Is a collapse of society on the horizon?
Lifestyle :
From social media to YouTube to civic groups and organizations, people are beginning to express a strange uneasiness. The thought is that the world is changing, life (as we knew it) is ending, and something is brewing. Some have been unable to put their finger on what’s coming, while others are convinced that we’re facing a total collapse of society — and they are already preparing for the worst.
According to USA Today, a growing contingent of Americans believe that Donald Trump will win the 2024 election over Joe Biden, prompting a total and complete collapse of society. In fact, people are so convinced this is coming that they’re already stockpiling rations to avoid the same “dog-eat-dog” madness and price gouging experienced during the 2020 COVID crisis.
Brekke Wagoner, a 39-year-old resident of North Carolina, is actively preparing for the possibility of a disastrous collapse of society following the 2024 election.
Wagoner represents a relatively small but growing segment of Americans who consider themselves “preppers” — people prepared to survive without government assistance during disasters. Those disasters could encompass anything from a major storm to widespread looting sparked by election anger.
In expectation of a constitutional crisis, preppers are stockpiling weapons and medical supplies inside armored bunkers. Others are urging their neighbors to set aside enough food to survive for weeks or months without outside help.
“If you can be prepared, you won’t be a drain on the resources needed to help the people who didn’t prepare,” said Wagoner, who has a 90-day supply of food set aside for her 6-person family. Wagoner has also created a YouTube channel where she offers prepping advice to young people, urban residents, and people who have small homes.
“On the left, you have people afraid (Trump’s) going to declare himself dictator of the United States and people on the left are going to end up as targets in some sort of authoritarian system,” said prepping expert and author Brad Garrett. “On the right, it’s general malaise and a fear of society unraveling. They point to these smash-and-grab robberies, riots, and protests.”
“On one side, people think Trump may bring a New World Order and ‘they’ will come and get us, so we need to be ready,” said Professor Chad Huddleston of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, an anthropologist who has studied the prepping community extensively. “And then on the other hand you have the communities who think things will just get worse so we have to help ourselves.”
The animal kingdom, for example, was completely unaffected by the COVID crisis. Despite everything going on around them, animals were able to find shelter and provide food and water for themselves all from natural resources. However, humans (who rely on each other for survival) were completely lost once the supply chain went down. Food, water, and even toilet paper were at a premium. Money to buy necessary items was scarce due to lack of work. A simple can of Lysol or disinfecting wipes sold for upwards of $50 bucks. And, had the internet or electric grid gone down, the world would have spiraled into certain panic.
If Donald Trump wins the election and uses the US military to enforce martial law, society will indeed collapse. However, if Trump loses and refuses to accept defeat, we could very likely see violence similar to the Capitol Hill insurrection of January 6, 2021 — except, all across the country. Such chaos could close shops and stores, prompt gun violence and looting on the streets, force people to remain indoors, and effectively reproduce the same limitations of the 2020 COVID crisis.
Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Drew Miller recognizes the possibility of what’s coming and has prepared for a potential collapse of society in his own way.
Miller has built a survival business he calls “Fortitude Ranch,” which includes 7 compounds around the country, including Nevada, Wisconsin, and just outside Washington, D.C. Any of the 100 paying members can retreat for up to a year at a compound of their choosing while armed and isolated from whatever may come. In addition to stockpiles of food, propane, and whiskey, the compounds are outfitted with solar panels, well water, two-way radios, and lots and lots of guns.
In the event of a collapse of society, members will immediately flee to their closest compound, poach wildlife for meat, surround the property with log walls, and shoot any “marauders” who approach too closely. Additionally, members will have access to cupboards filled with first-aid kits and they have already recruited doctors and people with military medical training to help keep their fellow preppers healthy.
“We’ll have decent chow here come a collapse,” Miller said. “We guarantee a year of food, but not of toilet paper.”
Are these people crazy? Are they going overboard in their preparations for worse-case scenarios? Or, is it possible they know something the rest of us either don’t know or don’t want to know?
OK WASSUP! covers Lifestyle News:
Americans are preparing for a collapse of society.
Politico:
As the 2024 election approaches, the threat of political violence and civil breakdown is only going to increase. And despite all that U.S. national security and law enforcement officials have learned since Jan. 6, the country is still not prepared for a far-right revolt.
Several discomfiting questions arise: How many right-of-center Americans believe violence will be necessary to repel a perceived racial or cultural threat? Do those who harbor that belief have genuine intent to take up arms? If so, what it would take to make them shoot?