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An excerpt from Selco’s 4th Anthology (NEW!)
I have read about Hurricane Helene, the government response, and folks dying and suffering there…and I read about it weeks and months after all that happened.
It did not catch my attention until someone pointed that to me.
I do agree it is very far from me, but still, as I call myself a survivalist, I might read about it earlier.
Anyway.
It might be a good example to illustrate a couple of thoughts in this article that you need to memorize.
You are alone
It is like that saying (or joke) when a soldier, after months of training and mentally and patriotically preparing about what war is about and why he needs to fight in that war, finally, in the middle of battle, understands it and says loudly, “OMG, they trying to kill me”.
In essence, it is about staying alive. And no matter what they say to you, when tough times come, it is about YOU, YOUR preparation, and what YOU built for survival.
When the SHTF happens, there are (generalized) or there might be two cases:
- It is a localized bad event
- It is huge (state or even worldwide event)
For us here in this article first case is important. If it is a very bad event, you may expect that even if the world is still normally turning around outside of the area of SHTF, you are going to spend some time alone with what you prepared until help arrives.
Depending on the event, it may pass days, weeks, or even months until help arrives.
So, you may listen on the radio to how the world lives normally outside while you are suffering hunger and waterborne illness 50 miles from them.
In today’s sick world, you can expect even a media blackout about your localized SHTF event because the government responded badly (and they do not want the public to know about it) or even because they partially caused the event (bad nature governing, local chemical spills, malfunction of plants, bad security…)
The point here is that even if the event is localized, it still can be like the end of a world situation for you, with a lack of water, food, electricity, absence of law…for weeks.
It is still real life and death.
And always keep in mind the hypocrisy of government or ruling forces, no matter where and how modern your society is.
The world today and help from outside
I strongly believe that we are living in a world where we are conditioned (often, I think deliberately) to be bombarded with streaks of fast and irrelevant news, or in other words, to be dependent on flashy news.
You and your event (localized SHTF) are only short, flashy news.
Ruined houses, bodies on the street, a news reporter who looks “worried” with a hard hat or helmet on his head (depending on the event) interviewing someone who lost his family member as he “juices” from that person’s statements of sorrow that will make news more “flashy.”
When the camera goes off, the guy who lost his wife in the hurricane will stay alone again.
Reporters will go away to some other flashy event, and the majority of folks in front of the TVs, laptops, or cell phones will look for some other news.
Folks in the area of the event will continue to suffer, even if help from outside arrives, because government machinery is, for a long time, too slow, too corrupted, and too much geared toward itself and not to the people who are in need.
What I am trying to say is even if you are in the middle of the SHTF in a very localized event, where the outside world is functioning, you are just short news on the TV for numerous reasons, nothing more.
You are surviving localized horrible weather events, not worldwide nuclear war, but you still need to count only on yourself and your preps and people only close to you for some time.
Keep that in mind when you say to yourself “I am not preparing for civil war, I am preparing for couple days of bad weather event where help is couple of days away.
Personal note
On a personal note…I remember the time when I acquired batteries for my small portable FM radio.
There I was, in a very cold room, hungry, with diarrhea for days because I did not boil collected water, and the sounds of shellings around me.
I turned on the radio and listened for 20 minutes to the news from a neighboring state. It was mostly regular news, weather, politic stuff, even some celebrity’s death.
And at the end, there was a one-minute statement where European politicians expressed their “deep worry” about the situation with civil war in my country.
One minute and deep worry and nothing else.
The world outside keeps turning, people live, kids go to school, families buy cars, go on holidays…and most of them do not even know the name of my region, not to mention what is happening there. But at least the guys who rule are “deeply worried.”
You may say it was a long time ago, and it was a drastic example – civil war.
You are right, but I would say to you that today people even more do not give f*ck about what is happening.
We have that bombardment of irrelevant news, celebs showing their butts on Instagram. We are glued to TikTok flashes and FB arguments.
We are (well, most of us) ignorant idiots.
So, take care of yourself, build a network close to you, prepare locally, and do not trust the system.
Do not end up hungry, cold, and sick in a one-minute news report.
Don’t miss *Selco’s 4th Anthology* with 13 articles that have never been published before!
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 #1 New Release paperback, The Dark Secrets of Survival here.
- Take advantage of a deep and profound insight into his knowledge by signing up for his online course SHTF Survival Boot Camp.
- Learn the inside story of what it was really like when the SHTF with his online course One Year in Hell.
- Find his website here: SHTFSchool.com
Real survival is not romantic or idealistic. It is brutal, hard, and unfair. Let Selco take you into that world.
7 Responses
“I strongly believe that we are living in a world where we are conditioned (often, I think deliberately) to be bombarded with streaks of fast and irrelevant news, or in other words, to be dependent on flashy news.”
I would recommend reading Amusing Ourselves to Death by – Neal Postman –
I found that to be a very thought-provoking book; read it a few years ago.
Thanks Selco for some valuable insights….and you’re right…. “THEY” don’t give a damn about us.
Thank you for reminding us of the Hurricane Helene victims. I’ve not moved on. They are our fellow Americans and they’re suffering. The federal government’s response/lack of response/ignoring them is beyond disgraceful.
(note to Daisy: please keep reminding us.)
Have you noticed how they are running constant ads on the MSM about help for LA, but not a peep about North Carolina?
Is anyone really surprised?
Read Elie Wiesel book called “Night”. If he and his family only acted upon opportunity to escape again and again when everything was WIDE open but did not.
Only he survived.
Thank you, Selco. I learned this lesson when living in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. So many lost so much. At least we got news coverage for a month or two. But the work was only just beginning. Hard to believe that was almost 20 years ago!