Being a prepper, is it good or bad?

[Sy Borg]

One should not despise people for beeing prepared by storing food reserves and even warm clothings for days of calamity.

Agreed. What other people do to prep is not my business. Good on 'em.

Timing is important in all things. Pull the trigger too early and you incur opportunity costs. Too late and you miss the chance. Not sure how prepping would have helped people in Ukraine who are under fire. Anyone with a bomb shelter would have a hard time defending it to ensure strangers don't barge in and cause over crowding and rapid loss of supplies. In that situation, where people are scrabbling for shelter and supplies, the owner of a shelter would need more than one person with guns and an ornery attitude to guard it.

Being a retiree, I would be loathe to fight to stock up my own supplies against young families with children. If everything really goes to hell, I've had a good run and would be willing to vacate the scene so the young may have the choice to survive in a ruined society/world or not.

[LuckyR]

How can the prepper tell that the insurance policy will pay out though? Or as I suspect would the insurance company state sorry under article 4.2.1 asteroid strike we are not entitled to pay out on your bow drill, camo gear, semi automatic machine gun premiums.
If the prepper is practicing 24/7 they are paying extremely high premiums for a dubious policy - when they could be using the opportunity cost to study philosophy say and realise they could be spending their time in other ways.
Up to the preppers I guess.

Well, one of the basic freedoms, is the freedom to make stupid decisions.

[NeilWallace]

Well, one of the basic freedoms, is the freedom to make stupid decisions.

As long as these stupid decisions only affect you. If its Alex Jones style, "I've got 3 years supply of food, and then I will eat my neigbors to save my daughters" paranoia prepping then the state finds ways to limit these basic freedoms. Thankfully imho.

[LuckyR]

Well, one of the basic freedoms, is the freedom to make stupid decisions.

As long as these stupid decisions only affect you. If its Alex Jones style, "I've got 3 years supply of food, and then I will eat my neigbors to save my daughters" paranoia prepping then the state finds ways to limit these basic freedoms. Thankfully imho.

The state doesn't generally limit the talk (Mr Jones' speciality), rather they can limit the action.

[NeilWallace]

The state doesn't generally limit the talk (Mr Jones' speciality), rather they can limit the action.

Jone's talk is limited by his Youtube channel being banned and hence his ability to get his message to a wider audience is severely restricted. "Prepping" can have a political connotation in USA. Its not so much the issue of people practicing with guns in the woods and storing food but a general mistrust in Government and the State that may be problematic particularly if said views contribute to the storming of the Congress.

So the question for me is if the word "prepping" just means practicing survival skills, or does it also include a general lack of faith or indeed antagonism towards the Government and State? The first a harmless excercise of basic freedoms, the second a more problematic belief.