oldhorseman (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} oldhorseman) wrote,@ 2009-07-04 01:07:00 |
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| Current mood: |  cynical |
| Entry tags: | doomsteading |
Practical Doomsteading: Knowing Your Enemies.
On the LATOC Forum, and among prospective doomsteaders in general, there is much discussion about weaponry and tactics to defend against the Mutant Zombie Bikers that will roam the wastelands...
While I certainly advocate being armed, skilled, and ready to defend oneself in a future where dialing 911 will be even less effective than it is now, I'd say that MZBs are just a vague euphemism for the various threats we may have to face when the wheels come off Cornucopia and people start to get desperate out there. Let's consider some of the general types of people with whom we may have to be concerned.
The Scary Survivalist.
This is the one the media will try to scare the sheeple with as things get worse. The camouflage-clad type with the Rambo complex, spooky black guns, and End Times attitude.
Truth is, this guy will probably be the least of our worries. Even the way-way-out there versions blabbering about the Final War With The Mud-Peoples and exchanging Nazi salutes (which is only a tiny minority of the survivalists, but get most of the press) can be pretty much expected to hunker down in their basements, clutch their rifles, and munch on their stockpile of MREs when SHTF. Unless you're stupid enough to go bother them, they'll be no threat to you.
Mud-People, Etc.
Oh, the long-awaited race wars... Thing is, large portions of the minority populations in America are already used to living in the Fedghettos, so they'll hardly notice the coming shift in society. The rest of them are going to be in the same boat as the honkies, either lining up to get into the expanding Fedghettos or trying to find a way to get-by on the Outside.
Yeah, crime will rise as things break-down, and people of color can be expected to commit their share. And it is true that folks tend to run with their own kind, especially when the going gets rough. But bands of punks who happen to be one color or another don't really make for large-scale race wars, and most people will probably be too busy just trying to get from day-to-day to be concerned with such nonsense anyway.
Illegals / Reconquista / Aztlan
Million upon millions of illegal aliens who, instead of keeping quiet and blending-in, openly demonstrate in the streets, demanding that America give them privileges and adapt to their language and culture. Even openly stating that they want to overthrow established civil authority and become nation unto themselves. This can't end well...
Y'know what? I like their chances of taking over large parts of the Southwest. Mostly because an awful lot of that territory is naturally a godforsaken sand-lot without the rapid transportation, forced irrigation, and air-conditioning made possible by now-waning Cornucopian resources. The Mexicans will "reconquer" the land after the gringos wise-up and abandon it.
When they realize that Aztlan isn't quite the utopia they'd imagined without the gringo-funded welfare system, the Mexicans may try to make inroads into the better parts of the Southwest, and even into parts of the US with little or no Mexican heritage... But, by that time, tolerance for that kind of shit will have been exhausted, and it's not like wannabe badass banditos have ever had much success against serious, armed defenders.
Warlords.
Some folks imagine a regression to feudalism with regional Warlords arising to dominate the would-be homesteaders and townsfolk.
This overlooks an advantage of modern technology that isn't likely to fade away anytime soon.
You see, it doesn't take a powerful rival force, or even a unified group of resisters, to take down a would-be American Warlord in this day and age. All it needs is one sneaky guy with a scoped rifle. Seriously, Mister Warlord. Have fun pushing people around knowing that you can never walk within a quarter mile of any cover of any kind without risking getting your insides splattered outside by some grudge-holder with a decent 30-06. And that's just an ordinary sniper. There are long-range varmint-shooters who have shooting targets smaller than your head from over a mile away down to a science... Not to mention the .50 BMG rifle enthusiasts who can mess you up from a mile away even if you're wearing fancy body armor or ducking behind a cinder-block wall.
Zombies!
Formerly non-threatening people... College kids, yuppies, IT managers, real estate agents, stockbrokers, and so-forth... Their cozy little worlds ripped out from under them. They were gonna flip houses, wind-up with a really kick-ass McMansion, a couple of sweet SUVs in the garage, retire early, travel, and generally grab the world by the short-hairs, baby! Then it all goes to shit. People who've never known hunger, want, or hardship suddenly thrust into a cold, starving, scary world. Their humanity stripped away. Dirty, terrified, and desperate...
And, many doomers imagine, they'll be coming for the well-prepared like the shambling zombies from a cheap horror flick. Willing to risk their lives and take yours for a outdated can of Vienna sausages.
While this is a good reason to keep one's doom preps on the down-low, history indicates that most people faced with crippling loss of lifestyle support simply bitch and moan about it. Eventually trudging to wherever the nearest official rescue/relief/aid is available while whining about the fact that nobody came to collect them. See refugees from any of the major war or disaster. Especially Katrina. People who've never really had to struggle for anything don't suddenly have more fight in them when they experience real hunger and pain for the first time. They have less.
Fascist Government Stormtroopers.
Certainly can't blame doomers for being worried about Authorities Gone Wild. Between the USA PATRIOT Act, all sorts of Government agencies growing all kinds of new powers, cops tasering and pepper-spraying harmless people every time you turn-around, and the overall rising level of desperation, it's not hard to imagine things going full-on Nazi in the near future.
Fortunately, the Enforcers are ultimately subject to the same effects of declining resources as everyone and everything else. The days of having bloated departments armed with all the latest, coolest weapons, body armor, vehicles, and tech are ending fast.
The State/County/Municipal government degenerated into mere branch-offices of the US Government long ago. And the US is going to have all it can handle (perhaps more than it can handle) with the resource wars, maintaining some semblance of order in the Fedghettos, and holding the LATOC Gerrymander of US territory together. Raiding piddly little doomsteads simply wouldn't be worth the effort.
The Community Organizer.
Yes. Here's the real threat to your future on the doomstead, and the development of solid communities on the Outside. The "generous", "caring", "liberal-minded" person who claims to be acting for the Greater Good. She (or he) will rally the people against you, speeching about how wrong it is for you to "hoard" food and other resources while there are hungry children in the "community". Then she'll demand that you and your draft horses (despite being near-starved thanks to the "community" gobbling-up all their grain over the winter) plow the communal garden instead of your own. Then, if you manage to get your own crops in at all, she'll insist that your produce be chucked-into the collective pot.
"In hard times like these, we've all got to pull together!" she'll declare... But all she'll be contributing is a big mouth. Being heroically generous with your resources. Discouraging the Zombies from shambling off to the refugee centers where they belong, and ultimately dis-empowering the individuals who might have actually been able to bootstrap themselves up to being pillars of a real, civilized community.
You catch zombies trying to eat your milk cow, you blast 'em with the ol' shotgun and feed 'em to the hogs. Billy Badass the Wannabe Warlord demands tribute, you gut-shoot him and let him bleed-out in the middle of Main Street as an object lesson to anyone with similar ideas... But when the social worker type, claiming to represent the "community", knocks on your front door and acts as though she's the good person, it doesn't seem so clear-cut.
Don't fall for it. The busybody isn't about helping your neighbors. She's just raking in power and status at your expense. It's up to you to decide whom you will help and how much. Not some "community" that suddenly banded together under a faux-compassionate "leader". These are just zombies and warlords wrapped in BS drag. Deal with them as such.
