump. Being American does not make you a SUPERMAN. as the veterans of the First Civil War or any war for that matter. Remember, Superman is from Krypton are you? Humans are humans and from what i see they obey for the most part and try not to do anything too dangerous to their health. Selco when he spoke about his experience reminded of of an amped up version of Seventies NYC which I grew up in, from what I saw then Selco is 100 percent correct that people will behave like that when they got nothing to eat and no government to stop them, 1977 New York City blackout go look it up! The underclass declared it was Christmas and looted all the stores. This man deserves praise for relating his very painful experiences to us so we may not be caught off guard, tired of wussies would never been in the real shit thinking they know more than Selco. You want to take on the government well it is right there waiting for you, stop thinking like 5 years old and grow up. Selco screw these people they not know what they do, keep playing in your Call of Duty fantasy world, in real life there is NO FUCKING RESET BUTTON. You will be shot down like dogs and thrown into a pit full of lime if there are enough idiots to deal with. My father was a veteran of Korea you know what he told me? SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO RETREAT IN ORDER TO ADVANCE! My father a veteran of war who had horrible nightmares about the war and heard in his sleep how he did not want to kill and was told but you have to, who survived the real thing and knows the truth, you do what you have to do.
Thank you Daisy.
Its odd that some commentators can’t stop insulting others that they haven’t met, but they think they will form a close knit community where everyone cares and shares and trades equitably.
God bless you all.
Seek wisdom above all else.
Ron
(I’m only a sinner saved by the grace of God)
No, this is normal human behavior with social media of any type. I count 25% of the population on the “right” side as potential threats to the very people and beliefs they pretend or believe they stand for! Read this information, evaluate it, and use or discard as needed. Thin skinned will get you no where. Block out the noise and listen!
Seminole Wind you’re a moron. You talk about Selco “putting other preppers down” when the man is talking about his own experience. In actuality here you are doing the same thing you complained of; YOU’RE the one putting people down here by insulting them in the comments.
Sad to say I’m starting to see the very same BS on the right that the left has been pulling; you’re not allowed to have an opinion and get shut down for having an unpopular one. Well, I hate to be the one to tell all y’all but opinions are just that. OPINIONS. NOT FACTS. It seems no one can speak anymore without someone else getting butthurt and trying to shut them down. It’s pathetic. Talk about special snowflakes.
I respectfully disagree with the article to an extent, about going gray and staying hidden. (Just my personal opinion) I would want others, especially younger generations, to know they’re not alone in the fight against this tyrranical agenda. Knowing there are others out there that still share your values can keep their spirits up and motivate them to make necessary changes and continue to fight for what they believe in. I’ll keep fighting for my country, I’ll continue to wear my MAGA hat and keep my American flag on my truck. The like minded folk can rise up and stand together against this BS. If we lose, we lose. But at least we go down fighting.
Remember, the Left has paid trolls commenting on all sites to the Right. The trolling has been increasing quite a bit over the past year. They want these sites to have crazy comments so they pull the ol’ “See, I told you they were crazy” BS.
Just a reminder, Rj, at Kent State, our military shot and killed college kids. The shooters claimed that their “lives were endangered” by kids armed with text books….the nearest one killed was 80 yards away. This is just a reminder of the people you will be facing when you decide to “rise up” with your protests and it ends up in the streets.
-Seminole Wind,
That is a bit rough eh?
I have noted in the past that ones geophysical location may dictate their behavior.
Wearing a MAGA hat in Portland OR, sure you should be able to wear it with the assumption of 1stA right. But you are likely to get the crap kicked out of you.
Same goes for the recent LA Wi Spa protests and counter protests that lead to violence.
Then there was the small town outside of Cincinnati Ohio, BLM protest. Lets just say the locals were not so welcoming.
Looking at the 2020 (or even 2016) county voting maps, you can see where one point of view, political view etc. is predominate. Those of that view point will likely feel more secure than someone of the opposite point of view.
It is a sad state of affair in America.
Fact is, I am not going to change their minds and they are not going to change mine. Best we agree to disagree, go our separate ways, form two differing nations where the two shall never meet.
That is a lot better than a shooting war.
Mr. Marine, well said,
OPSEC…Do you have a cell phone? Do you have a debit or credit card? Do you use cash all the time? Do you have a toll tag? Do you have a mortgage? A car payment? A license plate? Folks…not saying OPSEC is not important, but no matter what you can only be so “grey.” Back in the day we all didn’t have all this “stuff.” Easier to be grey then. Your electronic footprint alone gives you away more than you know. Do what you can to minimize. It isn’t the end all to be all. You can get lost in the noise. Common sense…remember that?
There comes a time when you have to stand up and be counted. Right now the loud minority, those who are willing to speak out loudly, hold the rest of us relatively normal people hostage. We will see how that works over time as the majority gets tired of the “ankle biting.” People just want to “feel” safe and have their “stuff.” They will follow anyone who they think will deliver that. Problem is the other side probably has overreached. They should have paced themselves a bit. You know pot, frog, turning up the heat? Too much too soon has caused people to say, “wait a minute..that’s not right!” So who knows…..
Selco has good information from his experiences: sift through and take what works for you. But that area of the world is culturally different. Read it’s history…it’s people and history are not like the US. You had TIto who held it together for a long time: then he died. All those ethnic issues came home to roost: Serbs, Croats, BH melting pot, etc. Sorry Selco, but we are not even on the same playing field. Which is good for us in the long run. Not saying it’s going to easy, but I don’t think it’s going to go down the same as the former Yugoslavia did. But hey who knows Basic Human Nature at its most primitive level is pretty brutal…case in point – lots of ethnic cleansing on all sides of the Former Yugo conflict. Serbs just got the worse “Press.”
Say what you want about “prepping”…I call it “prudent” not prepping. Adapt to your environment…or not… BTW…commenting here (because I am sure this site is “mined” for commentary) is not “being grey.” Just saying…
Duh, you added nothing! Once the balloon goes up, then the game of the End begins, lay low. Even the military practice out in the open and write books on tactics. You can know what the people have planned, stopping it every time in the USA? GOOD LUCK with that, just saying.
A spine dear Breezy One? So far the body count is Antifa-BLM is near zero, not so true on the “Patriot” side including Ashley Babbitt.
Talk is cheap, UNTIL it’s NOT. There are HOW many folks *Still* in special DC prison cells for 23 hours a day for the January 6th incident? Basic psychological warfare to FORCE Conversions, no charges worth bringing to court so let the ROT eh?
A spine helped Ashley Babbitt until it did not.
God issued all of two ears, two eyes and ONE Mouth. Maybe listening is not a worthless as speaking nonsense?
For what my opinion is worth, I agree with you, Colleen. Attracting attention is a good way to end up dead, and of no use to anyone. OTOH Solzhenitsyn’s words are also true. However, there’s an intelligent way to fight and a stupid way to fight. Running one’s mouth on social media is the stupid way. Note as another example, how the Jan 6 party is being portrayed. Those people are being demonized to the hilt because the elites were directly attacked, and if they don’t make an Example then other attacks are sure to follow. No, painting a target on your back isn’t the way to fight here. Guerilla tactics will serve far better. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising saved many lives. Sticking one’s finger in a dike is one thing, if there’s a reasonable chance of successfully turning the tide. Standing there screaming at a tsunami is stupid and likely to result being drowned like an unwanted kitten.
Selco understands Americans very well. It can happen here, and it IS happening here. Choose your methods wisely.
I am old enough and been through enough to know that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Either you stand for something, or you will fall for anything. I am not saying flaunt it around. I never went walking around by myself in the Red Zone wearing a flag (or a bullseye on my back). But it must be made clear to the powers that be that there is a definite limit on what we will tolerate before we will take a stand, even if it costs us our lives or at the least all we have. Unlike most of the European understanding of going along to get along, we have a deep and rich inheritance and history of fighting for what we believe in. We are not fools, but we also do not go silently into that good night. We may go to our doom, but there will be no question what we fought for. Not by anyone who is worth a damn anyways. The simple reality is, if things get to the point where I gotta watch what I say and do in the public forum that much, then what exactly am I trying to survive?
Thank goodness I’ve been reading your articles for long enough to know that you are right on spot with this information. Thanks to you Daisy, my husband and I were prepared for this planned virus by you know who. And we never once ‘freaked’ out, I followed along with what articles you were printing and they all fell into place. And you are right again, people need to pay attention, because it is happening here, and they aren’t finished yet because they are losing control, so they have to step it up to gain control again, never ending but they will do whatever they have to. Yes it can happen in America, and I do believe it already is, well…got to get our ducks in a row..
SABOTAGE
Regarding the “leading 2 lives” comment, this is a good summary of the early 1950s TV series “I led three lives” starring Richard Carlson, based on the true history of Herbert Philbrick who became a member of the Communist Party, a spy for the FBI, and a seemingly ordinary citizen in public.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045397/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl
It was also the favorite show of Lee Harvey Oswald before he joined the US Marines about the time that TV series ended, before he went to Russia, and before he was set up to take the fall for the JFK assassination, a hit that US Army crypto operators learned was in the planning at least two weeks before … and whose reports were immediately classified by the CIA until President Trump declassified them.
So the concept of leading multiple lives has a history.
–Lewis
What a timely article for a very genuine struggle that has been put on me this week – I would love some input, and I think this is the perfect spot for it:
My workplace is a very liberal nonprofit in a very liberal large city in a very liberal state. I live in a suburb that is primarily Conservative, as am I. That’s neither here nor there, but as you can imagine from that background, a whole lotta “you gotta be kidding” has come out of my mouth over work-related stuff in the near-decade I have been there. This week, they are now requiring us to sign a set of bullet-point action items. I do not disagree with the action items, and would sign them. It’s the intro I disagree with, in fact not even the whole paragraph, just the very first sentences:
“Racism is a dehumanizing system based on upholding the illusion of superiority of the white race and inferiority of other races. It is a root cause of inequality, poverty and the disproportionate distribution of resources in our society.”
The rest is pretty much standard anti-racist, diversity and inclusion stuff. Like I said, even bullet points I wouldn’t disagree with. I cannot get past that first part, though, and beyond the offense to people of my color — including hard-working employees of my color, but all in general — it is angers me that this seems like a covert way to force us to sign a petition to redefine the word racism.
My husband says don’t worry about it, it’s just a document. A friend says she is afraid to lose her job if she doesn’t sign, though she disagrees. I could lose mine and be ok, maybe even sue, but is this illegal if everyone has to sign it? I really don’t know. Plus you make yourself a target (or they will).
Thoughts?
Do as the Russian peasants did when they came to the knowledge of how badly they’d screwed up by electing the Bolsheiviks to power: learn to speak Soviet. A lie to a liar is fair play if it buys you time, allows you to keep your income source, and avoids a useless confrontation. Remember Selco’s circles of control. Can you control this? Or are you better off controlling you?
Arguments certainly worth considering! Thanks very much for taking the time to respond!
Since the black slave owners and traders in American (and in world) history (along with the white slaves) would view that initial statement as incredibly ignorant and stupid …
Multiple approaches and thoughts
1. Sign it with a fine pointed black Sharpie if there’s room to add an exception taken for those first sentences or paragraph.
2. Ask first what the consequences are of doing as described in #1 above.
3. Start looking immediately for a replacement job or self-employment opportunity regardless of whether item’s #1 or #2 are acted upon.
4. Sign it as is and let your conscience cost you a good night’s sleep for the rest of your life.
5. Adopt the mindset that NO JOB can be allowed to be so permanent in your mind and circumstances that you allow yourself to become its slave. Any employee must have the understanding that an employer is at risk of being fired should its conduct become unconscionable.
6. The 13th Amendment only pretended to outlaw slavery …but listed punishment for convicted crimes as exceptions. Today there is a huge industry of prison labor where the prison / courts / police / legislative industrial complex has quotas to fill. The result is the largest prison population in the world, some of it for artificial offenses that should never have gone into law. The US has only 5% of the world’s population but 25% of its prisoners.
There are other exceptions. Registration for the military draft is another. Being either drafted (or blackmailed by threat of draft) into frequently fraudulent wars for the benefit of the military-industrial-congressional complex (as Eisenhower’s first draft of that famous speech was written) is another disguised example of slavery. I personally experienced that version of coerced slavery for years even though I was paid as an officer — and still received a draft notice in the mail while on active duty. And color didn’t matter — no color was exempt from such slavery.
The US didn’t outlaw slavery — it just fraudulently changes the label whenever circumstances are convenient.
Today’s use of the word racism is the leftist “wild card” label for anything they don’t like and would like to see erased. It is an abominable misuse of the original Noah Webster dictionary of American English.
–Lewis
Lewis, thank you so much for taking the time to lay out those options. I am/was having a difficult time seeing my way clearly on this, but that helped a lot, and especially the additional information which helps elucidate the extent of the issue. Appreciate this immensely, and it is nice not to feel like I am being too “fragile” (oh yes, that one, too) about it.
Just wanted to clarify that Lewis’s comment was in response to a post I had posted, which I subsequently asked to have removed in the interest of remaining gray (had potentially-identifying info). So what he’s calling ignorant and stupid has nothing to do with the excellent article.
There’s no shame in ‘Tactical Retreat’
The serenity prayer comes in handy for these times also.
God, grapnt me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change.
Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference.
Great article.
Grey is a great color on me as well. I don’t say a word to anyone anymore, just act like a “Stepford wife” and prepare….mind, body and soul. I have quit trying to convince anyone, including hubby n grown kids. They think I am nuts and need a shrink. I have found a couple persons in my area that I would have never in a million years thought were like me. I don’t feel so alone any more. I am staying gray, deactivated all social media last year, don’t voice my opinion, cache of preps (because I don’t trust my family) and pray. Pray Pray Pray. I am taking care of my mind, body and soul. I will say that I am afraid, but fear is good, because it keeps me on my toes and makes me more situationally aware. I also got that “you’re special and unique” knocked out of me a very long time ago and Thank God for that.
What you said is very true, a book I read from someone who lived in a similar situation under Franco wrote a book called ‘How to be invisible’, you can buy it a your local book store or download it from the internet. I recommend it to anyone who wants to stay below the radar or be invisible. Take care and stay safe
This has been planned for 100 years and there was a very old book that wrote about this…
Love your information as it is real world. Financially ruining the middle class as opposed to shooting them and reeducating them is the modern take on totalitarian rule. Once people cannot shelter and feed themselves, the fun begins. The real brutality will come later CBDC and consolidation of countries into regions.
If the USA is to be absorbed/absorb the shit-hole countries near it, I want the region to be called Bauhaus, in honor of the Mutant Chronicles!
I anticipate me being a speed bump to the enemy and those opposed to the preservation of the Constitution and the USA! If I can take out 1 or 2 Chinese/UN troops when they come to suppress citizens of the USA for the dems, I will die peacefully.
I foresee myself as the guy who is too injured to go on with the mission. You give me a few grenades, and extra magazine and light my cigarette. My buddies continue and a couple minutes later they hear explosions, screams of the enemy and then silence. Yep, that is my fantasy, moment of non-reality. I have zero fantasy of surviving all the violence that is coming, I will try but am spiritually ready for any outcome.
Thank you Daisy and Selco. The article is much truth. From reading the comments, I sense a lot of anxiety. Facing these truths is a part of preparing. Hopefully you will be able to respond to what’s coming calmly after facing your own feelings about it. I am always more rational when I am calm. I also tend to think of ways and means better when I am calm. Peace be with you all as we move forward through this.