[FitnessGlendale]

From what I can glean, survivalism implies:

1. Distrust of government and organized society. Suspicion that when difficult times come, such as with Peak Oil, they will either collapse or become authoritarian.
2. Self-reliance for food, shelter, and safety.
3. Belief that safety is to be had in unobtrusive homesteads in rural areas.
4. Forming groups ranging in size from individuals and nuclear families to communities of several families. Perhaps looser ties to a larger number of similar settlements.
4. Belief that interaction with people other than family or immediate community will be hostile or at least tense.
5. Sense of security in firearms and semi-military defense strategies.
6. Perhaps religious, perhaps not.
7. Politics would usually involve loyalty to a group (family, community, or nation) and suspicion of any competing groups.
8. Looking to the military, pioneers, and backwoodsmen for models.


Is this an accurate summary of survivalism?

What I don't understand is how a survivalist sees the future. Is survivalism a temporary strategy or a permanent one? Are you expecting to live this way for the rest of your life? Will you ever feel comfortable going back to an organized society?

[Cog]

What exactly are you selling?

[basil_hayden]

Should have changed that freakin' lock, should have made you leave your key.

[Shaved Monkey]

What exactly are you selling?

stereotypes

[vtsnowedin]

I suppose that fitnessglendale is most likely a robot or a spammer but that is a pretty good list to start a discussion . Anyone want to pick the list apart?

[vtsnowedin]

I would change #1 to Understanding that government is incompetent and not up to the task .
I would change #5 to Understanding the value of firearms for personnel and family defence.
I would skip#6 as religious people look to God for answers and will not accept that reality and the future are right here right now.
And #7 politics will move to those that demonstrate a complete understanding of the problem and put forward the best possible solution. This will come painfully slow.

[Sir.Henry]

#1 was quite funny since it projected authouritarian regimes into the future. Oh boy, i suggest you look out your own backyard window for a change!

So i'll take up this hat, picking...
5. Sense of security in firearms and semi-military defense strategies.
That's something i wanted to discuss with Charlton Heston anyways, so i might as well give it a chance:
In my opinion firearms - as for personal protection, not in a war - offer a false sense of security. Carrying along a pistol makes one strong, able to respond forcefully to any opposition that might arise.
In fact, the armed guy is looking for a conflict actively because he feels strong enough to be able to crush the bad guys.

That's a pretty good inscript for a gravestone, but the main concern of a survivalist should be... survival.
Survivalists tend to avoid conflict whenever possible to reach their primary goal, so a hollywood type shootout is out of the question.

Instead, a survivalist would try to avoid the guy with the gun if possible. If this cannot be achieved for whatever reason, asynchronous tactics (i hate that term, but it's hip and modern!) are applied.
In essence i am talking about guerilla tactics and everything else dirty, mean and working. Cut his throat while he is sleeping, build traps, poison him, hide or disguise yourself, kidnap his wife - the actual method does not matter in any way.

As a sidenote... when i was some 14 or 15 years old, i picked up a book called "tunnel to the stars". In this novel, the final test exam for some young people was to survive for some days on an unknown planet under unknown conditions.
All they knew was that they had to adapt to the new environment, but just into the story an unsuspected problem showed when the main protagonist found one of his co-students murdered and stripped off all valuables - including his valuable state of the art firearm.

Now - 30 years later - i remember this novel once again. And by comparing it to what i know today, and what i expect from the future, and bringing it in line with my skills in a true survival situation...
...and it's interesting to note that the circle is closing again...

It is simple. If i am able to hear your shot even from miles away, consider yourself dead (of course, open country environment only. I think)

Now, Glendale, you wanted to sell us some second hand army clothing, am i right in that assumption?

[davep]

There were spam links at the bottom that I deleted. I wouldn't take the list too seriously.

[Anvil]

Studying agriculture certs.
Moving as far away from the city as possible to an organic farm of some sort.

This is what i am trying to achieve.

[Shaved Monkey]

Will you ever feel comfortable going back to an organized society?

...Dont think I would want to work at a desk job to pay for a useless Gym membership I never use

[dinopello]

Is this an accurate summary of survivalism?

What I don't understand is how a survivalist sees the future. Is survivalism a temporary strategy or a permanent one? Are you expecting to live this way for the rest of your life?

All you need to know is survivalists presume to live while everyone else perishes. If everyone lives then what's the point ? So, by definition, yes it is for the rest of your life.