Submitted by Victoria McMagnus on Mon, 06/16/2008 - 15:03.
Americans who pay attention to the news are starting to fear an imminent collapse of our civilization. Many of them are throwing in the towel before the slow decline, and heading to the countryside for a life of frugal self sufficiency. It's a lot like how ex-smokers can't stop talking about how terrible cigarettes are. That consumer lifestyle I used to lead? I had to give it up.
Panicked by the thought that after oil peaks, our consumer society will fall apart because it's held together by greed and fear, these people say they feel devastated, vulnerable and depressed. They are going green from fear of how they will survive post consumerism. Fear is a more effective motivator than an appeal to the conscience.
These refugees from modernity are now growing their own food, instead of buying it wrapped in plastic, and using wood stoves for heating instead of those 0.04% more efficient "green" heaters sold at Wal-Mart. How authentic is this? From an environmental perspective, not much -- if all of us started trying to have gardens and burn wood at once, we'd denude the planet even faster than the industrial machine does.
Why do they do it? Some might genuinely long for the excitement of living in a post apocalyptic world, as they've seen in movies. Maybe it was just a good excuse to chuck aside the smothering safety net logic of suburban life. Perhaps they did just want a challenge, or some reason to feel important and effective again.
Critics of survivalists say concerns that the modern life is about to explode into violent chaos are overblown. They're probably right. But no one seems to be talking about the simple fixes to modern society which would prevent it from slowly degrading itself into unsustainability. Survivalists are realists: we don't have time to wait until the other seven billion figure it out.
Throwing rocks at survivalism is a passive game, played by the sort of people whose reaction to the idea of hard times ahead is to stockpile designer handbags and spare parts for high-end cappuccino makers - despite which they never wake up and smell the coffee.
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Great
At least an antidote to the 'safety' and complacency of modern convenience 'living' even 'caharcter building...I recenlty had the opportunity to pick up a bow and arrow, and use it. I seem to be a natural...
bearing arms
I think survivalism is an extremely useful idea that should be practiced by more of us, but the key I think is to do it while still involved in society, trying to make things better in addition to being prepared for the worst. At the very least you should be making connections with others doing the same and military/firearm/police associations. You have no chance on your own.
Hmm
Firstly, the individuals in that picture appear to be children or young adults. Secondly, how can you tell what they are holding? They could be sticks from the appearance of it.
As for America, the idea of self-sufficiency and personal defense is synonymous with the 2nd Amendment. That is an integral part of our life in the states. Any break-down of modern society will inevitably result in the need for defense of one's family and property.
interesting read
..i'm not sure if Victoria likes the idea but not those who implement it? Seems there's some criticism of those who practice survivalism but still some support for the belief that we should be more of an organic culture.
Most survivalists are probably like those depicted in the article's photo - there's a gas-guzzling range rover, but two people in army fatigues w/ machine guns. If that's a "survivalist", count me out. Those are called militias. I like the ideas propogated by Michael Arth and John Feeney, as well as the Corrupt writers - society isn't a bad idea, modern society is; we just need better people to lead and less of a focus on the individual, as well as economic growth rates, and smaller, more organic communities. Imagine a society like that and tell me we'd still have any self-labeled "Survivalists"!