Hello All, As most of you know I am a student up here in Canuckvilleland. I am taking a political anthropology class this semester and in it I have to propose a topic to be researched. The main idea behind Political Anthropology is the wielding of power over another person/group/country. Here's where I need your help. I would like to propose for figurative purposes only (there will be no REAL study, just a proposition.) a study of us preppers, However I cant think of an Antagonist that rallies against us. What should I use as OUR Antagonist? Please no Tinfoil suggestions. CBMS
Fred Thompson and the entire GOP would be a good start. They want us to believe that all is well, the sky ain't falling, and they won't come in our mouth.
\ I would expand that to the whole of congress. Might be interesting to explore how that august body supports the usurpation of liberty in the name of security. Not that it is necessarily a conscious move to do so, but the simple expedient of jumping on the bandwagon of ignoring or twisting law to justify chipping away at liberty.
For simplicity and to enable the reader to have some empathy with the writer, I would limit the antagonist to the local Government, and their LEO arm. Anything that brings the prepper to the public eye results in the prepper being vilified as an "Extremist" bent on some evil, a danger to "The Public", even though extremism is not a part of the psyche of The Grey Man. If he has more than one rust-speckled 'hunting rifle' or shotgun, if he has more than one box of tarnished 'shells', if he owns any firearm of military origin or design - he is painted as having an 'arsenal'. If he has a stock of LTS food for the proverbial 'rainy day', he is painted as a "hoarder" somehow breaking the law and not being willing to 'share with his neighbors'. His neighbors fear him - for no reason other than HE is prepared and THEY are not! His government fears him, because he has the means to resist their control. The People fear him, because he is not of The Herd.
Thank you everyone Keep em coming. I will post the whole essay when Its finished. I wanted to site the recent MSNBC article on "survivalists". I want to show the Government specifically targeting the preparedness community. Not the loons who sit on our fringes. I was thinking of using Ruby Ridge and the recent FLDS raid for the over extension of the "Enforcement" branch of our local governments. Also I want to challenge the common media examples of what people think we are. I would want to interview some of us, if thats alright, about what you have, and why you have it. Also what your Job is, your standing in society. (basiclly I want to show people that WE are your neighbors, your dentists, every day folk.) Well I dont have to do the interviews however I think that would be a great additional source. Back on track, which of you political junkies out there can start pointing to the bills and legislations back in the day and current about hordeing laws. Also GM food, with Hybrid seeds and the problems they cause for US. I think I am going to leave the second amendment alone for this, as a) this is a Canadian school (Guns are bad mmmkay) and b) Its too hot a potato to play with right now. Plus as soon as we start talking about guns, ears get turned off, and we get labelled loonies. What do you guys think?
