What do you think of doomsday preparers?

hmmm. Well first it isn't coming down the road in just AMERICA. If it happens the whole world will be affected.

It's our fault. We believed people who told us what we wanted to hear, that resources are limitless.

And yes it is coming. And most of the preparers will not survive because they concentrate too much on material things and too little on know-how. Our industries depend on the products of other industries and so on... Very few still know how to make things by hand with simple tools. Very few know enough machining, or carpentry or chemistry to put things together, and not one in 10,000 could build a trebuchet or even know that a ballista is torsion-powered.

Eventually the carefully stored dehydrated food will run out. Fuel for fires will run out, People who have small farms and orchards will run out of ammunition and will have the things that could save us destroyed by desperate people. Only a few will be able to defend, and they will lose regard for human life.

So doomsday preparers will drag themselves halfway into the brave new world and the people who will actually survive will probably be those who have not forgotten a savage lifestyle.

Depends on what you mean by "doomsday," and it depends on your moral values.

If we're talking about "doomsday" in the Christian sense - you know, Jesus returning in the clouds, the battle of Armageddon being fought and all human history coming to an end -- then "preparing" for Doomsday is impossible. You can't do it: God supposedly has other plans.

If your idea of "doomsday" turns on the economy falling apart, or race war breaking out, or catastrophic shortages of resources, or the coastal zones flooding due to global climate change -- well, I suppose one MIGHT be able to prepare for that sort of catastrophe.

My moral values tell me, however, that I should try to work to prevent the catastrophe, not prepare for surviving once one occurs.

Personally, I know I have to die sometime, and I'm not willing to sacrifice my life and my moral sense of doing good in the present, in order to prepare for some catastrophe that might not unfold in my lifetime.

If you judge differently, I guess that's your business. But I want human beings to get together -- NOW, or soon -- in order to keep the worst from going down. Trying to reassemble the pieces after it crashes seems 2nd rate to me. Don't know if I'm being unrealistically optimistic about that or not, but that's how I think & feel.

-- democratic socialist

The land of anarchy he who has the most guns is in charge. If some major calamity were to happen they would have their piece of turf.

Over time alliances would be formed to get control of more turf trade mutual protection and so on.

As the "turf" grew larger some form of government would emerge. The ruling council with a leader.

Over more time these groups would merge to form larger groups.

Does it sound like 13 colonies that joined hands and then expanded?

The calamity if just political would have to face the real world of other ARMIES Big difference between fending off interlopers wanting your food and things versus an army ( say tank or long range missile) just coming to take or destroy your special place.

I think they are smart for emergency preparation in the first place.

But at the same time dumber than a bag of rocks for showing their location and preps to the entire nation and most importantly the corrupt government that can easily take them now.

I don't think a couple of months worth of food in a back-pack is going to do anything but make one a target for looting gangs.

When the crisis really hits, it will last for YEARS!.

I suppose I've could regret it some day but so far, they've just been nuts. Y2K, Mayan Calendar are a few examples of doomsday folks ending up holding a massive inventory when nothing happened

It does not take a prophet to have nightmares relating to the way forward for our international. yet once you rather believe in loose will, something can ensue, and you will play a real section in it.

I generally support as much freedom as possible.....however, Adam Lanza's mother was a prepper, and should have shielded her son from her fear of impending insurrection and stockpile of weapons. If she wants to do it, fine, but she should have been more cognizant of the fact that her son was highly impressionable and mentally unstable.

after hurricane Sandy, i bet a lot of people were full of envy.

people that store food, water etc. are not necessarily getting ready for ww3. anything can happen that can knock out your water or your power. since katrina, we've had enough examples as to why it doesn't hurt to have a plan.

Everyone that calls them crazy is going to feel pretty dumb when our economy and the u.s. dollar completely collapses. It never hurts to be prepared.