Author of The Dark Secrets of SHTF Survival and the online course SHTF Survival Boot Camp
Where are we now?
We are living in a world where fear controls us, or is trying to control us. If we take out all the facts and guesses about the severity of this illness, all that left is fear, and we are being driven to act by that fear.
Among all the fears (fear for health, job, security…) the fear of the unknown ( future) is the greatest and most dangerous.
We as preppers should live and act by the premise of an unknown future.
But when that premise goes worldwide and when common people start to fear from an unknown future, the whole picture can be different.
This whole situation could go in many different directions, but the most probable direction where it will go is not nice. We might be living in times of massive changes.
The individual is nothing
In the name of health, safety, and security, an individual person becomes irrelevant. You or me alone are irrelevant if we are portrayed as, for example, a health hazard or risk for the community. Our rights basically cease to exist.
If you are portrayed as, let’s say, a terrorist, your rights no longer exist.
Not only will you lose your rights, but you will be publicly portrayed as a threat. You will be described in a way that your own neighbors will hunt you down like a rabid animal and then turn you in if you survive.
Now, there are times and places and people who deserve to be hunted. There are real terrorists who deserve to be punished.
But the point here is who decides who is terrorist or a health risk, and who controls the people who make those decisions.
We are living in times when all that gets blurred together and rushed in the name of security. Or in this latest situation, in the name of public health.
I have seen people get quarantined for 28 days in tents without proper food, hygiene, or anything similar just because someone told authorities they are suspicious and may have the virus. People being separated from their families based on an assumption made from some guy who does not know sh*t about medicine and then being put into those tents for weeks.
And yes, it is unconstitutional of course, but nobody cares.
It is an example only, but in times of great fear, a lot of things that used to be unimaginable become real so easily.
Great leaders (on a higher level)
Every hard time has (and had) leaders. Sometimes the whole system works in a way that leaders are not so important. Sometimes great figures emerged in hard times and carry the whole “spirit” of the nations in a good direction.
And sometimes, “false leaders” emerge.
They emerged many times trough the world history, “strong leaders” who led their nations through the hard times in a manipulative way. They channeled their feelings in order to achieve their own dreams or agendas. They turned their dream into what they thought was the “national dream”.
Adolph Hitler led his nation (very simplified) from the times of national disaster, huge unemployment, public shame, and general disappointment to the moments where under his leadership, a majority of his country approved of the extermination of whole nations, by willingly doing it or closing their eyes to it.
This particular example is way too big and complicated for me to explain it, but the point here is that you cannot underestimate the fact that desperate people can be led in wrong directions (by manipulation) in a pretty easy way.
Common folks can do a lot of unimaginable things when there is the right combination of a “real leader,” fear, and desperate times.
Let’s hope we gonna have more real leaders then “real leaders”.
You (on a personal level)
I advocate (just like always) that much more attention be paid to your own “local” level, or small circle, but do not get me wrong, it pays off to be aware of the bigger picture or in time, you might wake up one morning in a society that looks like something from an Orwell book.
On a local or personal level, there are a lot of changes that are noticeable among people in the last few months.
It is more worrying actually that those changes are also noticeable among a lot of people who should be more ready because they are preppers or survivalists:
A picture is better than a thousand words, so I am using it here.
This latest situation came as a huge shock to many preppers too, and in reality, it should not be so huge a shock. It is something that you as a prepper have been preparing for over the course of many years.
It was a huge shock for some of you probably for several reasons, and all those reasons are known and mentioned many times, but yes, it is different when you live it for real. The important thing to understand here, that all of this (no matter how hard it was, and still is) is nothing, compared to the situation that might come after this.
We are only starting to realize a whole bunch of repercussions of all this (economically) worldwide, and nobody is even sure how hard it might be, and where it can lead.
Remember these 5 things.
What I would like to emphasize here, in this article (again) are the things that might become very important in the next period:
- The system is fragile, and usually corrupt. It takes care first for itself. Do not blindly trust it. I’m not saying the system is necessarily your enemy, but I am saying do not trust it. (See this article about the system.)
- It is time to be self-sufficient, self-reliant, and resilient as much as it is possible.
- It is now time more than ever to be quiet about what you prep, how you prep, and where. Publicly be like the majority people around you – scared, more or less, and unsure
- Make connections, know people, find like-minded folks that you may lean on once if the situation deteriorates more.
- Do not blindly trust the media. Try to find and follow your own sources of information. (See this article for more about the media.)
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 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.
Most of the World has made it through the initial shock and is now beginning to struggle with what comes tomorrow. Those that have lost a means to support themselves and their families are especially hard hit, but are they just the beginning? Will the supply chain for essentials deteriorate further and society along with it. What comes next even “IF” businesses are opened back up. What does the “New Normal” ultimately look like and who will be making the decisions? Can “they” be trusted? Just look at some of the Governors in the US – some have issued draconian lock down orders and appear to be focused on “Their POWER” and not people’s safety and well being.
This is a worst case scenario, but still VERY Likely… I think what we have here in the USA is a power struggle, and the Trump Crew will do everything in their power to hold it together past the elections. The dems are hoping to make things much worse so they can regain control. Either way, I think the odds of ‘everything going wrong’ is much higher than ‘getting back to normal’ and even the best outlook is that MAJOR CHANGE is on the way. Something will be done about the massive world debt that everyone sees, it has to be dealt with, some way, somehow. Best Case? Back to a Gold Standard or some hybrid of that, with cryptocurrencies as part of the mix.
Just my 2 cents but I think more to come, we will not see a return to our previous “NORMAL”. Period!
I was a SELCO Subscriber way back, and I must say that the stories alone were worth the price of entry! It’s the MINDSET, SKILL SET and then the Gear Set that counts. SELCO teaches all of this.
OPSEC is important, also. Part of the mindset. Likely the #1 thing…
Thanks for posting this Daisy.
One thing people should consider now is expansion of food security opportunities. Gasoline is cheaper than in many years.
It would make sense to get a contact right now for the farmer food source, get a big truck and go get loads of those crops and poultry, get them marketed directly. There are preppers who have chicken processing equipment, for example. Make deals with them.
People are out of work. They could do food networking tasks for you. With so much going to waste, there are huge opportunities right now.
If you read the article, you will notice there is a BIG difference in how people are treated and how they react in other countries.
So as I have stated before: the experiences of those outside of the US. although interesting, will not necessarily reflect how things would go down here.
Just look at the lock down protests worldwide. Most of them, outside of the US, have had at least some violence involved in them.
Many of those people are having trouble getting or buying, any food at all.
We may have seen shortages or limits on purchases, not been able to buy our favorite brand, but nothing like they have experienced.
And their Governments can’t or won’t help them at all, which is not the case here.
We have food banks, EBT cards, unemployment insurance and now Stimulus checks.
So beware of making inferences on what to expect here vs what happens elsewhere in the World.
The Liberal Mentality believes that we are all the same, throughout the World.
We are not. Don’t buy into that false belief, especially when it comes to Prepping.
While I don’t think anyone needs to go on national TV and show how many rolls of TP, bullets and buckets of grain they’ve got stored, I DO think that preppers need to really be out there now, explaining to people once again that this is why we do what we do. That life is uncertain and being prepared for many things that could happen can only be helpful. If more people prepared we’d be in better shape. Maybe some people might be more willing to listen now, when they have been facing lockdowns at home, closed stores, long delivery times for online purchases and stripped shelves of many items.
check #3 of the five things above…
@ anon
And I disagree with #3 which is why i said what I said. We need to encourage people to prep who haven’t. Use the pandemic as a learning tool for people. No need to tell the world how much you have stored. But we should be encouraging others to follow our lead as maybe now they can see why it’s important. And if non-preppers realize that their neighbors who are just ordinary people are doing this and not just the “hunkered down in the bunker with land mines strategically placed around the property sorts” are prepping, maybe we can make some inroads with them. The more who prep, the better off we will all be in the long run.
Observant people should clearly see by now how this pandemic is being used by globalists to finally put in play what they have planned, but had mostly been stymied from, for decades. Health and safety is even a better excuse than war. An added bonus is that they also have an excuse for the economic collapse that has been coming for some time as a result of the thievery conducted by these “elites”.
Also obvious is who in government at all levels has a penchant for tyranny. I must add that it appears they all are from one political party – Democrat. But even in many metro areas push-back is beginning, and I am glad to see it. In my area, which is a combination of suburban and rural, people are carrying on with their daily lives with only a few adherence to the tyrant governor’s dictates – dine-in restaurants only doing take-out and a few “non-essential” closures. I think the globalists will have a tough nut to crack here in the US, unlike in Europe. But only time will tell and depending on how much misery can be orchestrated by the globalists to bring us to heel.
It seems to be a time of change. Much of it doesn’t look good if you love freedom.
I agree with everything that was stated in the article. Being somewhat I think a person more liberal leaning on my part I disagree with some of the comments about who is to blame and what party create the mess we are in know, but there is no doubt that peope around the world have to begin to see that solutions for the future must be on self reliance and ignoring “government leaders” who promise the moon and stars. The structure over hundreds of years have been built to supply the consumers. Maybe it is time that the consumers reevauate what are priorities and stop listening to marketing strategists and leaders who are self serving. It is a waste of time and energy to continue blaming which j was proud that Governor in California didn’t do because it will not solve the problem at hand. I think the states in the same region working together was an excellent solutions consider the federal government has shown it’s incapable of riding to a national emergency when needed.
I am writing at the end of August 2020, and I firmly believe there was/is no national health emergency, and that the federal government offered help (hospital ships, ventilators, PPE supplies, doctors and nurses) and followed through when permitted to. There have been, and continue to be, mishandling of health policies on a regional basis (and continuing hype, leading to hyper-fear, from the mainstream media). Breathless reports of rising cases, usually regional, deliberately make you think, “So many more sick people, it is spreading!” At least my local newspaper, with its daily coronavirus update, notes that of the total number ‘cases’, the vast majority of them have already recovered. We are a rural county of about 100,000 people in 958 square miles, some of it national forest, and we have had 5 deaths from the Virus, mostly elderly. The death rate here is 0.0005. Compare that to NYC and surrounding states, and its criminal mishandling of the infected elderly (sending them to unprepared nursing homes!). Plus inflated death statistics, directed by the CDC. Notice that the narrative changed from ‘flatten the curve’ to ‘stop the virus’. Stopping the virus is impossible, and by quarantining the healthy, we have delayed herd immunity. The long term effects of strangling the world economy, which probably no one could have anticipated in April of 2020, will be enormous and increase poverty and instability around the world. Whew! That was my rant; I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Dangerous places and people in SHTF:
Inner city……..do I have to explain?
Close to major cities…….live at least one tank of gas away.
Those on antidepressants………..when their meds run out, they will lose it.
People with children who did not prepare………they will do ANYTHING to feed a starving child.
Gangs of cops, ex cops, military, and ex military……….they have training and you are not in the club.
Those of a marxist mentality……….they will chip you, bag you, and tag you like cattle.
That leaves you, and one or two people that have proven trustworthy over time.
Prepare and live for today with and eye on tomorrow.
Don’t grovel or do horrific things to survive.
No one lives forever, and you will have to answer in this life or the next.
THE worse WAR in history is coming,mass death is unavoidable,theres no men to stand up,their all just cowards and fools,their Hero’s are traitors who WILL BE SENT TO HELL FOR LIEING TO GOD WHEN THEY TOOK AN OATH TO HIM,they’ve NEVER honored their Oath,AND NOT THE POLICE GANGS,MILITARY,OR ANY GOVERNMENT OFFICAL HAS…AMERICA HAS A BRITE FUTURE ..IN THE FLAMES OF HELL
Insightful as always, Selco. Any changes at this time will be for the worst. Just as mutations in nature are not for survival for the creature, so societal mutations will not serve us well. Many atrocious things will be done in the name of safety and security. While the “rule of law” is a favored mindset, it has the drawback of favoring tyranny. Tyrants and such always come to power and rule with the law to back them up. Hitler did everything within the pale of his country’s law. As a result, the world favored world law to control such ambitions. But who’s going to monitor the monitor ? (quoted from Enemy of the State) Who has won the right to hold such accountable?
Agreed. Live as locally as possible. If fear has a smell, things are really reeking right now. Some peeps are delusional that the lockdowns will lift and we can all safely go back to a consuming lifestyle. But the PTB have crossed the Rubicon on this one. The thing is to not let the chaos get to ya. Find sweetness close in where it really counts or the bitterness will eat up any strength and resolve.
I do believe in prayer and meditation is necessary to keep our souls sweet and unsullied while still being realistic.
I definitely know you are correct on two things.
This is a massive change unlike we have NEVER experienced. Have you ever heard of such insanity of what they are doing? And worse we are obeying them? WHAT???
Second, what’s coming out of this is definitely NOT good. Not when they neuter our individuality and we blindly obey them like it’s nothing. Man, that’s a BAD sign.
Have you not heard the term SHEEP TO THE SLAUGHTER?? That’s what it sounds like to me and this will be the sign.
When they come for your weapons. But it will be for uh, “public safety” to get you to disarm like they did in Australia (probably the first country to be invaded by the Chinese) New York and when Katrina happened or Sandy Hoax as an attempt TO disarm us.
Wonder what kind of the next excuse will be? All of their attempts, so far, has NOT worked. Maybe they’ll just use FORCE this time?
We need to form the 2nd Amendment well-regulated Militia in all 50 States which has NEVER been done and not only just having armed citizens the right to bear arms.
We need to be supplied and have a minimum rudimentary military training for those that were not in the military. The age should be from around 15 to 50 I believe I last heard.
We could have an army of 100 million maybe. No Demoncrap will challenge that and likely the party will whither away ending decades of some of the most SCUM people on this planet.