by Patrice Lewis
I have a little fantasy which I’ll tell you about it in a moment. First, let me digress to an article I read several years ago. I regret I don’t remember enough details to do an internet search on it, but here’s the gist:
A man committed some sort of misdemeanor crime. He retreated to his rural home and stubbornly refused to appear in court. Rather than instigate what could easily become an armed standoff, authorities informed the man he would be arrested the moment he set foot off his property.
They cut off his water. They cut off his power. (I don’t know if they cut off his mail.)
And yet – he and his family stuck it out for TEN YEARS. For ten years, they were entirely self-contained and made no outside trips at all. After that ten years, the authorities apparently decided the man had been sufficiently “punished” for whatever crime he committed, and lifted the injunction. Then, and only then, did he emerge from his self-imposed exile.
I must admit – putting aside whatever misdemeanor he committed – I have to admire this guy. I’m not saying those ten years were easy or fun. I don’t know how close he or his family came to starving. I don’t know what kind of untreated medical issues they had to deal with. I don’t know how they handled laundry or other sanitation matters.
But they made it. They survived. Whatever your views on this fellow’s shenanigans, you have to admit it was a neat trick.
How does this relate to my fantasy?
Wouldn’t it be something to be completely self-contained for ten years and still manage to stay alive? That said, I’m afraid it will remain a fantasy. I’m currently 58 years old and my husband is 63. We’re in excellent health, but our peak strength is behind us. So, in lieu of being able to self-isolate for ten years, we’re concentrating on becoming anti-fragile instead, a far more achievable goal.
I found the term “anti-fragile” in an American Thinker piece entitled “How to Fight the Woke – and Win” in which the author stated, “In war, you must always secure your supply lines. One of the Woke’s most powerful weapons is economic pressure, so take that away from them as much as possible. Being anti-fragile will allow you to stand firm when you need to speak the truth.”
The fear of losing everything is very real.
Between the pandemic, potential food shortages, social unrest, and possible economic collapse, we are living in uncertain times. Many people are terrified of the cancel culture, which essentially is a cult of bullies. It’s hard to speak up or fight back when doing so could destroy everything you’ve worked for – your job, your business, your career, your home, your family’s security, even your physical safety.
“My husband has been dealing with this at work for nearly 20 years, and yes, it has recently gotten noticeably worse,” one of my readers said. “We are brainstorming ways to increase the number of income streams that are not dependent on him having the job he currently has, because the conditions are NOT going to improve.”
There are even some warnings about the cancel culture in a cashless society.
Addison Wiggin on the Daily Reckoning wrote, “But there’s another angle to the cashless society that hasn’t gotten much attention: What if the powers that be can ‘cancel’ people with unpopular political opinions?”
That’s why it’s important to become as “anti-fragile” as possible. The less vulnerable we are, the more we can stand tall and fight back against the bullies.
How can you become less fragile?
Consider these options:
- Can you cultivate multiple income sources? The fear of losing one’s employment is a driving force behind many people’s silence. If you can build up a number of different ways to earn money, then you’re not left destitute if you lose your job.
- Can you reduce your debt? Debt is one of the biggest reasons people cling to jobs in hostile work environments.
- Can you reduce your expenses? Low-cost living is one of the most powerful tools in anyone’s financial arsenal. The fewer expenses you have, the less vulnerable you are to an economic interruption.
- Can you transition to working from home, either full-time or with multiple part-time occupations? The less you have to venture into a hostile society, the better.
- Can you skip college (and its associated student loan debt and insane hostility to American values) and train in the trades or other fields where demand is high? I’ve spent years preaching about the evils of the college industrial complex. Many degrees are worthless in the marketplace and leave the graduates burdened with massive student loan debt.
- Can you harden your social media position? It’s no accident people are migrating to platforms such as Gab or Parler, which are less likely to discriminate based on political suasions.
- Can you leave the city and move somewhere less chaotic and less expensive? Not only will this be safer, but it may lower your mortgage.
- Can you back up your computer, your blog, your website? This may sound trivial when compared to the above list – until suddenly your computer crashes or is hacked and you lose immeasurable amounts of data. (Trust me on this.)
- Can you grow your own food? In a crashed economy, food becomes currency, and food security means you can’t be extorted by people seeking control over you.
- Can you homeschool? Having control over your children’s education gives them both stability and continuity.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
Learn to eat lentils, folks
Obviously these are difficult steps for many people – which, sadly, means they’ll have to continue what they’re doing (shutting up and keeping their heads low). Nor can any of this be done overnight. It takes time to pay down debt or cultivate alternate income streams.
The point is, the more you can become self-sufficient, the less people can tell you what to do, threaten your livelihood, “cancel” your existence, or otherwise bully you into submission. Becoming anti-fragile won’t be easy, but it’s a goal worth striving toward.
This is not a new concept. There’s a story about the Greek philosopher Diogenes. Another philosopher named Aristippus had obtained a comfortable position at the court of the tyrant-king Dionysius. One day, watching Diogenes preparing a humble meal of lentils, Aristippus observed, “If you would only learn to compliment Dionysius, you wouldn’t have to live on lentils.” To which Diogenes replied, “If you would only learn to live on lentils, you wouldn’t have to flatter Dionysius.”
This sums up the tactic of being anti-fragile. Maybe you can’t self-exile for ten years, but at least you can give the middle finger to the cancel culture.
About Patrice
Patrice Lewis is pleased to announce the availability of the complete collection of 52 Country Living Series ebooklets representing over 17 years of homesteading experience. Subjects include preparedness, frugality, rural skills, food preservation, and more. Click here for details.
Not a bad article, but If I remember the story right, the man’s family was not affected.
They went to the store and did stuff outside of the property.The law enforcement had no legal standing to go after them, only the father who had the outstanding charge.
As for the rest of the article, being able to be self sufficient is pretty much just common sense, for a Prepper. As for being Anti Fragile ( is that even a word?), it starts with your mental attitude.
Are you robust enough to speak your mind and deal with whatever fall out occurs, or do you cower and hold your tongue.
Unfortunately I think the concept the author is promoting is hiding and being a coward, so that one day (when will that ever occur?), that you might be in a ” safe” enough place to speak your mind and voice your views. We live in a real world and if you don’t take a stand regardless of the cost, they you are destined to always be in submission to others.
As Ben Franklin put it: Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
A coward?
Where are you even seeing that?
There are people in the media who if they do not follow the woke line, get harassed, face hostile work places, are fired or forced to resign.
Same goes in academia circles. Professors forced out, fired, for not know-toeing the woke line.
Small business or restaurants are too.
More than a few have faced threats of physical violence on them, their families or their places of business.
Mic, I find it interesting that your comments are always along the lines of “the author is wrong.” When I look through all your comments historically, in every single one, you’re correcting the author, stating they have a lack of understanding, or that their opinion holds some moral or ethical flaw. You have done this today to Patrice, yesterday to Toby, and repeatedly to Selco and me. It makes me curious why you read the articles here if you believe all of us are so lacking.
Patrice, I can assure you, is far from cowardly. One of the things Toby and Selco teach is the wisdom of “not being there” when bad things happen. This, too, is not cowardly. It’s common sense. It’s survival.
Your high and mighty ethics may make you feel better about yourself but if survival is your goal, they will do nothing but get in your way. I think I speak for most of the authors on this site when I say that I eagerly await your own blog so we can learn from you in a less contentious format.
Have a great day!
Daisy
Daisy, thank you for posting Ms. Lewis’ article. I read her articles regularly on WND.com. Her columns are posted on the weekends, and they are good reads.
Thank you, Daisy, for addressing this issue with Mic. I have reached the same conclusion but would not have presented it as eloquently as you did. I, too, wondered why Mic did not have his own blog. Really enjoyed today’s post.
My impressions was “way to turn a positive negative”, some people are just like that hence the terms “Debbie Downer” and “Negative Nellie”, Let’s ad “Morose Mic”
I enjoyed the article and took it as a pep talk with some words of encouragement and reminders of the things we can do.
Being anti-fragile is not being a coward, it’s actually knowing who the enemy is and staying out of harms way.
Cancel culture people will destroy not only you, but your family and those around you if they so desire.
Anit-fragile is like being the grey man — don’t stand out, just blend in with the background
Yes you most assuredly can voice an opinion, “stand tall in front of the man and beat the drum”, and you will also most assuredly draw attention.
Why draw attention to oneself?
Ego need?
Ego can get one killed. So can ignorance. Both at the same time is the perfect recipe for your life expectancy to be shortened.
Being self reliant, self sufficient, better prepared, is a lot of people’s goals in these times.
The author isn’t a coward, just a realist who has taken a healthy approach to supporting the grey man attitude by staying out of harms way, using self reliant ways, and being resilient in light of troubling times.
THAT attitude is common sense and will ensure her continued survival in the cancel culture we find ourselves in.
Being anti fragile is a good way to express that.
Picture a really rough uncut diamond, and a perfectly sculpted piece of glass resembling the finest gemstone.
Smash that glass. which is beautiful to see, with a hammer and it will shatter into a billion useless pieces.
Smash the ugly rough cut diamond and all that does is make more diamonds which can then be transformed.
Anti fragile is “diamond” thinking.
I’d much rather be an ugly diamond than beautiful glass.
Bravo!! I agree with you one hundred percent Joe!!!
You’re obviously out of the loop; retired or otherwise unemployed, if you think you should just say what you want, even at the cost of ending up on the wrong end of a pink slip! If you’re unemployed, someone is paying your unemployment, welfare, or the like. That’d be me. If you’re on Medicare, someone’s paying your bills. That’d be me. Social Security? Yup; moi. Not everyone can go off the grid, and you’d be griping if they did. Simply put, “free speech” can have consequences, the more exposed you are, the more “hooks” the “woke” can get into you. The less “fragile” you are, the less fronts you need to fight on.
The author is not “(giving) up essential liberty.” She’s BOLSTERING IT; hardening herself against attack. Going into battle unarmored, and with no plan, may sound fun to you, but it sounds stupid to most everyone else…
I really like the idea of being self sufficient. The story of the self isolated man is very interesting. I do how ever have a question
about one of your suggestions.
Quote “Can you skip college (and its associated student loan debt and insane hostility to American values) ”
Can you please explain how college is hostile to family values? Actuality please explain what family values actually mean as well?
In my family, my mother was a teacher, education was a family value along with loving God, honesty, integrity, and a good work ethic (plus many more). When I hear family values, that is what I think of. So you can see why I need some explanation of this.
To me that statement just sounds anti-intellectual.
My daughter experienced this hostile college experience at her university.
She tried to give a counter-liberal point of view and the professor cut her off and told her, her opinion did not matter.
After the 2016 election, she texted me to say there was a police helicopter outside of her window (she lived on 23rd floor of her dorm). There was a riot occurring on campus down below. Anyone of non-liberal thinking . . . well, they were not welcomed.
For the rest of her education, she kept ” . . . my head down and focused on my studies.”
I read a comment recently, if I remember correctly, it was by Walter Williams, that there are ideas so foolish that only an intellectual can believe them.
Or in my experience, some of the most foolish things I’ve read, were written by very intelligent people.
Because I’m highly intelligent myself, I’m not in awe of an Einstein nor a common university professor. But most young people can be snow-jobbed by a smooth talking professor who is trying to convert his students to his ideology. Already when I was in college, I realized that I had to answer questions with what I knew were wrong answers, but those were the answers the professor was looking for based on his ideology. It has gotten worse since I was in college.
Once one of my sons brought home an article recommended by his teacher. 16 short paragraphs making eight points. Each one was based on a logical fallacy—straw man, bandwagon, red herring, ad hominem, etc.—that article could be the basis for training in logic. The article’s main theme was based on self-contradiction. Logic was a required beginning course when I went to college, recently I saw it listed as an upper-class elective. The purpose of the article, and the reason the teacher pushed it, was to convert students to the teacher’s leftist, anti-God and anti-family ideology and for those who didn’t know logic, the article sounded convincing.
Like Patrice, today I recommend that most young people skip college, start work right away or attend trade school, leaving college only for highly technical subjects like engineering. Even some engineering can be mastered by an intelligent high-school dropout. So unless your job requires it, why go to college?
We saw this shutting down of opinions, of questioning and of use of logic in my son’s college experience too. He would ask a question e.g. “and how is all of this going to be paid for” and he was poo pooed and then largely ignored. This likely is where AOC acquired her financial acumen… and “We need to create ‘dignified’ jobs” , the Green New Deal will provide “economic security” for all who are “unable or unwilling” to work.”
How will we pay for this plan? “The same way we did the New Deal, the 2008 bank bailouts and extend quantitative easing,- or maybe billionaires can pay for everything. – oh, okay.
Can you please explain how college is hostile to family values? Actuality please explain what family values actually mean as well?
I would argue the current fanaticism of the gay rights/transgender, & radical feminist movements are firmly anti-family. Some examples:
*On the birth certificate for my newborn son, despite insisting on being listed as the father, I am merely “co-parent identifying as M.” My wife is merely “co-parent that gave birth identifying as F.” I even had the option to list my son’s gender as “X”
*For a job I applied for, the “diversity questionnaire” asked if I identify as gay or transgender, in addition to ethnicity.
*Since the 1990s, radical feminists have been indoctrinating to women to believe men can do nothing right, therefore they must forever pay reparations. These same feminists cannot accept that certain jobs (e.g. military, or firefighters) require high physical standards, & men are generally better suited to those jobs.
*Divorce courts in North America almost exclusively favour women, even excusing drug addicted women with child custody.
Is it any wonder that most men are too afraid to get married & start families with such unstable personalities?
The question for you Kristie is “how old is your mother? When did she stop teaching?” Lot’s of extreme liberal; anti -U.S. radicals in teaching positions. This is likely a result of a concerted plan to undermine our society – so many want control and to control such a great nation, that would be a coup!
I am reminded of a group called the “Frankfurt School” and also The institute for Social Research at Columbia University. How many Professors have been found to be colluding with communist China? How many Universities failed to report large donations from China? Our Universities have been infiltrated with ideologies that are opposed to the ideals and constitutional rights previously embraced by the United States of America. Many universities are complicit in this attempt to install marxism in the U.S. look at many of these “protesters”, they are college kids. Where do you think they learned to hate their countries and themselves?
Oh I’ve been living on lentils for years! I back that advice!
Great article, Patrice! Yes, the cancel culture has gotten much worse at work recently and if you say something that some may find even remotely offensive you are ostracized, disciplined, and potentially fired. Multiple income streams and self-sufficiency are key concepts to protect our families. And, while homeschooling seems on the surface to cost too much money, you can actually save money with one parent training the kids and pursuing more frugal ways with food, clothing, medication, and utility expenses. When I homeschooled my kids, I knew exactly where the best deal in town was for anything we needed, and my kids learned to conserve and shop smartly, too. No after school programs to pay for, less gas needed, and limited eating out because there was time to cook from scratch.
Anti-Fragile, self sustainability, self resilience are all good terms for it.
We have always been of the mind of the less debt you have, the better off you are. Then you dont owe anyone anything.
Greater flexibility.
Unfortunately that is easier said than done in this day and age.
The economists, Charles H. Smith has noted we have been in a period of stagflation for years if not decades, where wages do not rise at the same rate as the cost of living, housing, higher education, healthcare etc.
Unfortunately most but not all Americans fall into the keeping up with the Jones mentality and in fear of missing out, they get themselves into debt. Rather than buy a practical 1,500sqft home that might only cost them 20% of their take home pay, the buy the 2,400sqft home that takes 40% of their take home. Then there is all the stuff to fill that 2,400sqft home, big screen TVs, tablets, furniture, etc. These are the same people who dine out 3-4 times a week and then order in the other times. That restaurant quality kitchen goes unused.
For us, it took financial discipline. A strict budget. Using the snowball effect to pay down what debts we did have. Later this year we will only have the house payment for debt and we plan on putting extra payments toward the principle to pay off the note that much faster.
I would disagree with the author concerning the woke’s economic power. COVID19 has shown how fragile our food system is when meat packing plants, migrant workers, are shut down to surging infections of COVID19. Also displays the long logistical train of getting those processed meats, fruits and veggies, flour from far off states to the local grocery store.
Two observations
A web search confirms my hunch that Nassim Nicolas Taleb in his 2012 book “Antifragile — Things that gain from disorder” coined the term “antifragile.” The reviews on Amazon that are the most extensive are for the 2014 paperback edition, here:
https://www.amazon.com/Antifragile-Things-That-Disorder-Incerto/dp/0812979680/ref=pd_vtp_14_1/146-0052328-3488967?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0812979680&pd_rd_r=fe464e55-3e3b-4580-a6a0-bf38d1f04173&pd_rd_w=PZ04c&pd_rd_wg=R9RVT&pf_rd_p=59828acf-6bde-4d94-96a5-3e2b4a0e0bc6&pf_rd_r=6NN6HY4H2S5MHP5HEXZK&psc=1&refRID=6NN6HY4H2S5MHP5HEXZK
Another classic example of living in isolation for a very long time was the Lykov family of “Old Believers” in Russia that fled into the wilds of Siberia to escape Stalin’s purges in 1936. Wiki tells their story here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykov_family
They were living far enough back in the sticks that World War II came and went without their even knowing of it. There are some current day videos on YouTube about the sole surviving lady of that family. It is an amazing story of resilience under extreme circumstances.
–Lewis
This is 1000% Spot On, and it reflects what I’ve been saying for years, to wit:
I AM NOT A “PREPPER”
I’m not preparing for bad things that might happen, I am changing my life because I am DONE with the insane garbage that has ALREADY happened. For example, I’ve been growing with heirloom seeds for a long long time, because I can collect those seeds, and therefore don’t have to put up with some self righteous blowhard banning the sale of garden seeds. As was done in Michigan by that finger wagging control freak masquerading as a “Governor”.
Any insane, hurtful thing that you can imagine, somewhere there’s a power mad politician who can’t wait for an excuse to do it.
One thing that I would like to add though, is that most of us “do what we do” in places where we can mostly trust our neighbors to at least leave us the heck alone. We don’t talk to them about the deep state, or the dangers of smart devices or fiat currency, and they don’t care if we compost or grow big gardens.
But what if you got new neighbors, against your will, who you absolutely cannot trust? There is a push by the campaign of a certain Presidential candidate to force every neighborhood in America to take in section 8 housing, in the name of “equality”. So all of us who fled the city because we were sick of the crime, the hate, the stink, the garbage, the gangs, the drug addled homeless dude waving his private parts at rush hour traffic, the hypocrite promise of “police protection” in exchange for giving up our gun rights”, well guess what?
They want to force you to put up with that garbage all over again!
Here is the link:
https://joebiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf
Tucked away in a huge list of what else they want is this paragraph:
“Democrats will vigorously enforce the Fair Housing Act and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and hold lenders accountable for discriminatory practices. We will use the federal government to enforce settlements against discriminatory lenders, and require communities to proactively review housing patterns and remedy local policies that have a discriminatory effect.”
Just an FYI. Because this cannot stand
I get being tougher and as self sufficient as possible but the holes in this are making it difficult to productively respond.
I’ve been trying to find this story because I do not believe anyone made it 10 yrs without direct support.
Ain’t no kinda “man” does this to his family over something so trivial.
As far as y’all hiding for 10yrs:
In cowboy wisdom: All you get from straddling a fence is a sore crotch. On one side of the fence you standing in waist high cow poo and the other waist high freezing creek water but it has to be taken care of. You pick a side and work. Same with these spoiled children that need fixing. It ain’t gonna be pretty but it’s gonna happen if you wanna live your life. Sacrifices must be made
Great article, Patrice. What are our weaknesses personally and prepper-wise? How can we shore those up? In battle, a wise enemy attacks the weakest flank because it is the easiest path for victory. Thanks for reminding us to look at where we are weakest and thereby fortify our situation as best we can.
By shoring up our points of weakness, we are less exploitable. Sometimes the wisest path is to have the foresight to see where the battle could be, and take steps to avoid one in the first place. That’s a sign of foresight, prudence and wisdom. Not weakness.
To sum up this article in a few words, ” Embrace the Suck”!
Bye ya’ll , my last post here
Ahhh, yeah.
Embrace the suck.
That is what the wife and I said when we put ourselves on a strict budget, no more dining out twice a week, I think I have had a real steak twice in a year, and I reuse tea bags 3 or 4 times to make iced tea.
If that is what it takes to get you to independence, self sufficient, resilience, call it what you will, yeah.
That is the mind set.
Take pleasure in living a more frugal lifestyle.
Hate to hear that
@Matt in Ok,
Which part?
While I like myself a NY Strip steak, I dont need one on a weekly or monthly basis.
A nice to have.
Not a I have to have weekly.
I hate to hear this will be Seminole Winda last post
We’ll miss you, Seminole Wind. I hope everything is okay!
This author’s insights are spot-on in today’s society. My parents insisted I graduate college with useful degrees (and they were 100% right). I began teaching social studies full-time at 23. I worked with one teaching assistant for many years and one day she told me, “I can’t figure out what you are… conservative, liberal…” and my reply was “Then I’m doing my job.” She agreed 100% (yet I knew we were on two different ends of the political spectrum). I taught the 2016 election with absolutely no complaints from 120 students’ parents, in an extremely liberal town. I always tried my absolute best each day – to be fair, objective and present both sides. Had my students, their families, my colleagues and administrators known I was a conservative, I would have been marginalized or possibly have received poor feedback, observation reports, and year end assessments.
Not a prepper but becoming more interested. Your short article crystalizes everythingI believe. Freedom is priceless. Like I tell my grown kids, save save save, because it is freedom. Thankfully, they get most of the point. And lentils are delicious and incredibly healthy!
Antifragile has a stronger meaning that you seem to be implying in this article. It means not merely non-fragile (not easy to break) but rather outside forces naturally make that which is attacked stronger. In survivor terms, it might mean not just having lots of stuff to get you through difficulty, but skills and the desire and ability to learn more skills as they are needed. Your reaction to threats is not only to avoid them (or worse to ignore them), but to become stronger in ways that counter them. Food shortages make you plant a garden or learn how to fish. Violence makes you train in self defense, such as firearms. Pandemic makes you learn the science behind it and change to become more resistant. Local civil unrest makes you create a real bug out location (be it wilderness or a more rural friend/relative). And so forth.
I’m thinking that you haven’t yet even acknowledged the possibility that big mega social media conglomerates like Twitter, Google, and Facebook are part of the tremendous waste of dollars that put everyone one in the situation where you now believe you have to become a prepper soon. If Google can’t pay you for your “great” content, what good are your backup computer files?
I believe with every fiber of my being that we should all prep, there is going to be famine so if you are not a prepper and haven’t put up lots of canned goods, veggies, meat and fish, plenty of water, OTC meds, non electric tools etc. you will have a very hard time living any kind of a normal life! Many years ago like in our great grandparents and grandparents time everyone prepped, but no one was called by that name. People grew huge gardens and canned the produce. People got chickens and therefore always had eggs. This is just a small sample of the things people just did very natural a number of years ago!
We all need to be preppers, if not, how else will you manage if the grid goes down, no electricity and after a while no running water! So if you haven’t bought goods that you can save for the future, you most probably will not be able to survive at all!!!
As preppers and people who understand that our lives are changing whether we want it to or not, we can feel that something big is coming. I’m sure you feel it like I do. I’ve enjoyed Daisy’s site for years. The thing we have in common here is the desire to prep, but I’m sure we are a diverse group in our politics and our beliefs.
If you have an open mind, I suggest you at least watch the first video of Pastor Dana Coverstone. You need to be aware what millions are viewing whether you believe his dreams or not. People are talking about it and jumping into prepping because of it. People who didn’t listen to you before may be changing their mind.
His first dream on Dec 15, 2019 came true in March and June this year with the pandemic and street protests. Original video from Pastor Dana Coverstone on June 24th, 2020:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SAZGxTiX6bY
If this interests you, this message explains his life after the dreams began. Its kind of long, but helps to reinforce his ministry and his newest dreams.
https://bibly.com/videos/view-563-pastors-warning-dreams-of-judgment-coming-to-america-this-fall-rapture-soon/
Here are three more posts he made to the Church to warn that we need to “brace ourselves” for what is coming.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gJVtFb4F6r4
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wyIt8uTbfbk
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zMll2lD8DNQ
Hope this is received by those who need to hear it.
Pastor Coverstone is a friend of a friend, who confirms that this was all told to some church members back in December. The videos are definitely worth watching
You left of the most important way you can become anti-fragil which is to hold Bitcoin. Bitcoin itself is anti-fragil which means that with every attack it gets stronger rather than weaker.
So what happens if the grid goes down, your virtual wallet will disappear and if you do not have those Bitcoins in your hands you will have nothing. And even if you do physically own Bitcoins, how will you use them and just how many people would want to pay or receive Bitcoin as a payment for anything, just my opinion, personally I will not invest in any Bitcoin or anything else that comes on the Stock Market!!
I’ve been reading Patrice Lewis’ blog for a few years, and enjoy it. Now she’s here too. Yes, her comments hit the spot.
Years ago, I read an article that reported that historically most capitalism started with a robust farming culture, where new businesses were based on surpluses from the farms. They were the most anti-fragile, because even if their business attempts failed, they still ate. For example, Henry Ford was a farmer’s son. If his business didn’t work out, he could return to the farm. In other words, his situation was anti-fragile. If worst came to worst, he would still have had regular meals and a roof over his head.
The strongest economy is one built on savings, not debt. Savings means cutting costs and increasing income. Everything that Patrice mentioned in her article is valid.
Just my two cents. It is interesting that you should mention Henry Ford as he was a big proponent of the early Soviet Union, Communism. Even went over there to help them out. But I guess he saw it for what it was and returned to the U.S.A. Heard this from my Dad as he was a U.S. Army Ambulance Driver in WWI and drove early Fords that they had to put together on the piers in France.
Fortunately I’m retired and there is nothing the ‘cancel culture police’ can do or say that will negatively affect me one way or another. But in consideration of the current work environment, if I were to say now some of the things I said then I would likely be out the door. Sadly many workers live with that sword over their heads in today’s work environment. Who would have thought saying “All lives matter” would get someone fired! Well, it has.
Early-on in my prepping life I quite often read comments where others stated they would just go to the mountains and “live off the land” hunting and fishing. I think the overall community has matured where the error in that strategy is now recognized and discounted. In today’s prepper community, however, I keep reading about how we must be able to “grow our own food”. I grow a garden every year. Sometimes I have good years and sometimes not. Either way, I could never grow enough food to feed even my wife and me until the next harvest. Augment, yes. Self-sustainable, no. Growing or raising your own food is time consuming, labor intensive, and requires a substantial amount of KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities) in addition to equipment and a place to make it all happen. I certainly do not discount the value of augmenting one’s food supply, which most anyone can do to some extent even if its a pot on the porch. Establishing a means to acquire the food you need in addition to what you grow yourself is paramount to survival. I don’t think there exists any “one size fits all”, meaning individuals must decide what works for them.
One lesson on self-reliance from the pre-electric era comes from the real story of the 1794 American Whiskey Rebellion. It was very common for people in many states to distill for many purposes, whether for home use, for trade, or for use as CURRENCY. (Think of a long term outage of electric power…). Here’s the actual history from a much simpler time when the central government was not the all powerful dictatorship that it has become — not the glossed over version from your government school history books:
https://mises.org/wire/whiskey-rebellion-model-our-time
Think of the applications for DIY “money” in today’s Venezuela, or in past collapse Argentina or Zimbabwe… or someplace else…
Next, I learned an unexpected lesson about cooking with lentils a few years ago. I ordered a Hawkins brand pressure cooker from eBay, not knowing its country of origin. Much to my surprise it was manufactured in India, and the extensive cookbook that came with it had much to say about making “dal.” I had no clue that dal meant either lentil or any of many dishes containing lentils. Since India is a country where vegetarian sources of protein is very prevalent, this was a fascinating look at a different culture’s cooking practices.
Finally, I looked over the impressive blog at
http://www.rural-revolution.com
from Patrice Lewis. It’s well worth reading. The only omission that I saw in her 3-item list of recommended blogs was the absence of TheOrganicPrepper.com — an easy item to fix. OK, so I have this weird skill of an ability to see things that aren’t there…
–Lewis
Grammy Chris…I had not heard of Pastor Coverstone, but I so appreciate you posting links to his videos. We do need to brace ourselves, prepare well, and to not become passive.
“It’s no accident people are migrating to platforms such as Gab or Parler, which are less likely to discriminate based on political suasions.” Seriously? Neither of those have open arms to one’s “political suasions”. And both are likely to not be in existence a year from now. One would be best served, IMHO, to avoid both.