'Preppers' have endured years of mockery. Coronavirus fears have given them a booming self-survival

[ansible]

(CNN)Do you have your "bug-out bag" (BOB) ready for when the "s*** hits the fan" (SHTF), or will you "bug in" for "the end of the world as we know it" (TEOTWAWKI)?

This jargon is well understood within niche "prepper" communities, whose members spend their lives preparing for impending Armageddon -- natural disasters, pandemics or financial collapse.
And the ideas that drive this culture are becoming increasingly mainstream as coronavirus panic sees people across the world stockpiling rations, sourcing gas masks and self-isolating at home.
Now, "civilians" are turning to expert preppers in droves for help in getting ready for the worst.
Nander Knobben, who runs an online prepper store from the Netherlands, told CNN he helps people "to become less dependent on the external things, like the government."
Knobben has had "orders flying in" since the coronavirus outbreak began. He sold almost as many masks, rations, radios and water filters in February as he did in six months last year, and people he hasn't spoken to in years have been messaging him to request supplies.
At home, the 29-year-old has rations for two or three months, about 84 liters of water, blankets, candles, live chickens, spare oil for his car, a first-aid kit and a BOB (or portable survival kit) packed with a flashlight and freeze-dried food.
"If you prep it now and have food in the house for a month and it isn't the coronavirus, maybe in a few years you'll need it for another scenario, so it's never a bad idea to take some precautions," he said. "I don't want to be dependent on anybody, I want to take care of myself.
"You store it in your house and then you just get on with living your life."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/06/europe/coronavirus-preppers-business-europe-gbr-intl/index.html

[dewsgirl]

1. Two short months ago, if someone would have told me, I would end

up spending my time hanging out online, watching vids and chatting with a group of preppers, some of which are Trump supporters, I would have said that's absolutely not possible.

[PJMcK]

2. Thanks, Trump (n/t)

[RhodeIslandOne]

3. Considering most preppers seem to avoid people....

....this seems moot.

[getagrip_already]

4. not true... they hold regular (good) day jobs....

Or they sell drugs.

But they need enough disposable income to spend hundreds a month on food, ammo, explosives, poisons, camping gear, and misc. stuff needed to stay months at home or take an extended hike off road.

I've worked with these people and they are fascinating to talk to. They buy antibiotics meant for fish or pets, freeze dried food packed in nitrogen, and press there own bullets.

But they are cray-cray.

They aren't really any better prepared than I am, and I haven't taken those precautions. They are preparing for a shutdown of the power grid, invasion of food starved city dwellers, and emp / nuclear fallout.

What they are prepping for isn't ever going to happen. And if it does, they still won't survive.

Having 30,000 rounds of ammo doesn't help when one round will kill you.

Sorry preppers, you are still insane, even with a killer virus afoot.

[moriah]

6. I have met left-wing preppers, and yeah, here's some cray there...

... actually worked for one in the Y2K scare. We recycled out-of-date motherboards and other spare computer parts (I learned yes, you can wash a mobo with soap and water and a delicate toothbrush -- the key is dying it thoroughly), built them, added a Linux-based graphical OS guaranteed to be "virus-resistant and Y2K compliant", then did the power supplies to include easy use on direct-current power (like car battery banks). A friend down the dirt road carved neat wooden cases for people who wanted something more special from scrap wood. At user request we included modems capable of being run over packet radio, etc (which became our secondary market to get rid of the rest of the inventory after Y2K happened, radio modems).

We made some decent cash for a minute... lol.

Another person I met through that circle of hippies whose mom had wildcrafted herbs all her life ran into a group of right-wing preppers, who were talking about how to transport menstruation supplies. She blew them away with the suggestion of menstral cups instead of hoarding pads/tampons.

What got them sold on it was "If you're on the move, the odds are possible that women in your group, being around each other constantly, will start to cycle closer together. That would give anyone who looked at all the waste you'd be leaving, cuz pads and tampons don't biodegrade, a good idea of how many reproductive-age females were in your group."

I think their wives are already using Diva cups because they like them, now.

[Runningdawg]

5. I was raised in the life style and still practice it.

It was the only thing decent I learned from my childhood in a religious cult. 100 years ago it was common sense, you didn't hook up the team and drive the buggy 15 miles to the nearest town if you forgot to buy coffee. 75 years ago it was a popular hobby and if you went to your neighbors for a BBQ they would have likely shown you their bunker. Hippie Communes were the original "off grid" and self-sufficient communities - preppers.
We don't spend hundreds of dollars a month on survival foods. We don't buy that pre-packaged crap at all. We have a big garden and we preserve what we grow. We don't have a hidden arsenal with thousands of rounds of ammo and the extra meds we do have on hand came from the Dr and the pharmacy, not the Veterinary supply store.
We prep for such crazy things as natural disasters and job loss. Our preps saved our asses when were snowed in for 9 days without any electric, sewer, heat, water...I rolled a jeep in a freak blizzard and after spending the night inside it upside down in a ditch, with the help of the contents from my "bug out bag" I was able to walk several miles for help the next morning. My Dog was seriously injured on a hike, my supplies saved her life.