Hacker News Reader

Comment by CodeCube | Hacker News Reader

This is why "preppers" make me laugh ... they go out of their way to stockpile these resources (food, guns, survival gear, etc). I don't know about you, but anyone I've ever met with prepper tendencies isn't shy about letting you know about it ... so now they're making it known that in an emergency, they will be the place for the mob to raid

View on HN

I've met some who are very quiet about it, presumably precisely for that reason. It's no surprise that you don't really hear about the ones who are highly-prepared but don't say much.

Keep in mind selection bias. The only preppers you know are the ones who let you know they are preppers.

Many mormons are "preppers" in that their religion urges them to stockpile up to a year of food.

> This is why "preppers" make me laugh ...

Well, those are the "annoying vegans" of the prepper world. That or folks using publicity to scare up interest and sell you things here and now.

Any prepper with an actual interest in long-term survival knows the importance of OPSEC.

One of my coworkers is a prepper and he almost never says a word about it. Even if you ask directly, you won't get much out of him.

I think you're experiencing selection bias.

Wouldn't the mob run away after a few people in front got shot? I'm sure there are historical examples for comparison.

The problem with security is you have to be right every time, they only have to be right once.

Your children are starving.

You can (a) run away and watch them starve or (b) rush the compound and hope to get some food.

Threats -- and demonstrations -- of violence are only reliable if the person being threatened has something to lose.

If you die then you can't help them anymore.

If you die, you don't have to watch them starve to death next week.

If there's a 90% chance you die storming the compound, a 10% chance you survive storming the compound and obtain food and a 100% chance you die if you don't find food soon, why wouldn't you take the chance at survival?

Because there may be other opportunities out there. If you leave, there may only be 5% chance you'll find other resources to survive. If you die there's 100% chance your kids will die.

>Threats -- and demonstrations -- of violence are only reliable if the person being threatened has something to lose.

I'm not convinced that people would be rational about their prospects if they were being shot at.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com