Off gridders are somewhat inclined to be preppers?

softdown
softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
Was reading about reasons to prep and came up with my own rational while recently perusing a "large discussion board". Thought I did a decent job with the rational: 

Thing about the internet is that we may tend to hear and read about unique and interesting events around the world. It is like getting little pin pricks dozens of times/day. Makes one tend to feel "unsettled".

Why I continue prepping:

  1. We are living off of debt. Our economy is completely dependent upon the massive infusions of cash backed by almost nothing.

  2. Freedom is increasingly illusory. Not only are lives destroyed for an honest thought today, lives are destroyed for being honest years ago.

  3. War with Iran is a couple malcontents activity away. Could be Saudi's or Israeli's or Iranians or Americans or..........................

  4. Civil War drums are not fading away.

  5. Our POTUS almost seems to relish confrontation. Yet attractive and viable options are questionable. Our greatest threat is government over reach and Trump is generally "all in" with augmenting governmental powers.

  6. Socialism is now a viable threat/alternative depending on your perspective. Many find the prospect absolutely horrifying.

  7. We have a couple dozen veteran suicides/day yet almost nobody wants to discuss that catastrophe.

  8. We may or may not be experiencing man made global warming. A massive change in climate is always possible and consistently foreboding.

  9. Technology virtually promises to destroy any vestiges of remaining privacy. Many of us feel that privacy is a requisite to feeling safe and happy. Zoo animals used to live for days or weeks before privacy was made possible in their surroundings. Even aquarium fish experience extra-ordinary mortality rates sans privacy provisions.

  10. We have ~40,000 SWAT raids and almost 1,000 deaths by police every year. Along with astronomical incarceration rates for victimless crimes, it is hard not to feel hunted by our own government. We are hunted by our government. Only the "grayman" survives 100% surveillance unscathed.

  11. The internet is absolutely brimming with government shills assuring us that all is great in the land of milk and honey. Perhaps it is if finding oneself on the right side of the DC financial spigots and ongoing psy-ops.

  12. Greedy, selfish CEO's are increasingly giving themselves stratospheric pay raises while slashing the pay and benefits of seasoned, knowledgeable workers. The labyrinthian list of victims grows with each passing year.

  13. Built in obsolescence is being fine tuned and spreads like a contagion. Only a matter of time before Honda and Toyota succumb to a greed that grows like fungus in a tropical rainforest.

  14. Our food chain is saturated with herbicides and pesticides. Combined with ammonia, bleach and fluoride, the assault on essential gut bacteria is extra-ordinary.

  15. The vital institution of marriage and child rearing between "statistically gifted" citizens is crashing on the rocks like a deserted boat with no anchor.

  16. Obesity and diabetes are at epidemic proportions. In spite of increasingly sophisticated healthcare, life spans are no longer increasing. Obesity has usurped historical gains in longevity.

  17. Mass shooters - already a massive problem, what if it grows dozens of times worse? Gun confiscation would likely result. Nothing is more likely to spark civil war than gun confiscation.

  18. The poles show ominous signs of reversing. Could become a catastrophe of immeasurable magnitude that literally lasts for millennia.

  19. Cops are now stealing more than private criminals. Government is showing off - how the "big boys get her done". What are you going to do about it anyway? They can "always find something".

  20. Addictions to prescribed opiods and anti-depressant consumption has served to make pharmaceuticals the largest industry in America.

  21. What do the biggest stock leaders and "most valuable" companies have in common? Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Facebook - they all glean historic amounts of data on the citizenry. Obviously merely a coincidence. Or not?

  22. Common sense and logical thought are now de-facto illegal if working with citizens thoroughly indoctrinated in public education. Summers got fired from Harvard for stating proven facts about IQ for example. There are hundreds and hundreds of similar victims. The still employed will live in fear for perpetuity.

So go ahead - tell us that things have never been better in the land of milk and honey. Then cash your government check and pat yourself on the back. EDIT: That discussion board, like other large ones, is dominated by government agents. So one tends to write as though their shoulder is being looked over. 


First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries

Comments

  • MrM1
    MrM1 Registered Users Posts: 487 ✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2019 #2
    Daaaaark !!

    But well said.  And to make matters even more scary,  Silicone Valley is building a data based Chinese Style Social Credit System. 
    Here is a short version Link from Fox News (ignore the dumb video at the top of the page,  just the written story).  But if that is not your chosen outlet,  the story was all over a few weeks ago.
    States Attorneys Generals are not real happy about it either.
    Scary Stuff.

    REC TwinPeak 2 285W 3S-3P 2.6kW-STC / 1.9kW-NMOT Array / MN Solar Classic 150 / 2017 Conext SW 4024 Inverter latest firmware / OB PSX-240 Autotransfomer for load balancing / Trojan L16H-AC 435Ah bank 4S connected to Inverter with 7' of 4/0 cable / 24 volt system / Grid-Assist or Backup Solar Generator System Powering 3200Whs Daily / System went Online Oct 2017 / System, Pics and Discussion
  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    Not to worry, I work on my social credit score most every week-end at Homeland Secur, I mean Facebook. Oddly my credit score declined after paying off my credit cards. Me things they want us in debt. I actually know that. Debt free has a level of freedom which the system has had a full scale assault on for decades. 



    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • Marc Kurth
    Marc Kurth Solar Expert Posts: 1,142 ✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2019 #4
    Staying with title of your post, I make the connection the other way. Most of my off grid customers are preppers. I get to see some pretty clever setups.
    Some are very hardcore but most are not. Being prepared for family/local/regional emergencies is simply common sense. It all depends upon one's definition of the word "prepper."
    When you live away from cities, you automatically plan ahead enough to be reasonably self sufficient for whatever time period you deem necessary.
    I always have more questions than answers. That's the nature of life.
  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    Staying with title of your post, I make the connection the other way. Most of my off grid customers are preppers. I get to see some pretty clever setups.
    Some are very hardcore but most are not. Being prepared for family/local/regional emergencies is simply common sense. It all depends upon one's definition of the word "prepper."
    When you live away from cities, you automatically plan ahead enough to be reasonably self sufficient for whatever time period you deem necessary.
    After spending half a day, fighting washboard roads etc, only to hear "Should be in on the next shipment, you in a hurry?" too many times. I became my own hardware store of sorts. A never ending project to be sure. 

    Washboard roads just suck. Broke my track axle last year, that was expensive. I buy supplies every other week. It is hard to buy for one person at a friggin' warehouse club when items go on sale about once/year. 

    Prepping is kind of fun for me. If something last for decades, it become harder to lose. Too bad that so much stuff is not built to last anymore. 
    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries