How do you convince people to be prepared?

It seems nowadays no one really believes that SHTF could actually happen to them even though it happens somewhere and to a lot of people every day. I basically almost to the point of not mentioning to anyone about survival preps anymore as most people think Im CRAZY. When I buy grocery carts of canned goods I tend to get a lot of strange and have become accustom to telling the cashier Im on my way to the mission.
I see Gold ans Silver prices and that tells me that a lot of "power" is Prepping.

 

I made my video as a project to get people aware that being prepared is practical, no matter what. Normalcy bias is a hard thing to beat.

Edit: Linked to video to simplify finding it.

 

You video is super cool.
Dont know if time sre different but I remember my dad alsway kept what he felt was a 30day supply of food and his main concern in life was beer and girls (like father like son).

 

If people are interested in prepping,I will gladly help them any way that I can...If they are just being nosey about the quantities that I buy, I just tell them that I have 12 children! That usually shuts them up...

 

They dont believe it unless you have a foodstamp card LOL

 

Times are different. The people these days, even a lot of older folks I know are all about instant gratification. Their desires can be satisfied at a whim. They forgot hardships, or never really had them. The thing is they get slapped in the face with a reminder and they freak out! Deaths can and have resulted from being under prepared or just flat out being unwilling to accept reality!

 

Good post, I have noticed in my business that todays 80 year old is not the same as 80year olds were just 20 years ago. Its a pity so many people are dependent on an intenity "government" that they know will not be able to sustain itself for much longer.

 

I just tell them that it's a 100 mile round trip to come to town, and I only do it once a month.

As far as persuading folks to prep for emergencies, you can't. When we lived in SE Texas right on the gulf, it used to amaze me how people would wait until a hurricane was in the gulf and headed our way before they would head to Wal-Mart for flashlights and batteries. By then it was too late, and the stores were sold out.

My younger brother had to evacuate for Katrina, he lives on the north side of the bay across from N.O. He was indignant when his family got hungry on the way out, and the only restaurant he could find open was out of everything but steak. Cost him $75 to feed his family one meal. A few emergency supplies would have saved him a lot of money. He still won't prepare for emergencies!

 

Those that forget history are doomed to repeat it. Unfortunately, most of those that lived through the depression and other 'hard' times have passed on before us. And most of the lessons were lost in the proceeding years.

I propose that most of us here are those that listened to our ancestors and or an old wise sage that spoke to us in our youths.

Most of the sheeple aren't listening and won't listen until it hits them in the face like a 2x4. And at that point, the gig is up. The fat lady has been singing but they were too busy yapping to other sheeple on their cellphones while in line at the super market to hear the music.

 

LMAO I went to buy 22 pounds of barley. The lady at the store gave me a look. I smiled and said "I really LOVE barley, it is great for keeping my bowels moving..." by the time I got to bowels her look had faded to a strange expression that was half dread and half disgust. I love being older.

 

I had an old friend that went through the depression, he told me "Things were pretty rough, then I learned how to scratch around in God's good Earth and grow food."
Later he was a crew member on a B-17 that was shot down over Germany early in the war, but that's another story.....

 

LOL you got my bowels miving from laughter

 

True story.

 

I started prepping literally about a month or so ago. When I was younger I used to always make sure I was prepared for anything.I don't know why, but as I grew older I grew more complacent. Sorry A.D.D. was kicking in I'll get back on point. So when I started prepping I was going full force. I was on the computer everyday looking for the best prices on supplies. Downloading books etc etc. Well starting about 2 weeks ago we started having a lot of earthquakes in the region. Now mind you I live in Oklahoma and there is an active fault line, but usually the quakes are very low say lower than 1.0. Well we have had at least 4 in the 5.0 range over the last two weeks. So my wife who was thinking I was borderline crazy for all this "prepping" has finally seen why I am doing this. In fact last Tuesday during our bi-monthly team meeting our supervisor gave us a safety meeting on being prepared for natural or man made disasters. They even handed out a list of what items you should have on hand for a 72 hour emergency pack. What the wife thought was funny hit her full force after that. .. Sometimes it takes a couple of other nuts saying the same thing to make believers out of some people. I have family like you Gray Wolf. My brother and sister will be ill prepared for what may happen. I'm not so worried about my sister as she lives with my parents who are both Vet's and are prepared to some degree but my brother has a family and feel he may be hit hardest when something bad occurs.

 

You Dont. You can take events one at a time and lead people to conclude that they need to prepare. You cant make anyone do anything unless it is with a threat.

 

My Father lived through much of the depression, and the tough times of WWII in the southeast - they farmed and fished, and times weren't easy.
He keeps maybe a couple weeks of canned and dry packaged food in the cupboard. Has three freezers filled with meat. No genny.

Last time they lost power during a hurricane was for four days. I don't know what he did - I was away in the Navy at the time - but I bet it wasn't pretty......

I have about a year's worth of food stored, and a genny to keep the fridge going if needs be, til I can eat the food in it.

My sister and BIL...... no preps at all. They are Liberals and expect the Goobermint to 'help' them.

 

American Handgunner magazine put out various special issues thru out the year. Currently on newstands is one by them called "Reality Check SURVIVE 2012" About half the magazine is preparing to survive disasters. Other half is new guns & other toys.

I've been called a Closet Prepper by sum on here a few times :::coff coff Falcon coff coff::: cuz I don't really consider myself a Prepper. I just prefer to buy cheap & distrust the world in general. I buy food on sale with coupons, can & freeze cuz thats what my mother has always done. I stock up on ammo when I can get it cheap. I HATE paying FULL Price for anything. I built a wall & covered the banks with rock because idiots running stop sign running up into my yard & I'm afraid one day they'll hit the house. I hardened my home so I don't get stolen what I have worked to earn. I know that in the past when my mother was raising me & my brother that if we needed help, there was NEVER anyone to help. So I make sure in the future I can do it myself. Theres reasons why I say I've been doing construction since I was 12, gets me funny looks of "BS" from people when I say it too.

I try to get others to prepare to help themselves first by talking to them about Guns & Protecting themselves. Cuz if they Anti-Gun or not willing to Protect themselves & their possessions, then odds are they not willing to do anything else to save themselves either.

 

Stang, buddy, you buy and hold just in case. You would rather have than have not in a time of crisis. You would rather be ready for the bad and enjoy the good out of life. That is nothing more than practical common sense and what we in my family call old home wisdom. The label "prepper" or "survivalist" is just a label. We are what we are. Aware, awake, and not wanting to get caught with our proverbial "pants down around our ankles".

The OP posed a very good point...how do you convince others to be prepared? IMO, you don't convince them. You lead them. Start by talking about being ready for a natural disaster. In many parts of this country it is being ready for blizzards, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and/or wildfires. Chat with them about how bad the stores were at the last minute. Regale them with accounts of the bare shelves, the lack of things like food, plywood/2x4's (if you live in hurricane land), batteries, flashlights, candles, and the chaos of trying to get into and out of stores that were packed with people trying to cram all of their preparedness in at the last second. Remind them of the aftermath of the event. After the major hurricanes I lived through I know folks that drove 50 miles for 5 pounds of ice. They paid exorbitant amounts of money in time and scarce gasoline to buy a generator and a couple of empty 5 gallon gas cans. Then they would have to drive out yet again to get fuel. I could go on and on.

Sometimes, the best key to unlock someone reticence about being "prepared" is reminding them of the things that were so bad about the last major natural disaster.

Above all, stay calm. Don't wander off into tinfoil hat land. Stick with true events that have a very real possibility of being repeated. Don't get upset when they say "Yeah maybe I should think about it". Leave it alone, until the next time you talk a day or so later. If they have family, especially young children or grandchildren, remind them how hard it would be to feed them if there is no food at the stores, because everyone else panicked at the last minute and stripped the stores bare.

Point in fact. I have a friend (who is now a prepper). He and his wife live not too far from me. They moved here from North Texas, and had never been through a hurricane (the wife was originally from Wisconsin). They had a baby that was under a year old when Ike came rampaging through. They had little food, no water, no power, no AC (and it was miserable humid and hot). I invited them to stay at my place. I had food, power, water, AC in the largest room (window unit works wonders). They stayed for 3 weeks, until they got power back at their house. Once they had been here a few days, my friend approached me and wanted to sit down and write a list and start buying preps immediately. He is now a member of my prepping group, and is wide awake. As with anything, this worked for me, but may not work for you. YMMV.

It is also why I structured my video the way I did. There are literally hundreds of "emergency situations" that can stress how not ready folks are for even the smallest thing. The video is an introduction to a class I will teach. It's purpose is to get people thinking. To help them understand that not being ready for even the "smallest" emergency can have some very serious and uncomfortable consequences.

 

I encounter 2 problems with convincing people to "prepare".

1 They just refuse to admit that a long term disruption can happen. If they don't admit it it can't happen.

2 The disposable nature, and the instant gratification of our society.

I wrote a preparedness "plan" ( more of a guide) to give to my family and friends.

I do use the fact hat just about every part of this country has several natural events that can and will shut down the infrastructure. But I still haven't gotten them to prep for more than a couple days worth.

Most of them have been threw some of the big storms, Katrina, Rita, and Gustav. After Gustav my son had to boil water for a week, and drive to Mississippi to get bread and other food stuff. I still can't get him prepare for something really major.

Bottom line it's back to the old saying, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink".

Actually the hard decision will fall on us preppers. We "know" that our non prepper friends and family will come knocking on your door when something bad happens. The question is will you let them in?

 

Normalcy Bias is a VERY difficult thing to overcome.