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ancona

Praying Mantis
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I was reading stuff on 'another' forum just now, and I came across this link:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-...s-who-make-surviving-apocalypse-even-less-fun

It links to a very well thought out article about preppers and personality and I believe it to be an important enough subject to put forth for conversation.

As we prepare for whatever our individual needs are, and for whatever scenario we each envision, I have to wonder, just as the writer of the ZH article did, what are the folks in our group really like? How will they perform under stress? What are their leadership tendencies? Strengths? Weaknesses?

I already talked with The Boss [Mrs. Ancona] about this and she pointed out some things about our group, and indeed myself, that were cause for reflection and discussion. When the balloon goes up, we will have to depend on ourselves as well as others of our survival and to create at least some form of community if we are to survive and have any sort of real community and any level of real comfort.
 
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I want to take a closer look at this.

-- not too long ago- a car smashed head on - per the busy street outside my door.

funny how we all reacted.

I just watched- that may sound cold. Next door ran up and offered 1st aid.

But let me describe- later that day I was very irritated over what happened.

A car load of blacks- went into the oncoming lane. A neighbor said a black girl was driving not the black guy- she escaped ran thru an alley. Never to be seen again.
I so wished I had said more!

So then the black guy who gets out of the car lays on the street screaming.

He claimed he fell asleep.

While next door went to help all I could think of was SCAM.

His car went completely in the other lane.
 
Another good topic Ancona :)

I agree that there will have to be some form of small community of people that work together, and a level of trust.

I've got to run at the moment... but I'm thinking on this one.

ADK
 
I read the article too, and I think the author is spinning it in the appropriate way. I think his goal is to get any conscious prepper to identify with that train of thought. Even if someone's entire group is vetted, tight knit, and known them for years, there could even be a devolution after a certain amount of time, into one of the roles he mentioned.

My own friends who are like brothers and sisters to me, have gotten much more motivated to organize since the election. Three of us even had a get together for the sole purpose of getting ideas on paper and the foundations of a "plan". One step at a time.... Anyway, I did appreciate the author's insight. I'm sure I will approach this topic amongst my friends at some point just to put it on the line that #1 we're a team, and #2 we can't let ego, pride or selfishness interfere with the overall objective of keeping everyone we care about safe and alive.

Really not sure about what else I'd point out. I'm sure I'd think of something. I trust my guys but at the same time I've seen the melt downs that a guy with a gun can have when I was across the pond. We've all read about guys just losing it. It can happen to just about anyone. Be careful.
 
I personally am an anti-social hermit. I don't care much for large crowds and [generally] don't want to commit to the time investment of befriending strangers.

My wife on the other hand, is the yin to my yang. She is an extrovert who knows practically everyone who is anyone in my local town.
 
I see our neighborhood stratifying in to three groups. Needy losers who live paycheck to paycheck with little in the way of practical knowledge. This group will willingly be herded in to FEMA camps or relocation centers since they can do little or nothing themselves and fear hard work.

Second will be the opportunists who would opt to feed off of others, steal, lie and maybe even kill to get what they want. These will be the "zombies" my group worries about. What we do and how we deal with this group will be decided by them. We will neither encourage their participation in our group nor tolerate any abuse of any sort as regards the health, well being and safety of our group. Read in to that what you want.

Third will be several groups just like ours. Self reliant, prepared, armed and stocked. We will try and fly under the radar for as long as is practical and possible. Eventually, all of these groups will recognize each other for what and who we are. The level of devolution that occurs will rest solely on the actions of the takers. Whether they live or die is to be their own choice.

While I am not a hermit, I am very choosy regarding who I allow in to my circle of friends. That is not to say that I do not have a number of good acquaintences, it is merely to say that I do not become "fast friends" with anyone.

Perhaps that could be viewed as a flaw, or perhaps it simply means I have been burned in the past and choose a slower path, I don't know which but that's the way it is.

No matter what, there will be very few 'additions' to our group after the balloon goes up, that is unless the person or persons have some sort of fantastic talent that makes them an indispensible part of the team, like a physician for example.
 
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I think the author left out tons of problem personality types in that article. He was only worrying about pushy know it all types.

Parasites, particularly the whiny ones, especially cute female types, can do far more damage to a group, for just one example, than one pushy male asshole who can be tossed out more easily. Anybody who demands special treatment vs the rest is a problem.

People unwilling to change their diet as needed because supplies are what they are are an issue - what if they "need" more meat as a fraction of their diet - or less - than supplies can be efficiently used? I'd worry a vegan would clobber my veggie stash far too quickly - they eat more of less energetic foods the rest of us use for their vitamin and fiber content mainly.

What if their attitude is just to lay around till ordered to do something? That can be a major PITA - and work done by a laggard is rarely of sufficient quality to be useful.

And on and on - living in a place that is popular to form communes, I've watched 100% of them fall apart; all for reasons the original article missed.

The loose community of libertarians I live around has none of these problems. Everyone is "self-made", everyone has their own castle, stash, etc, and a diverse set of skills that are useful to the group. No hangers-on just trying to surf or skim the top. I think it's kind of funny that we have our own version of communism that works - based on strong individuality and liberty. Everyone just helps everyone, and is able to do so, because there are no parasite losers in the mix, conditions already prevent them from being successful around here, so they self-select out of the neighbourhood.
 
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