Christmas Fish
9 hours ago
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Brexit Preppers
I came across this article from The Guardian. Brits are concerned about what might happen after Brexit. There are now Brexit Preppers. The worry is that the Brexit mess will cause disruptions. Judging from the way their government is handling the deal they have reason to worry.
They certainly aren’t much like most American preppers. We aren’t talking rifles, bug out locations and 10 years of MREs. Mostly it’s folks stocking a couple more weeks of food, medicine, and pet supplies. For me, the big take away from this article is that they don’t trust the government to get things right. The fear is that government won’t take care of them. That’s a huge psychological shift for a people used to their government being there for them.
Americans know we are pretty much on our own. We’ve seen the FEMA response to disasters. We know the government doesn’t care if we live or die. The Brits have government medical. The US has has the pay or die program.
To be fair, in the United States, there are a lot more natural disasters than in Great Britain. We have hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and volcanoes. There are more climate extremes. As long as the Gulf Stream keeps pumping warmer water across the Atlantic, Great Britain’s climate is moderate. Of course, that current has shut down in the past. Should that ever happen again they’ll quickly have a climate more like Labrador. It would be pretty hard to prep for that sort of disaster.
It appears these new Brexit Preppers are envisioning a couple weeks or months of muddling through. After that there appears to be every expectation that things will return to normal. Yeah, good luck with that.
-Sixbears
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Muddling through - now that's the British way.
ReplyDeleteSeems to be how it was done in the past anyway.
DeleteThe American government stockpiles foods - medicines - ammunition and other long term necessities, but it is reserved for THEIR use, not ours. When or if an event occurs, we are on our own.
ReplyDeleteWe have every day emergencies and people are too dumb to prepare for them. A power outage of a day or two and people are reduced to tears. They couldn't store some no cook canned foods / bottled water for THAT ?
Plenty of people don't even know how to make do with what they have. I've heard of people who can't figure out how to heat microwavable meals even though they've got a working gas grill and a frying pan.
Delete"....The fear is that government won’t take care of them....."
ReplyDeleteSee, that's the crux of the problem staring you in the face right there..
You have to ask do you really want to be owned like that?
The government has no business being a provider for it produces nothing and is a net consumer. At best all it can do is take away from one and redistribute. And anyone who puts themselves at their mercy demanding the government provide, deserves what they get.
It boils down to the inexorable link between authority and responsibility. Once the individual abdicates HIS responsibility and thrusts upon another the duty to provide for him, he has abdicated his authority, and has put himself at the mercy of the provider's "benevolence" and limitations. And thrusting upon the government the responsibility to provide gives them unwarranted power to assume control over everyone's lives. Which is what got the Brits (and us) in the pickle they are now in the first place.
There's always a struggle between needed services and a meddling paternalistic government. It can be a fine line -or it can be pretty obvious.
DeleteWhat more can a Britain do they have been disarmed. A month or so of essential's should cover them till the Masters return to feed them.
ReplyDeleteEvery society handles things differently. Only time will tell what approach is the better one in future emergencies. However, I know how I'm going to approach things.
DeleteHere on my property, my son and his wife has a lot of farm animals, including chickens, ducks, geese, goats, rabbits, etc. And of course we also have lots of wildlife, too. We could survive for quite awhile.
ReplyDeleteYou have a good set up there Dizzy -resources and people.
Delete