The problem with the study is they based the premise of it on the rise of prepping "during Barack Obama's presidency," rather than looking at the prepping movement as a whole, which began long before Barack Obama came on to the national political scene.
In fact, people like Steve Quayle promoted the idea of being prepared for any possible scenario, over two decades ago, and over the course of the last few decades, more and more people have learned that being prepared isn't a "fringe" notion, but will literally save lives.
The researchers out of the UK spoke to preppers in 18 U.S. states to determine their motivations for stockpiling food and supplies, and found "most preppers don’t believe the world will end tomorrow or a giant meteor will hit the earth at any moment, they simply want to be prepared for anything 'just in case' something terrible happens."
According to Mills, these preppers believe that if the worse were to happen, the government’s response simply wouldn’t be adequate and many people would be left to fend for themselves.
“Rather than seeing prepping as an exception within America’s right-wing political culture, we ought to see it as being reflective of increasingly established and popular outlooks,” Mills comments.
The researchers list the possible scenarios that preppers prepare for, as "possible economic depressions, terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks, pandemics, or environmental disasters."
So far, so good, until the researchers try to delve into the minds of preppers, from another country I might add, and conclude that it is a "culture of fear" that motivates preppers.
Researchers interviewed preppers from 18 U.S. states and asked about their motivations for stockpiling food and supplies. The results indicated that, although most did seem to be conservative and fear liberal policies, the main reason behind their motivations was the overall sense of fear currently dominating U.S. culture across a variety of media channels. Most Americans can’t seem to log online or turn on the television without being hit by a grim view of the future being reported or speculated on.
They had me up until that point, because while I do not claim to speak for all preppers regarding motivation, I do come at the prepping mindset as someone that grew up in South Florida, where every year before hurricane season, we put up the shutters, stockpiled canned goods and prepared for the possibility of a major storm.
Note: That preparation came in very handy after Hurricane Andrew back in 1992, where we cooked using Sterno, utilized our Hurricane lanterns, and didn't have to fight our way through the zombies at Walmart, or the panic shoppers that suddenly decided they needed ice, water and canned goods, lanterns, etc...... after the fact.
It is not "fear" that motivates the majority of preppers, it the belief that if you are prepared for the worst, there is no need to be fearful of anything less than a direct hit, because you have supplies and basic necessities needed to survive.
NO.... IT IS NOT ABOUT POLITICS
The reason I stated above that the problem with the study is the premise of a rise in prepping under the Obama presidency, rather than looking at the longer-term movement, is the following statement by one of the study's authors, Dr. Mills:
Fear is now deeply entrenched in modern American culture and is the principal reason that so many citizens are engaging in ‘prepping’. Many believe that the government’s response in the event of a calamity, whether it’s a natural disaster or an act of terrorism, simply won’t be adequate to meet their needs. Many also believe that, under Democrat leadership, America becomes more vulnerable to terrorist attacks, financial collapse, and international hostility.
Politics, per se, isn't the motivation behind prepping, survival is. The study's authors went in to the project under the assumption that it was all about being "scared" of Democrats, rather than understanding the main reason there are more conservatives preppers than liberal preppers is that liberals seem to believe that when disaster strikes, the government will immediately be there to take care of them.
Conservatives don't.
That is basically the extent of what part politics play into prepping.
America will always be "vulnerable to terrorist attacks, financial collapse, and international hostility," no matter the political affiliation of the leadership, which is why conservative preppers do not stop prepping when Republicans are in control.
BOTTOM LINE
While the study was based on the flawed premise that prepping increased during the Obama presidency instead of following the progression throughout the years beginning long before Obama hit the national scene, the fact that prepping is becoming popular enough to "go mainstream," is heartening, because the more people that are prepared for any type of disaster, the better.
The fact that the researchers used that flawed premise to begin, means a lot more work needs to be done in getting the message out that prepping for survival should be a common sense move for everyone.
PREPPING ITEMS
We can't have a prepping piece, even if it is about a study trying to understand why the prepping movement has gone mainstream, without some prepping items, so below are some popular recommendations.
EMERGENCY FUNDRAISER:Despite generous donations, the still dwindling advertising revenue over the course of the last two years has forced us to completely deplete all our savings just to survive and continue to keep All News PipeLine online.
So due to continuous attacks upon us and ongoing censorship, ANP is extending our emergency fundraiser through September. PLEASE HELP KEEP ANP ALIVE BY DONATING USING ONE OF THE FOLLOWING METHODS.
One time donations or monthly, via Paypal or Credit Card:
