As a teenager growing up in the 80’s I discovered preparedness or as it was known back then survivalism and being a survivalist. I tended to focus on nuclear war survival, civil defense and shelter construction. 14 years old and I was focused on one enemy – the Soviet Union. As I live my life now it seems threats come in all shapes and sizes and from every direction. The culture of the United States has changed, and the division within its populace has grown to a point that external threats may pale in comparison to the internal ones. While I generally have been very critical of people who predict and prepare for one specific thing – there are reasons to contemplate that which you feel is most likely and may require certain preps. More on that in another post.
I miss the 80’s. I miss going to the Civil Defense office at City Hall and reading up on fallout shelters. I miss the fantasy of grabbing my big hollow-handled survival knife and heading out into the wilderness to survive. Hey – I was 14. I miss thinking that survival was living out some unrealistic scenario from the movie Red Dawn. Yeah – things were much simpler back then.
Today I deal with the harsh reality that a second civil war or new American Revolution would be beyond difficult. That an EMP from some overhead satellite would create conditions so desperate that things like cannibalism would become commonplace. The level of darkness and evil that would arise, well, most cannot comprehend.
People suck. In a domestic conflict and especially after EMP people would suck even worse. Back in the 80’s many of us envisioned Americans coming together to fight together against a common enemy. Today? Not so much.
In the 80’s when the threat of the Soviet Union generated Patriotism and movies like Red Dawn – it was much simpler.
Rourke
