The Mind4Survival Podcast

67: Are Preppers Crazy? How to Overcome the Stereotype

09.17.2018 - By Brian DuffPlay

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What often stops people from taking preparedness seriously is the question, "Are preppers crazy?" It's that very question that also drives people within the preparedness community nuts. 

After all, especially with 2020 in the review mirror, does preparing for challenging times and unforeseen difficulties sound crazy? 

Unfortunately, when it comes to answering the question of "Are preppers crazy?," the readiness community often suffers from a label that it has, at least in part, fostered for itself. 

Therefore, if the preparedness community wants to be taken seriously and not be looked upon as crazy preppers, it first needs to accept responsibility for its reputation and change from within. 

With that, this article will cover some of the fundamental reasons people think preppers are crazy.

Preppers Scare People

Far too often, preppers unnecessarily use fear as a tool to motivate others to prepare. As a result, the fear that is supposed to encourage others has the opposite effect. 

"Keep your fears to yourself but share your courage with others."

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Fear-based preparedness is bad enough when it comes from the average person. However, the most egregious use of fear-based preparedness happens when businesses and influencers from within the self-reliant community use it for personal gain. 

The fact is that those who unnecessarily use fear to convince others to prepare are taking the lazy way out. Moreover, those who needlessly use scare tactics for preparedness motivation are often alarmists who lack the most fundamental of all preparedness tools.  

The tool the alarmists lack is the mindset to understand fundamental human nature. Sadly, these Chicken Littles don't understand that more is accomplished through encouragement and helping others understand the situation than is achieved through fear. 

Surveys show that one of the most sought-after goals of preparedness-minded people is to improve their confidence to rise to the occasion when times get tough. Whether those tough times are a micro or macro disaster, people want to be mentally prepared to deal with it as best as possible. 

So, the question is, when people turn to preparedness to gain the skills and confidence to protect their families and friends, why in the hell are we as a community trying to scare them? Does that make any sense? 

The truth is, we as a community will gain more and go farther to help others to prepare by building them up instead of tearing them down through fear. 

Five Rules of Fear in Preparedness

It's helpful for those of you who are new to the readiness lifestyle to know these five rules of fear in preparedness:

Fear is a normal part of the human condition. 

Nearly every new prepper feels overwhelmed and fearful when they first begin prepping. 

Despite repeated predictions to the contrary, the world hasn't ended in our lifetimes, nor is it likely to. 

The fact that you are taking an interest in preparedness today means you're already better able to face tomorrow's uncertainties. 

Those who unnecessarily use fear to motivate personal readiness often lack the most fundamental of preps - an understanding of basic human nature.

Negative Nerd Speak

People also ask, "Are preppers crazy?" because of the negative-sounding, nerd vocabulary we use. 

Think about what preppers must sound like to someone who doesn't yet understand preparedness. Think about it in terms of the acronyms we use. 

Suppose you take a step back and listen to it objectively. In that case, you can't help but see that we often stick the crazy preppers label on ourselves without even trying.

Let's look at some of the terms and language that we, as preppers, use.

EOD: End of Days

GOOD: Get Out of Dodge

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