The Fallacy ofย theย Sensible Prepperย Mindsetย 

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From the fanatical doomsday prepper to people who are just trying to be moreย self-sufficient and everyone in between, eachย type of prepper has its strengths and weaknesses. Increasingly oftenย thoughย I keep hearing fromย self-describedย โ€œSensible preppers.โ€ On the surface, the phrase is understandable,ย but I am starting to think that those whoย describeย themselvesย asย a sensible prepperย couldย be leaving themselves open to problems at best. At worst, it could be minimizing the importance of prepping overall.

When I refer to โ€œsensible preppersโ€ I specifically mean, self-identified preppers who view anything more than very cursory preparations asย symptoms ofย lunacy and panic.ย Iโ€™ll give you an example. I was readingย aย social media threadย a few days ago and a topic was brought up by a Sensible Prepperย who quickly pointed out that they just have some food and water stored up for local power outages โ€“ I believe they even said protestors in their town asked people to honk.

The impression that this sensible prepper was trying to give is that where they live is not dangerous at all and they are not prone to any natural disasters so prepping in great depth is foolish from their viewpointย anyway.ย Why prep if you are extremely unlikely to ever need anything you are stocking up for?

What is wrong with sensible preppers?

Prepping has come a very long way since I started prepping and what motivates each person to become more preparedย can beย influenced by a myriad of factors.ย Regardlessย of your motivation to become prepared, the act of gathering supplies and learning skills to beย ready to survive a wide range of threats is a good thing.ย  Actually, I think we are on the brink of a new phase of our lives that will make prepping much more important and crucial.

You and I may have two completely different scenarios we think areย likelyย andย have madeย our ownย provisions to deal withย what we each individually think is probable.ย Our methods could be different, and our prepping priorities would be as well.ย Maybe Iย am planning for aย societalย collapse while you are planning for hurricanes. What we do and how we prepare necessarily diverges at some point although there is a lot we have in common. Ourย sharedย end goal is to be able to survive some catastrophic event.

YouTube’s – Sensible Prepper is NOT who I am referring to with this article

The sensible prepper in this scenario does notย believe that anythingย bad will happen, or that the risk is so low, it is foolish to worry and plan about anything beyond their realm of possibility. I wonder why this type of person feels affiliated to preppers in the first place. If it were only this “sensible” person that was affected, I would notย worry about it, but when the dialog begins to shiftย in the prepping community,ย it caught myย attention.ย 

Sensible preppers may even say words to the effectย of โ€that’s fineย if you want to prepareย for doomsdayโ€ butย it isย a subtle dig anyway. It is the virtueย signalingย of the prepping world whereย someย โ€œpreppersโ€ย appear to be saying thatย itโ€™sย crazy to prep for anything more than what theyย personallyย deemย rational and that somehow in comparison, the sensible ones are wiser than the people who are more extreme in their preps.ย 

Sensible can be used inย diverseย waysย 

Many of you who have been reading the Prepper Journal since we started back in 2013 have heard me make the argument that prepping is common sense. Prepping is sensible when you think about it. For me,ย preparing for unexpected events is logical,ย rational,ย and wise.ย 

sensible prepper is just code for I'm not crazy

I was recentlyย interviewedย onย Bunker Basics and was asked for my thoughts on the state of prepping.ย Partย of my response wasย relatedย to how much I view the topic and practice of prepping asย sensible, muchย more soย consideringย the events of this past year.ย ย 

In that interview, whichย you can read here, I said COVID has practically given preppers a Good Housekeeping Seal of approval. So much of what we had been preaching was suddenly realized in just a few weeks. A global pandemic,ย food,ย and supply shortages, forced shelter in place orders, travel restrictions, ammo and firearms shortages, job losses, economic problems, and on and on.ย I think the worldย just finally caught up to whatย we haveย been saying all along. With the riots and protests thisย [past]year, itย is notย a stretch of oneโ€™s imagination to see worldwide chaos potentially, so people are getting prepared.โ€ย 

So,ย preppingย should absolutelyย beย consideredย a sensible actย whereย peopleย fully graspย theย inherent value as something that could save them from bad circumstances.ย The term sensibleย prepper I am referring to is being used to downplay the importance of prepping though in some circles โ€“ maybe itโ€™sย just where I have been lookingย and the people who hang out in thoseย circles,ย butย itย is important to me at least, toย make this distinction.ย 

It isย not what you prepare for, but how prepared you areย that isย sensibleย 

Prepping onย itsย own is sensible. Theย numberย of things you prep for or your personal reasoning for why you are prepping isย aย highly individualย choice. Any labelsย on my view of what preps are sensible andย thoseย which are too muchย are subjective andย do notย add anything to theย conversation but some form of superiority complex.ย ย 

When any one person tries to say that whatย they areย doingย isย sensible,ย but you,ย doing the same thing for a different reasonย is extreme, that is whenย problems start.ย Look at the recentย censorship of people on social media. You can find any number of examples of language or threats on the other side of anyone censored that seem to beย simply fine to the other side.ย ย 

When it becomes “what I do isย good, what you do is bad”. That isย not the type of game we should be playing in the world of prepping.ย Everyone is coming to this with different realities,ย resources, and circumstances. We should applaud anyone willing to get more prepared. If someone wants to build a bunker, have at it, and more power to you! Just because Iย cannotย or might not consider that a wise choice, I am not going to say what I do is more sensible than what you are doing.ย 

Letโ€™sย start lifting more people up instead of tearing down those on our team.ย 

ย 

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Freedom-loving American doing what I can to help prepare and inform others. Editor and creator of The Prepper Journal 2013-2017, 2020 -

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Rob

To prep is to get ready for some catastrophe that may never happen. I began prepping in my fifties. Now in my late seventies, I still prep for a problem that may last a week or three months. Unfortunately my wife and I now taken life giving drugs. If the catastrophe is great and long, we will not survive, but if it last 3-4 months, we will make it. Therefore I have compiled a fair amount of “stuff” that I feel would keep and benefit us.

Bill Masen

Any sort of prepping is better than none, i have come across these ” sensible” preppers, I call em ” Testing the water” preppers. They are more cautious than normal often because of budgetry constraints and lack of information on threats in their own areas. They usually gradually become more immersed in prepping as time goes by and they become better informed and more comfortable within our community as they develop.

Bill

Loved the video! I have 10 acres of forest/farmland. I notice that,because we are not there all the time,(recreational property) more people visit the property than animals. Dogs,coyotes,cows, shots ringing out. And we are really in the middle of almost nowhere! No real problems with neighbors but, if this is your bug out retreat the locals probably know more about you and what you have than you think!
God Bless and stay safe…

strych9

Generally speaking I think that overall “preppers” tend to be sensible but that some people do take things too far not because they’re bad or stupid or something but because they become blind to certain things. I actually know a guy who drops $2000/month on ammo month in and month out, putting $1500/month into his stocks. His entire McMansion basement is shelf after shelf of bullets. There’s nothing wrong with that except that half his smoke detectors and his CO detector have dead batteries and you cannot convince him to spend $10 to replace them and he’ll put money into… Read more »

Illini Warrior

I was poo-poohed no more than a month before the whole Covid crap hit >> ballyhooed because of my prepper belief of being pandemic prepared – not kidding …

the newbie question was the regularly posted “What do you prepare for? ….

still hooted at because I believe you should PROPERLY prepare for a pandemic with a legit respirator and a TYCHEM protection suit – and a slight extension to be ready for radiation exposure as well ….

sad situation that the public thinks that Covid is as bad as it gets

Joe Thomas

Plan for the worst, hope for the best, handle what comes. I do not prep for cosmic events of a large scale. Cosmic EMP, CME, gamma ray burst are just too big to be totally prepared for. Anything other than that can happen. To paraphrase the spec ops community, two is one, one is none and none is dead. Preparing is just insurance.

BobW

Interesting stuff. March – June 2020 should have either validated your approach or refuted your methods. I’ve never put much credence in what people thought of me or what I do. I’ve gotta do what I think I’ve gotta do, and they can mind their own business. I guess I haven’t seen much on sensibility/sensitivity lately. The number of sites I visit on the subject has shrunk over time. Too many got preachy for me. I stopped hearing the sermon a while ago. Almost all of it carries one slant or another. Whether its a philosophy on prepping, religion, or… Read more »

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