What's wrong with preppers?

[Codename Section]

And I just almost killed my buzz. ((grabs chicken wing))

[Bob]

Really, we as a society should teach a certain level of prepping and we should be building our dwellings with that prepping in mind. The way we build is absolutely deadly these days. I was looking at a study done by legit scientists on Seattle and San Francisco, and how the eventual "Big One" earthquake would completely obliterate both cities, and they were saying that the reason the Big One would destroy those two cities is because they aren't being built to withstand such a catastrophe. True, some buildings in both cities are being built now to withstand earthquakes, but it's mostly the big business headquarters and government buildings that are being constructed that way, not civilian homes.

The sad part is, it would cost a lot less money to retrofit every building in the city to withstand a superquake than it would to repair the damage caused by said superquake.

The California building codes are much stricter than you claim they are.

My city, and I don't believe it to be the only CA city, enforces heavy bolts through the tops of buildings built of bricks or masonry products to keep the building safe in the event of an earthquake. We really have a fairly narrow band from the south to the north where it leaves land into the ocean known as the San Andreas. The simple truth is if you are distant 20 miles from either side, you won't feel much in the way of damage. You will shake but the house should survive intact. That is the major quake producer along with the Hayward fault. This fault is close to me and so far, since 1964 I have yet to feel a shake. My building is sound as I reported.

In my area, new homes must have steel holding the outside walls stiff so they hold the house up when lumber might fail. Homes are bolted to the concrete foundations.

The super old homes may have been modified or not. When CA wants things like that done, they make it a condition of selling the property.

[Green Arrow]

The California building codes are much stricter than you claim they are.

My city, and I don't believe it to be the only CA city, enforces heavy bolts through the tops of buildings built of bricks or masonry products to keep the building safe in the event of an earthquake. We really have a fairly narrow band from the south to the north where it leaves land into the ocean known as the San Andreas. The simple truth is if you are distant 20 miles from either side, you won't feel much in the way of damage. You will shake but the house should survive intact. That is the major quake producer along with the Hayward fault. This fault is close to me and so far, since 1964 I have yet to feel a shake. My building is sound as I reported.

In my area, new homes must have steel holding the outside walls stiff so they hold the house up when lumber might fail. Homes are bolted to the concrete foundations.

The super old homes may have been modified or not. When CA wants things like that done, they make it a condition of selling the property.

As I said, most of California is still not prepared for the Big One. The facts bear that out. Even Fox News has reported it that way just a couple years ago.

Your area is likely not as prepared as you think it is, but even if it is, that is just one area that, according to you, is populated by rich people. The general population of California will not be as prepared.

[Max Rockatansky]

what was that you said about preppers sitting in their basements polishing their helmets and their guns? LOL

Yes. I don't get your connection. @Calypso Jones

[Max Rockatansky]

If people knew half the $#@! we did for the US government they'd hug their kids extra tight and start prepping too. I know there are others like me out there and they're making more of them daily.

That scares the hell out of me sometimes.

It's been that way for 239 years.

[Max Rockatansky]

I think that there is more than one definition of preppers.

It's a slang word, so that it reasonable. Mostly it's a difference between caution and paranoia.

[Green Arrow]

It's been that way for 239 years.

No, it really hasn't.

[donttread]

I might be inclined to be a prepper if I were about 20 years younger and lived in the county. However in general, who are the preppers? Mostly rugged individualists living outside of the cities. How can city dwellers be preppers - they don't have the space to warehouse food and arms. It is from a practical point of view impossible for them. It's also expensive. I think most people would be more likely to reject something that they cannot do, rather than live in fear that their lives could be forfeit.

It would also be much harder to defend your stash from all those hungry urbanities

[Captain Obvious]

@Green Arrow - here is the answer you're looking for.

Like anything else $#@! gets taken to an extreme by the fringe and that gives the concept an easily demonized name.

Guns. I'm a staunch supporter of guns and feel I should own an Uzi if I wanted to - but, I'll gladly submit background checks and obtain a license and/or certification to do so. And I'm not going to stockpile a cache of fully automatic guns and ammo. The guy in the trailer park with 30 of them, yeah - that's a problem.

Preppers are the same way. I believe @Peter1469 has prepped stuff but from what it sounds like it's practical, common sense things to be ready for a possible, likely emergency. Preparing for nuclear holocaust or the zombie apocalypse by digging out an underground lair lined with lead is a little much.

There's also an inherent abnormal psychology to extreme preppers, this is my opinion, not necessarily fact. Like hoarders or even conspiracy theorists some people have a fixation on this. If you have any insight you should notice that these people are a little "off".

[Max Rockatansky]

No, it really hasn't.

Yes, it really has.