Charles Hugh Smith had a piece on his blog about a ship sinking, time to choose which lifeboat you were going to board and the ability to choose. Of Two Minds - Which Lifeboat Will You Choose? He uses sinking of the ship as a metaphor for surviving the coming crisis, but in my 83 years of life I have seen the real effects of choice on my life style many times. At some point in any crisis you have at least two basic choices, depend on yourself and go it alone or joining a group of individuals that you think will increase your chances of pulling thru. We find many examples of both schools in the community, building your perfect site in the wilds of Alaska or in Idaho etc, keep it as hidden as possible and stock it for an independent life of x number of years and then continue on a level of life close to the edge. A second school wishes to have a self sufficient community that can support and defend itself during the crisis and rebuild some level of civilization afterwards. I have belonged to purpose built communities, the average time they exist is usually measured in years, until the sponsors money runs out, and the level of discontent over the leadership makes it impossible to live in them. The only long term ones to survive have had an absolute dictator for the person in charge. It may be a priest or religious leader, a cult leader, some book or document that is used to act as the absolute decision maker etc. All the rest have failed due to the interactions of individuals who "wish and have the authority to be in charge" and the rest of us who wished to meet some other goal. It usually ended up a tug of war between those working to support the community and those that believed that their efforts as leaders meant they didn't have to work and as being in charge gave them rights beyond the herd. Kind of the AOC response in our present political climate. Society as a whole can make such decisions and they can endure for long periods of time, slavery, surfs, wage slaves to the mine, etc, or it can end up in its modern forms, communism, socialism, state capitalism such as Hitler wished, etc As a thought exercise, if you were to have 1 hour to get into a life boat and have your fate depend on that choice, who would you choose for the 1 month period and who would you choose for the 5 year period, would your selections be the same? First read the article, seemed simplistic, but on further thought, finds it really questions all I thought I knew about survival, both short and long term. It breaks it down into two big questions, surviving the trip to the island, and then surviving on the island. In our case surviving the crisis and then thriving in the period that follows. As usual, Mr. Young has a story that asks those questions. Resource - Pole Shift And it was a continuing thread thru all of the writings of Fleataxi. If you haven't read his works, several are in the Survival Reading Room. Simplistic and hopeful, but showing both the survival of the individual and the group and how things might work out.
No way to make such plans as a certanity as things continue to be in flux. Be flexible and be fast. Any type of hunkering down is just selecting your grave.
These exist and have for decades Example - EskDale UT The community is a farming commune and is located in the southern part of Snake Valley, near the western flank of the Conger Range (part of the larger Confusion Range).It was founded in 1955 by Dr. M. L. Glendenning as a religious community of the House of Aaron. The name itself comes from the River Esk in Scotland.[3] The town is home to EskDale High School, which serves the communities of EskDale, Garrison, Burbank, and Baker (Nevada), along with other locals in the Snake Valley area. EskDale is also known for its dairy. EskDale Community
That is exactly my point, a "community" in order to exist has to have both a purpose and an agreement on how it will be operated. So far most that have lasted are based on social or religious bonds and an agreement on some source of conflict resolution. The Amish, some Catholic groups, some tribal or social groups have existed for thousands of years. But others, Jonestown, some hippy groups, some religious groups have had rather bad endings.
On further thought about community, I wonder if our transformation from a collection of diverse states that were unable to function to a unified government that functioned with some major problems for the last 200 + years was mainly due to the existence of the US Constitution and our willingness for the most part as a group to accept it as the final answer. As well as our common religious and cultural heritage that established a habit of accepting the rule of law and a code of conduct for our people. While I am the first to admit that the advantages of our society were not shared by all, but all had an expectation of some legal treatment and ability to function in our country. Many of the problems we now face are similar to those faced by a commune breaking up. A minor problem, lynching for example, is blown way out of proportion to a reason to completely change our police forces. From the Civil war to the 1960's about 3500 blacks were lynched in the USA. A comparable totally unaccepted total for deaths due to drug over doses for 1 year, 2020, was about 90,000. Chicago had 774 homicides in 2020, one city, one year, versus nearly 0 lynchings for many years. Lynching Statistics by Year While I am certain that the above data will not satisfy many people, and while I admit even 1 death is unacceptable, I also find it problematic that some groups for political and cultural reasons are cherry picking the data and using symbolic events to attempt to change our social, economic and political system.
In the end, a person must do for themselves as much as possible--but no one can do everything alone. One man cannot work all day and guard all night. The smallest functional survival group is three persons: one to sleep, one to guard, and one to forage for food and other necessities. (Say, hoe the turnips, if they ere an agrarian group.) The smallest viable village--one that is large enough to benefit from specialization--is 22 persons. No one can survive alone. They can endure for a while, or until they die. But die they will--and if they die without children, it doesn't matter how long they managed to linger on. Their line went extinct with them. So be ready to join a likely-looking tribe and rub blue mud into your bellybutton like everyone else. It sure beats dyin' alone.
Funny thing about lifeboats. Folks get on board at the last minute/second to avoid death by drowning. (or hypothermia or both) This lifeboat is usually full of strangers. Almost all have no clue about the sea or how to exist past the time when the lifeboat supplies run out.... Showing up at a BOL (or town) at the last minute is much the same thing. You are the 'stranger', unknown and worse, likely resented for showing up to the party late. With no real social ties, you will discover quickly, just how alone among people you really are in fact.... If you show up empty handed, that discovery will arrive even faster.
It is usually best to be invited by the party host than by another guest. Funny, same thing with heaven as well.
