Scenarios, Part Two

So we have the scenario set up in the last post. I wanted to expand on it a little more. When you have a lot of unemployed persons, especially young men, they tend to drift one of three ways when you strip any reasonable hope of employment from them:

1. Momma's basement with the Xbox.
2. Politics
3. Crime

So, between the idealogues and the sudden upsurge of crime and gangs in your hood, you have quite an array of people you have to step careful around. Not only do yo have to be wary of the gangs running protection, but the ones robbing folk and selling drugs. They'll know you, and you'll probably know them at least in passing. They'll likely know you have a job, which means you have stuff, which makes you a solid target for outright theft or 'protection fees'. You have to be careful of any sympathies to political groups, as should to have a job, whatever side you're not on may decide to take a shot at you just for being employed when they ain't. Then you gotta step careful around the cops, because when the danger skyrockets and the pay plummets, they tend to get a little more vicious.

The world I see is a lot like the one in Children of Men, like I said- except with more gangs, more violence, more pollution. Anyways, thinking about it, after a certain point, the authorities won't be able to respond, or willing to in the face of a shooting war between two or more of the elements listed. And you'll probably know the parties as a fact of daily life. You'll know them either on a personal level, maybe as people to avoid. Point is, at some point when things get ugly, they'll come for you. And sure, you might be able to fight them off.

I'm just wondering if I'm wildly offbase. I'm also wondering why preppers aren't grouping up in a more practical way. It's one thing to fight off eight or ten bangers by yourself, but a couple of families of preppers on in the same complex at least gives you a decent chance of response. I mean, even if you fight them off somehow, you have to GTFO or get ready for a second wave. I don't think anyone will continuously throw bodies at you. Eventually, courage will wither.

Of course, this relies on you actually being successful on A) throwing back the gangs, and B) not dying or being crippled in the process.

So, after all that rambling, the big question I'm coming up with is...why are preppers so scattered? Why aren't we all glomming together in small knots and such?

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Scenarios, Part One

I'd like to preface this by saying that I don't like Rawles. Him and his acolytes are the kind of people who, if they found you wounded on the side of the road one day, would lean over you, bayonet extended, and ask quietly "Y'all love Jesus?" And no matter what you answer, they'd prolly bayonet you anyways for not believing in his specific version of Jesus. I mean he hates on Mormons often enough...okay. Back on topic. But yes, his ideas about an economic end to the world seem valid enough. I'll give him that.

So, my thinking has revised about the end of civilization as we know it. While flu pandemics are certainly possible, an economic collapse is certainly looking equally likely at the moment. And that shit doesn't just fall out of the sky. Alright, so the way I see it, even during an economic disaster like postwar Germany there was a part of the populace with jobs and livelihoods left. As a general rule, when things go south, the first to go are the young single males. And when you get a lot of young single males angry, unemployed, and unable to get jobs, there's often large spikes in crime. The way I see it, once they get sick of looking for jobs that aren't there, they'll turn to theft and drugs to support themselves. As things get worse, they'll form into gangs or fold into political organizations.

So, when I imagine looters now, I imagine small roving gangs taking what they want by force and not a monster, angry mob. Which means that you have more options if you find yourself in their crosshairs. I need to sleep on this one, I think.

Des

And upon this rock...

Oh, yea, for the nineties were a bleak time for music. The CD was the dominant form of media, and after many years of wild successes, once-great musicians began to exploit their fans. For Metallica, the Great Betrayers, begat the art of the Filler CD. Musicians felt no need, no drive to create, for a few good songs would cause the masses to buy their exorbitantly priced CDs. For there was no other media which could compete, and no ability for consumers to pay for what they wished alone. Yea, they gnashed their teeth and cursed the music gods!

Then, from the depths of Server, from the womb of the Machine Mother, came Napster. The people, once restrained by the music industry monopolies, shattered their fetters. Persons could obtain digital versions of songs their owned, or from bands that freely offered them on the Great Network. Many, in a great and terrible wrath, began the theft of music from those who had sold them CDs of mostly filler.

But then, the Great Betrayers reared their heads and roared. They thrashed about, screaming of their monetary losses, their livelihoods. But instead of supporting the great Napster, securing a major market share in the greatest advent in music since the radio, they struck down the blessed Napster in an act of the greatest spite. They turned on their fans, bringing upon them the litigation!

And yea, that is how Metallica set back the music industry a decade, and gave unto the people the rage and ability to steal their music. For had their wrath been turned, had they embraced the future, who would have resisted?

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