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Nat Geo is set to air a documentary series on survivalists: Doomsday Preppers. (Tuesday, February 7, 9pm.) Needless to say, it’s a sandbag job, painting preppers as gun-toting whack jobs. While the nine sample clips on Nat Geo’s webpage are as gun-free and as freak-free as you wanna be—well, as the preppers wanna be—the official promo [above] is whole ‘nother story. It’s all about the guns. Well it would be, wouldn’t it? Nothing says weirdo more than firearms in the “wrong” hands. Ironically, the survivor doc won’t have any of the Survivor crap that makes Top Shot, American Guns and Sons of Guns so unwatchable for many of TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia. [h/t to CM Davall]
I’ll be watching this for tips. I have neither the time, the inclination, nor the storage space to do what these people are doing, but I’d bet somewhere in all the hoopla there will be a couple salient points for me to take away.
And it might be funny, too.
Food, water, weapons, ammo and a plan. Nothing wrong there. Shooting the cats and swinging on a stripper pole just might skew things a bit. A very disappointing preview. I only watched one video because I couldn’t stand the idiot Geico Gecko commercials.
The number one “doomsday prepper” in the world is The Pentagon. Yeah, really. It has more contingency plans, more underground fuhrerbunkers, more MREs, more guns and ammo and more gold and silver set aside than anyone. Private preppers are rank amateurs. So when can we expect the Nat Geo exposé?
Now THAT I’d like to see.
You can’t do an exposé. That stuff is secret! Making fun of preppers is probably a well-funded multi-agency DNI program. All the fabulous DHS and DoD food stores, weapons, tunnels, camps, rescue blimps, and underground nuke lab theme parks aren’t half as useful in the re-establishment of (rule) government if all the guys outside have water, food, guns, solar chargers, dual-head gravity-fed showers, and a good supply of beach reading. It’s all about the asymmetry…. really. It’s in the plan. Episode 3.
Ropingdown, when the Cold War was at its height, POTUS and Congress had a magnificent bunker under the Greenbriar that they would use in the even of war. The rest of us had the basement “fallout shelter” next to the furnace.
Ralph -The rest of us had a small cottage near the tennis courts and 18th fairway, a long walk NE to dinner, and there was no bunker for us. Highway 81 is a beautiful drive south. They moved all that stuff north to Maryland. It seems like a mistake to me. I was trying, but failed, to humorously point out that these guys, pols, enjoy the fact that they have this great stuff but we, the masses don’t. It’s just another thing that makes them feel special. If they come out of the bunkers and we are having a good time, prepped, I think they’ll be disappointed.
My neighbor growing up built a bomb shelter, serious one, in ’60. It’s been a wine cellar since about ’68 and so deep that it is perfectly temp-stable. I don’t have one…I grew up and now live just west of Phila., but I lived in VA for a decade. Geo. Law ’80. It seems like so long ago. I miss that part of VA. I miss the Bull Run Shooting Center, too.
I saw a previous version of this on Nat Geo – I thought they were fair with the people and the subject.
Was that the one where the guy was farming Tilapia in his backyard pool? That was ingenious.
Tim, if you’re referring to the one Scott mentions, I also thought they did a good representation of a very diverse group. And I think there were only two families that had their weapons mentioned and I don’t think they did a hatchet job on either! In fact they went as far as to let the one family member (of the three family group) explain why and how he was making everyone proficient with all of their weapons.
Yeah Scott – that’s the one. After showing off their preparations an “expert” evaluated their preparations, then the preppers responded.
There’s a big ‘religious sensitivity’ issue here. I don’t expect NatGeo to disrespect a practice which is, after all, mandated by the creed of the man who may be the next President of the USA. Damn, those guys are good with money, follow health rules I’d wish on my kid, AND they’re preppers, AND they voted the 1911 their state handgun. It’s a lesson for us all. [Not to mention the ski resorts. What the heck am I doing in PA?]
Someone told me you could buy inexpensive storable foods at the LDS church, but I have not yet checked it out.
Yes you can, and you don’t have to be LDS either. You can buy a limited number of items from their website (best kept “secret” in prepping IMO) – store.lds.org under the self-reliance category. I’ve ordered from them many times, and I’m not LDS. They have great prices, and their Mylar bags are top quality 7 mil bags.
You can also call your local LDS cannery, make an appointment, go in and can a bunch of other stuff not listed on their website. Really great folks.
Though I’m not mormon, I am Utahn, so I see this all around me and have spoken to my neighbors about it on a few occasions.
The members of the LDS church are taught they need to be self-reliant and prepared. The Walmarts and other stores in our cities often have an aisle dedicated to long term storage foods and a lot of the mormons keep a small garden. Their church itself has many non-profit farms, ranches, and canneries in the states, with most of them being here in Utah.
Currently, the LDS church operates these on a non-profit basis. Time and money is donated from their members to keep them running. The money from what food they do sell is also used to keep them running. Much of the production from these goes to the LDS churches’ charities including 3rd world countries, disaster struck areas, and many of their own members in tight finances.
Should some form of “Doomsday” occur, I’ve no doubt the communities here will be in comparatively decent shape at least where food is concerned.
I saw the first episode and I thought it was fair. They did focus a bit more on the firearms than the other aspects and typical of the media had a SLIGHT slant against guns but really I think it was as fair as you are going to see in the main stream media. Some of the things they depict might be disturbing though, most people outside of the gun owning community look at a group of families, “living off the land” and practicing with guns together skeptically
NatGeo is mainstream media – why is anyone surprised at their bias?
Why on earth would anyone who takes preparation seriously be willing to have their name, location, and degree of preparation shared with the world on TV? Hey, paint a big target on your house, too. That will make it easier for the unprepared 99% to share your supplies.
Exactly. A prepper appearing on TV isn’t really a polished prepper. I have personally taken no steps whatever to prepare for a sudden and unexpected disappearance of food, water, electricity, medicine, or security.
Same here. I completely trust my government to provide me with all of the necessities (and even the luxuries) of life, no matter what happens. FEMA will save us! I am ready to report to the evacuation centers!
Thats okay. When the power goes out and the cities start to run out of food and the riots begin and everybody starts to die, the producers of that show can enjoy themselves.
And as they do, my friends and I will be safe, secure, and well fed.
anyone who noticed the last few natural disasters can understand the armed component here. As the song goes, 911 is a joke.
When I saw this I knew it was going to be about painting preppers as full-time tenants in the tin foil hat club. Sad, but this show will probably do more harm than good.
I think the mocking of these extreme survivalists hits you guys in a nerve. Where do you draw the line between being prepared and responsible and being a paranoid nut? From my perspective, you’re all birds of a feather.
Good question. Where do you draw the line? Then we’ll know what the flock is going on.
I don’t get the flock reference, but here goes.
Let’s say there’s a scale of 1 to 10. 1 is the proverbial stoned-out hippy in the California hills who is as care-free and as in-the-now as possible. 10 is the type depicted in the video.
I’m a 4. I guess you’d want me to describe that, so I’ll give it a go.
I bought a house instead or renting. I installed security grates on the windows and I keep the doors locked. I keep a few flash lights and fire extinguishers around the place.
There are many other little things I do and do not do, but that’s the basic idea. I don’t think owning a gun is necessary either for home protection or when out and about. I don’t think stockpiling food and water is a reasonable thing to do.
You can flesh it out as much as you like, but I think you have a pretty good picture of my life style and attitudes about preparedness and safety.
By the way, I figure you’re about a 7 on the scale, if for nothing else just for all that equipment you carry in your pockets every day. That probably goes for most of the others. There must be some 8s, 9s, and 10s even, but they’re probably too embarrassed to admit it.
By you’re definition I am a 1. I am also a 10. I feel comfortable that I know personally when and where the different mindsets are warranted, and how to be flexible. It’s fun being both safe and prepared as I can be, but also laid back and comfortable when needed. Is it boring being a permanent “4”?
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