What's the biggest threat to our survival?

Discussion in 'General Survival and Preparedness' started by Ardent Listener, Aug 10, 2006.


  1. Ardent Listener

    Ardent Listener Monkey+++

    ETA and bump for feature 5/15/17:
    This thread goes to show that things don't really change a lot with time. The bogeyman under the bed is different, but the preparations are essentially the same.



    I know I'm asking a loaded question, but what do you think is the single biggest threat to our (U.S. & Canada population) survival in the next year? War? Disease? Crime? Stavation? Economic? Other? (you name it).

    One may lead to the other, but what do you think we have to be most concern about or what most likely to come first?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 15, 2017
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  2. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Paranoia and politics. We are going to succumb to our own fears and inability to act rationally.
     
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  3. Ardent Listener

    Ardent Listener Monkey+++

    Good reply.
     
  4. Aptus

    Aptus Monkey+++ Founding Member

    I'm leaning towards war/terror.

    One thing I wonder about is why there are never any terrorist attacks in the heart-land of America. Does any one agree that more fear would be caused if ol' "Little Town", USA had thousands killed due to some terrorist attack? I think it'd have everyday citizens believing even more so, "oh man, I'm not even safe when I'm away from the major cities!"

    But regardless, however an attack happens, it'll then lead to what ghrit was saying about paranoia and politics (and perhaps, it might even happen w/out an outright attack). So yeah, somehow or another, I think we're on a one way street towards that.
     
  5. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member


    I really kind of doubt that it would make nearly the impression and also would have a lot less impact in economic ways and such, not to mention logistical issues for an attacker like the fact that in a large metro area people are litteraly stacked on top of one another so something that takes out a city block can take out thousands, in a small town a city block would only be a couple dozen folks if that not to mention the fact that if you are talking small rural towns then strangers are noticed a lot quicker as well as their actions, paying attention to some one out of place isnt considered 'profileing' its considered common sense. Then add the fact that we are so used to seeing disaster on the news that even 100 killed in some town we never heard of wont make as much impact especialy when the perception would be that it was a one horse town with no real police force and so was just a lot easier target which is the misconception most city dwellers have even though in the small towns around here while there may not be a single cop on duty, the locals all see whats going on and if you are trying to blow up something in their town they will call the cop AFTER the deer rifle gives you a new hole to breath through.

    As far as the most likely threat, it depends on if you are refering to threats to the individuals populating the areas or whats most likely to be the headliner that would effect a number of folks and be a big news story. On an individual leavel I would have to say it would be the same as it always has been, sickness, acidental injury, criminal attacks such as muggings burglaries and so on, financial disruptions like lossing a job or being off due to injury or illness and the normal mundane stuff that never makes the news.

    On a larger scale that would get headlines and be heard about I would say it would be war weather in the form of us going to them, terrorist attacks here, nut job dictators with nukes or whatever form it takes. Within the next couple of years I also would not be surprised to see the bird flue hit our shores in a humane to humane form.
     
  6. Aptus

    Aptus Monkey+++ Founding Member

    Hmm, I was a little too vague when I said little town, usa. I made it sound like I was talking too small. What I should have said is more like suburb land or the outer areas of metropolitan areas. Maybe I'm assuming security would be too easy to get past, but I think some bad people walking into a decent size mall and blowing themselves in the entrance would probably make headlines. I was kind of thinking of this as being equal to terrorists walking into a cafe in the middle east and blowing themselves up. I would at least think this would have some sort of impact.

    Though... perhaps I'm just suprised that people who hate the U.S. haven't attacked our obvious weak spots.
     
  7. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Yeah when you mention 'small own America' I think of places like those a few miles in either direction from my house where they count everyone in the surrounding area to come up with a population around 1k and you have maybe 3 or 4 businesses in town, a school, a few blocks of houses and thats about it. In these type of towns the cops tend to be part time but everyone tends to know when a stranger comes through town even if nothing unusual happens and if someone is trying to harm their neighbors, them or their town few would hesitate to handle it if the cop wasnt around to do it.

    I figure it would make the news if something like that happened and may even stay on the radar for a week or so but would by no means bring about the coverage or the knot in most folks guts that something like 9-11 did. Just to low of a body count in a place no one ever heard of and most folks couldnt relate to, about like when they bomb a cafe in some foriegn country that most of us couldnt find on a map.

    The places I could see being a lot more likely to strike fear and have the coverage, thus acomplishing their basic goals, would be if they hit down town areas to get high body counts or urban infrostructure like power plants, water and so on midwest or other wise though midwest may give more a sence of vulnerability since they didnt just 'hit along the border' they would have goten to the heart of the country. Another one that I could see striking a lot of fear (more than the body count) would be if they came to the heartland and hit a military base. They would not be likely to shut it down or do massive damage to ability to function but 1 or 2 of them with dirty bombs (let alone suitcase nukes) in a back pack attempting to sneak to a sensitive area of a base and blowing themselves up when ever they got caught be it at the fence or on target ould be enouph to force evacuation of a base or at least enouph trouble to get LOTS of coverage and would tend to remove all sence of security for most if since it would show that if they could go to a secure military base in the midle of the country and do even a small amount of damage then it would not bode well for thinking ANY PLACE was safe.

    Thats my biggest concern with where I live, Im only about 20 miles or so as the crow flies from the base of our stealth fleet and could see some senarios there that could effect us includeing the added security in the area if anything like that happened.
     
  8. BigO01

    BigO01 Monkey+++ Founding Member

    Our biggest threat is the stupidity that runs so rampent in Washington DC and apparently so many other State capitols .

    Do you think our forefathers would be sitting back and allowing Mexicans to just come waltzing in here and demanding citizenship back in the early 1800's and at the same time demanding that everyone speak Spanish to accomodate them ? Would they fail to prosecute them for the crimes they committed on our soil ? Would they allow them to assult American citizens and pass laws that prevent Americans from protecting themselves or ignore all of our standing immigration laws ?

    Yes indeed our biggest threat is the stupid gutless worms we have mistakenly elected to offices around this land .
     
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  9. Aptus

    Aptus Monkey+++ Founding Member

    Ah you do bring up a good point Monkeyman. I can see how it'd have to be somewhat bigger than what I was saying.

    And in reply to BigO01, I don't think there's any reason why the founding fathers would have left the borders open in light of what's happening these days. That's probably the biggest reason why I distrust politicians today. They tell me I need to give up my freedoms so that I can be protected against all these threats, yet they leave the biggest threat unmitigated!
     
  10. TailorMadeHell

    TailorMadeHell Lurking Shadow Creature

    So I see that just about everyone has posted what I think the biggest problem is.... Politicians. All this politicking is going to get us. What is politicking you ask? Well simply put it is a 'political' 'timebomb'. People that are elected by the public to act on our best interests that when they arrive in their comfy offices forget about the ones that placed them there and begin to push forth their personal agendas and aim to pad their pockets.

    In certain jobs throughout America, there is a thing called accountability. If you are a cop and in the performance of your duties, you shoot an unarmed, cooperative citizen because you felt like it, you are held to a high degree of accountability and are judged for your crime. If you are a person in the military, you are held to a high degree of accountability. This too should be applied to politicians. If you are placed in office and prove that you disregard the will of the people who elected you, you should receive more than being removed from office. You have essentially betrayed, robbed and swindled the people who put their faith in you, who paid you and who thought you would represent them. In that, most politicians fail.

    That is where the danger lies. I hate to say it, though so what if California wants a gunban. If it is the will of the people then give it to them. Those that do not want a gunban can move to states that do not have them. Though that idea borders on more than one thing. It takes into account that the people all have a fair say which is proven time and again that no such thing occurs. It also takes into account that the politicians will act on what the people want instead of trying to pass 'anti-porn' laws with some kind of gun law in fine print thrown in. So that shows that most politicians are crooked and need to be dealt with in regards to being held accountable in a higher degree than joe blow.

    However I do think that all the blame cannot be placed on the politicians. Who elected them to office? The people. If the people see that their will is not being represented properly, then they should by all means take the measures to hold the moron accountable and if they do nothing then they cannot blame, gripe or moan about the situation. Just my thoughts.
     
  11. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Within the next year, I expect that either the birdflu or another terroristic attack will be the trigger that will cause the masses to panic, dragging the economy down with them.
     
  12. ghostrider

    ghostrider Resident Poltergeist Founding Member

    We will have natural and man-made disasters.
    Our biggest threat is unprepared people panicking. :eek:
     
  13. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    I hate to say it, though so what if California wants a gunban. If it is the will of the people then give it to them. Those that do not want a gunban can move to states that do not have them.

    I have to say that this would be one of the biggest threats our nation faces. To many folks have been brainwashed into thinking this type of thing would be acceptable and leagle if the majority wants it. Contrary to what most folks will try to tell you the US is NOT, was NEVER intended to be and was NOT created as a democracy! It IS, WAS created as and IS supposed to be a constitutional reupblic with democraticly elected representation and they difference is NOT just symantics.

    In a democracy 51% of the folks can dictate to the other 49% of the folks, deprive them of their rights and if they choose of their lives since anything the majority wants can be passed into law. In a constitutional republic with democraticly elected representation there is a constitution that sets limits on the powers of the government and assures the rights of ALL the people includeing the smallest minority and the people elect representatives to uphold and apply the constitution. Thats why in the US it would be illegal even if the majority wanted it, to decide that Jews are evil and we dont want them here, pass it into law then exile or exterminate them, for the majority to decide that they are so scared of the boogy man that its ok for police to kick in the door of any home they choose for any or no reason and haul off the ocupants to prison without trial, or for the majority to decide that they are scared of guns in the hands of criminals and pass it into law that guns can not be owned by law abideing citizens.

    We have rights, not granted by our government but by our creator and by the simple fact we are human some of which were mentioned in the constitution as completely off limits to the government created by the constitution for any tampering or restriction even if they are able to convince the majority of the people that its a good idea becuase these rights belong to everyone includeing the minority and may not be disposed of for them by others even if the 'others' are in the majority.

    It is only by persuadeing the people that we are a democracy where no one has any rights other than what they are granted by the majority that our rights and our freedom can be stolen and the media and our government work hard to try to convince us of just that and for just that reason. DONT ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN, YOU WILL FIND YOUR SELF IN THE MINORITY AND BEING DESTROYED BY THE MAJORITY SOONER OR LATER IF WE DO!!!
     
  14. poacher

    poacher Monkey+++ Founding Member

    I think that it will be a combination of panic and paranoia caused by a incident that the sheeple cant deal with. A perfect example of this would be a chemical/ biological incident. When there was a terriorst attack on the subway where syaran gas was released only a few were killed from the gas, but, there were dozens hurt by being trampled and the ensuing panic.
    If that was to occur in multiple locations at multiple times the panic would spread as fast as the news could report it. Remember also that the news is all about running a story into the ground if it has death and destruction in it. So we have a attack the news playing it to the hilt and the sheeple freaking out because of what the news says.
    The only other thing that could occur if the panic is wide spread enough is for the gov. to step in and try to put some type of restrictions on travel/movement. I think this would be the final straw.
    Take care Be safe, Poacher.
     
  15. yonder

    yonder No Despot's Servant

    I see a few major problems.

    Our economy has shifted to JIT (Just In Time) supply chains, such that supplies are not stockpiled regionally in most cases. In the event of a major crisis, people will suffer. This mindset has permeated all the way down to the consumer, who usually does not have more than a few days worth of food handy at any given time.

    The flood of illegal workers on our country will gradually depress the economy as they continue to consume public services without contributing back as much as they are consuming. This is a windfall for employers right now but over time the balance sheet will show a huge net loss to America. Once half of Mexico is here, how long do you think it will be before we're more like Mexico?

    Our international police actions have eroded the global good will that was extended to us after 9/11. Many nations are conspiring now against us. When you see countries like Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran all working hand-in-hand together as cozy bedfellows with the destruction of America as their common goal, it's a bit disconcerting.

    When (not if) things start going downhill, most Americans are ill prepared to deal with the change. As we saw in New Orleans, most Americans feel entitled to assistance and will simply sit in their homes and rot rather than try to survive. Or worse yet, they will steal guns which will be used to deprive others of their supplies to feed the lazy and morally bankrupt.

    Survival will be hardest in the cities in the long term. Though when our bad karma catches up with us, the cities will get the lion's share of the aid before that runs out. We also saw this after Katrina, where the world was watching New Orleans but mostly ignoring the outlying parishes where there were still many thousands of people suffering and neglected.

    And don't even get me started on petroleum. It's the root of all of our upcoming evils.
     
  16. TailorMadeHell

    TailorMadeHell Lurking Shadow Creature

    Yonder, I know it's just an expression though the country has already headed down the crapper. It is just that more and more people see more and more of it than they used to. More sheeple are awakening, myself included. Sort of like the Matrix. Once we are in the vats being used as cattle by some big power and someone either helps us see through the other side of the looking glass or we just get jarred by something in our own lives that shows us what crap we are now thriving on.

    I see all the posts here as very possible. And it won't just be one thing. It will be a mass of them. It will be Murphy's day. For every one step we take forward to correcting the situation, we take five backwards.

    I do have to say that IMO, the 'global good will' is a crock. As long as we give them things when they stand with their hands out there will always be 'good will'. These countries that plan and plot against us now, have done so for many generations. There are just more and more of them coming to the front because we aren't the super power that we once were.

    We are strong, that is for sure. Though our moral bearing has been tossed out with the bath water. And speaking of strength, we are seeing it become weaker and weaker with every one who cuts defense spending to the military. We are seeing it when these liberal anti-gun, anti-self-preservation, anti-people idiots are making up newer and newer atrocities and pawning them off on us as 'good for us'. And like the good sheeple they are, there is a vast majority of the population that will and are accepting it so they feel 'safer'.

    It's a delicate balancing act. Have to put up with some of their ideas while at the same time trying to give them enough information to open their eyes. In the end though, the law of the land will arise with a vengeance. The fit will survive. These fit will have the know how and the will to be ready for what may come. They will help those that are with no help. They will teach themselves and others varied skills that will be handy. They will be the new generation that will bring us back on course.

    I have faced it that I may have a hand in the course, though I may not see the reinstating of sanity and proper actions to this country. I do what I can daily to see that this new day will come though I truly think there has to come a 'break' before it is fixed. The old saying, 'It will get worse before it gets better' springs to mind. Just some more thoughts on it.
     
  17. Blackjack

    Blackjack Monkey+++

    Biggest threat = Paris Hilton's newly released music cd.
     
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  18. yonder

    yonder No Despot's Servant


    You've obviously never heard a Yoko Ono album.
     
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  19. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

    [fnny] yea good point
     
  20. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Whatever the trigger will be, when there is a big run on the banks it will be all over.
     
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