James_Johnson
Member
I live in an urban neighborhood with a high percentage of criminals, gang-members, section 8 houses, bikers, etc... Things are bad enough, and when I think about SHTF I wonder what happens when the Federal checks stop coming in.
Scenario:
They all smoke cigarettes (= nicotine addicts), they all drink beer (addicted to alcohol), almost all smoke weed (psychological addiction to marijuana) and I would say half do coke, crack, meth, heroin, "molly", etc... when it's available and as they can afford it.
They all get their money in various ways (a spouse or parent that works, SSI, disability, Food Stamps, Section 8, illegal drug sales, construction and "handyman" work, etc...) A few have full time jobs working as someone else's employee, but their other 95% do not. Some own their own businesses, mostly lawn service. A pickup truck with a magnetic sign on the driver door and a couple of lawn mowers.
I mention all of this to give some sense of balance. At first blush, you might drive down my street and see a typical, blue-collar, working class neighborhood. And maybe it is, IDK. What I do know is that at least 10%, as much as 20% of the people on my block derive at least some of their income via illegal activity, and 40% get most of their income in the form of public assistance, aka "welfare" and easily half of them are regular, daily users of alcohol, pot or both. Even those that are working and earning their money legally.
So one day, about 2 years ago I had this sort of "nightmare scenario" vision. I think I had been watching "Walking Dead" and making parallels between the fictional scenario of the TV show with what a real-life scenario might look like, and I wondered who the "zombies" might be. And then I realized one of them would certainly be that guy right there, the neighbor across the street, the Mexican Mafia gang member, who with his immediately family, particularly his teenage son, his teenage half-son, and the network of other gang members, pot smokers, drug users, bikers etc... I realized that, when the SHTF, that guy isn't going to get any of his Federal money, and none of his customers will either, so they won't be able to afford meth, crack, coke, weed, etc...
And what is that guy, and all his local, live-within-a-block-or-two low-life friends going to do to pay the electric company, or buy food, etc...
The first thing I realized is that in a SHTF scenario, that guy's value system isn't suddenly going to invert and become the standard-issue Maslow's heirarchy of needs. Once a drug-addict, always a drug-addict, even when it's the end of the world. He's still going to want cigarettes, beer, weed, meth, crack, coke and then he'll worry about water, food and electricity. Just like now. And he, and his friends are going to do whatever it takes to get them.
Enter the "Zombies".
They're already criminals. In a time of plenty, when anyone that wants to work can do well financially, these are the people that sleep until noon, drink beer until midnight and then start smoking meth. They're already organized with other criminals who have the exact same value system (immediate gratification, with as little effort as possible, and without regard to standards of decency and morality and the rights of other people). Particularly the people across the street who earn what they have, and do not have an extensive network of criminal associates.
Has anyone in the "Prepper" community talked about this? I've tried in certain environments and I am immediately shut-down because most of what most people consider acceptable discourse is also tactically useless and stupid. We could "bug-out". But let's just say we can't. Or let's just say we don't want to. The obvious 1st response to this very real-life scenario is to bug-out. Everyone says bug-out, because everyone wants to provide the easy solution that doesn't require any truly painful and scary exploration. And that's not "prepping", that's redirecting attention away from what's supposed to be a very scary and difficult topic and moving it towards something else.
So I'm here for two reasons. One the vacuum food question in my 1st, thread, and two my real question here, which is what kinds of conversations are acceptable here. I have literally a dozen felons living within 150 feet of my house, and when the SHTF they are going to want their cigarettes, their beer, their weed, etc... and are going to do whatever it takes to get it. The idea of holing up while they are maneuvering around me does not appeal to me, and I have no faith in the idea that Law Enforcement is going to be anywhere around. Reginald Denny taught me (and everyone else) everything we need to know about that idea.
Scenario:
They all smoke cigarettes (= nicotine addicts), they all drink beer (addicted to alcohol), almost all smoke weed (psychological addiction to marijuana) and I would say half do coke, crack, meth, heroin, "molly", etc... when it's available and as they can afford it.
They all get their money in various ways (a spouse or parent that works, SSI, disability, Food Stamps, Section 8, illegal drug sales, construction and "handyman" work, etc...) A few have full time jobs working as someone else's employee, but their other 95% do not. Some own their own businesses, mostly lawn service. A pickup truck with a magnetic sign on the driver door and a couple of lawn mowers.
I mention all of this to give some sense of balance. At first blush, you might drive down my street and see a typical, blue-collar, working class neighborhood. And maybe it is, IDK. What I do know is that at least 10%, as much as 20% of the people on my block derive at least some of their income via illegal activity, and 40% get most of their income in the form of public assistance, aka "welfare" and easily half of them are regular, daily users of alcohol, pot or both. Even those that are working and earning their money legally.
So one day, about 2 years ago I had this sort of "nightmare scenario" vision. I think I had been watching "Walking Dead" and making parallels between the fictional scenario of the TV show with what a real-life scenario might look like, and I wondered who the "zombies" might be. And then I realized one of them would certainly be that guy right there, the neighbor across the street, the Mexican Mafia gang member, who with his immediately family, particularly his teenage son, his teenage half-son, and the network of other gang members, pot smokers, drug users, bikers etc... I realized that, when the SHTF, that guy isn't going to get any of his Federal money, and none of his customers will either, so they won't be able to afford meth, crack, coke, weed, etc...
And what is that guy, and all his local, live-within-a-block-or-two low-life friends going to do to pay the electric company, or buy food, etc...
The first thing I realized is that in a SHTF scenario, that guy's value system isn't suddenly going to invert and become the standard-issue Maslow's heirarchy of needs. Once a drug-addict, always a drug-addict, even when it's the end of the world. He's still going to want cigarettes, beer, weed, meth, crack, coke and then he'll worry about water, food and electricity. Just like now. And he, and his friends are going to do whatever it takes to get them.
Enter the "Zombies".
They're already criminals. In a time of plenty, when anyone that wants to work can do well financially, these are the people that sleep until noon, drink beer until midnight and then start smoking meth. They're already organized with other criminals who have the exact same value system (immediate gratification, with as little effort as possible, and without regard to standards of decency and morality and the rights of other people). Particularly the people across the street who earn what they have, and do not have an extensive network of criminal associates.
Has anyone in the "Prepper" community talked about this? I've tried in certain environments and I am immediately shut-down because most of what most people consider acceptable discourse is also tactically useless and stupid. We could "bug-out". But let's just say we can't. Or let's just say we don't want to. The obvious 1st response to this very real-life scenario is to bug-out. Everyone says bug-out, because everyone wants to provide the easy solution that doesn't require any truly painful and scary exploration. And that's not "prepping", that's redirecting attention away from what's supposed to be a very scary and difficult topic and moving it towards something else.
So I'm here for two reasons. One the vacuum food question in my 1st, thread, and two my real question here, which is what kinds of conversations are acceptable here. I have literally a dozen felons living within 150 feet of my house, and when the SHTF they are going to want their cigarettes, their beer, their weed, etc... and are going to do whatever it takes to get it. The idea of holing up while they are maneuvering around me does not appeal to me, and I have no faith in the idea that Law Enforcement is going to be anywhere around. Reginald Denny taught me (and everyone else) everything we need to know about that idea.
I do get the jest of your post, there really is no easy way to security when the possible perpetrators are less than a stone throw away though I can't see myself staying there living in a constant state of fear. In a SHTF/Post-SHTF everything is going to be amplified beyond measure but only you can judge your situation.
