I guess you could compare this to IT plans for disasters. Most of us have barely any backups for most things. Yet there are those who have multiple off-site backups that are tested often whether they work.

Most of us prepare for short-term disruptions that are far more likely than hordes of undead roaming the streets. If widespread societal collapse should actually happen, then having a strong local community, and knowing how to co-operate and communicate with one's neighbours is far more important than having enough canned tuna to last to Ragnarok and back. That being said, having survival skills and basic supplies can come in handy in a wide range of situations.

Personally, I'm preparing for more basic things like long power outages, extreme weather and supply chain disruptions. Sure, we got food, fuel and supplies for a few months at home, and it's been very handy during the pandemic, while being snowed in for a week a few winters ago, and when being without power for two days last summer -- I could keep working like any other day, and didn't lose any income.

Yes, that includes some cash. It's been handy a few times when the card terminals at the store wasn't working. Storing large piles of it seems an unnecessary risk, though.

My favorite though are the billionaires who think that they wouldn’t be the first against the wall if civilization collapsed, and really believe their holes in New Zealand will be more than their graves. Still, if it makes people feel better and they’re unable or unwilling to address the roots of their fear and anxiety, it’s pretty harmless in most cases.

There’s no escape for you or your family, except averting disaster in the first place, or death. Unless your prepping amounts to a suicide pact, then it’s just a fantasy to keep you from being too afraid. As comforting fantasies go, prepping seems like a particularly expensive and time-consuming one. Unless you’re desperate for the illusion of control, your time and money is better spent elsewhere.

I think most people who prepare are not called preppers, nor think of themselves that way. During the cold War, there were all sorts of preparedness info being given out by rhe government. Some people made bunkers, I'd say most tried to have about a month's worth of food just on a natural rotation in the pantry.

I think specialization of labor and increasing wealth tends to wipe out a lot of self-reliance over generations. Why fix your own toilet if you make enough at your regular job; or work too many hours to get to it; or that you never saw your parents do that kind of work so you don't know what to even look up?

If I lived in Ohio right now for example, I'd want to have a large pile of gas masks too. There are people in America who desperately want to have these supplies right now for an emergency, and the media is mocking somebody who is prepared? Say what?

I'm not 100% sure of the psychology of it, but I think that people that are deeply trusting of the government are very disturbed that preppers exist because preppers are showing that they're not trusting the government at all which I think sets off some kind of warning in peoples' heads that maybe they are wrong and they don't really know how to process that. Hence, the extreme hatred of preppers displayed in much of the media, despite their activity usually not harming anybody else.

To be perfectly fair, on the flipside there are extreme preppers who seem to have some kind of unhealthy compulsion. And despite being relatively poor, some spend much of their time and money digging out full bomb shelters and filling them with years worth of food and canned goods, which doesn't seem healthy. But if you're doing a reasonable amount of preparation, and you're reasonably well off financially to afford this modest effort, kudos to you for wanting to ensure your family has the best chance in an emergency situation.

I never understood this attitude (very common in the US popular culture for one), or the same idea about stocking food, utilities, ammo and such, and taking of to some kind of bunker for emergency scenarios (from a storm, to "when the government comes", to the zombie apocalypse or similar).

While it's prudent to be prepared as a family, it's even more prudent (and it's always missing even as a though from such descriptions, posts, etc) to push and make sure your country/city/community is prepared.

It's the complacent "everyman for themselves" mentality I don't understand.

And with such a mindset, most of these "everyman for themselves" won't last a day. They'd have their stuff stolen, or even be killed, by people with more guns and larger teams. That you have guns yourself wont matter much, they'll have more, or smoke you out, or kill you from afar when you're not aware they're even watching you, or any other such technique.

If the prevalent idea for making it safe, is going at it alone (as a single person or family unit), then others will be all for themselves too, and if they can get ahead by screwing you, they will. Harder for them to do so when a community works together and shares their preparations.

I've known a few prepper types. They had plans for escape rooms, a significant cache of weapons, some ammo, and a few MREs in the closet.

Nobody had more than maybe a few liters of water per person in the home, and when I asked about an escape plan (e.g. there's a fire, get out and meet at John's house on the next street over) they looked at me like I was insane. Oh, and of course they're all in fairly bad shape.

In my opinion, most of the "prepper" stuff is about fantasy role playing. I see it as related to the "middle aged man porn" we see lately in the form of the Taken franchise of movies. It perhaps it gives a feeling of smug satisfaction in a chaotic life. You're angry that you were cut off in traffic on your way to a job that might have layoffs tomorrow, but at least you can tell yourself that when the apocalypse comes, you'll succeed while that jerk will be fodder. Sort of a tough guy variant of the classic "ass pennies" comedy sketch.

I'm really fine with being prepared for disasters, human-made or natural, but in a complete upheaval of global civilization you need more than property and a castle loaded with ammo to thrive. Looking at foreign countries ravaged by civil war, can you really imagine riding that out because you bought a farm?

Just buy some canned food(that you like) and few packs of bottled water. You're now more prepared than 90% of people. If you expect to evacuate from a local event, make some backpacking gear fitted with necessities and important stuff you need - tools,drugs/first-aid, documents,high-density foods. Like preparing an unexpected camping trip.

Bomb shelters and bunkers are for truly paranoid expecting doomsday scenarios occurring right on top on them, but basic preparedness is not particularly costly, unless you hoard tons of supplies that you can't use.