Posts Tagged ‘the-system’

Are Preppers Crazy?

In all walks of life, there is an element of ‘crazy’, although perhaps not the crazy as defined by the 1st definition in the dictionary, ” Affected with madness; insane”. However a few of the informal definitions may apply, ” Departing from proportion or moderation, especially: Possessed by enthusiasm or excitement, Intensely involved or preoccupied”. It may be a bit over the top, but what’s wrong with that?

Unfortunately the main-stream has stereotyped Preppers as a group of crazy people (crazy as in the 1st dictionary definition). Many of the TV shows and other publicized preppers are those on the extremes, or far enough from the middle-of-the-road such that people look at their behavior as being way beyond what they may consider to be ordinary preparedness. Not saying here that the actions of preppers out on the extreme edges are unjustified or wrong in any way, I’m saying that most non-preppers view preppers as these people. I believe that most preppers are not those people, but are somewhere in between.

Having said that, there’s no doubt that many preppers (especially in the beginning) are possessed by enthusiasm or excitement and can become intensely involved with their prepping actions. I guess they are crazy in that this meets some of the alternative definitions… I know that I’ve been quite enthusiastic from time to time about certain preparedness projects, so yes I suppose I’m crazy too

Well all joking aside, there is no doubt in my mind that lots of regular folks who are simply living their lives within the system (so busy that they have no time to think about or realize the risks that are facing them), prepping seems crazy when they do happen to see a TV show portraying prepping activities.

People like to live within comfortable thoughts and comfort zones, often not even allowing their mind to wander, ponder, and consider things outside their cocoon of life. When they are faced with it (thinking outside the box), it’s scary and their defenses kick up. A normal reaction is to discredit it so that they do not have to deal with it or be associated with something outside the pack mentality (“their normal”).

Let’s face it, it’s not easy to take action. The easiest thing is to NOT take action. It is easy to find excuses why NOT to do something. Seriously. We’ve all done it (and probably do it regularly)! It is hard to look beyond the excuses.

Labeling and stereotyping “prepping” or “preppers” in a negative way keeps most people ‘in line’ when it comes to staying within the parameters of the system we live within today. We are herded and funneled into the lives we live each day. Those who are the shepherds of the system do not want their sheep to question what they are doing or where they are going. We all know what happens when a sheep sets off in a different direction from the herd… others follow it! Oh my! We can’t have that…

Be aware that it is NORMAL to think about one’s risks that are facing them, and to plan or take action to secure one’s survival! Do I need to repeat that? It is normal for you to do what you feel you need to do to assure your own protection or survival. It is NOT normal to ignore the risks that you face. Somehow during the past 50 years or so, these things have been turned upside down. Speaking out has become frowned upon or even criminal! ‘Political correctness’ has been brainwashed into our children and now middle-aged adults. They believe that it is ‘bad’ to say certain things or speak of certain subjects. Somehow it has become ‘bad’ to protest against some of our politicians or government (well, I suppose they never liked that…). People who ‘act out’ are labeled and portrayed as crazy.

Think about it. If (or when) you start prepping a bit, like buying and storing up some extra food (a very simple start), how will you feel about that? Will you feel a tinge of guilt? Enough so that you likely will not want to tell anyone? The answer is yes, you probably will feel that way. Isn’t that wrong?? Yes it is certainly wrong that anyone should feel a little guilty or secretive about the fact that they’ve stored up some extra food! Why is that? Because we’ve been brainwashed to believe that this is so out of the ordinary that we must be crazy. It implies that we do not trust ‘the system’. Get it? “They” (the shepherds of the system) do not want any questions asked about their system.

The thing is, you are foolish (sorry) if you believe that things will always stay the same. That is to believe that just because we’ve had it good for these decades, therefore they will always be good. More and more ordinary people are waking up and realizing the significant dangers that we are facing as a modern society today. It is NORMAL to prepare. Don’t listen to them calling you crazy. Who cares! It’s about you protecting yourself and your family. Do what is right. Start today.

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Why Do We Accept Inferior Products?

How often has it happened to you after purchasing a product, that you discovered it was inferior or even damaged in some way, but you didn’t return it or notify the manufacturer or distributor of the problem?

You were aggravated, but there were a number of reasons holding you back from complaining about the product, including the following reasons…

Your time is worth more than the effort involved in filing a complaint.
Your life is too busy to deal with it, unless it was an expensive item.
You found a way around the defect and are just ‘living with it’ the way it is.

Here’s a simple but aggravating example…

On occasion I’ve been duped into believing that the hardware I had purchased was strong enough to hold up to the normal stresses of ordinary installation and use. I have purchased ordinary wood screws of various sizes, only to discover that the screw heads will ‘strip’ with hardly any excessive torque being applied whatsoever. This was due to the fact that the company selling them had purchased ‘cheap’ soft screws made of poor quality and manufacture, and hardly if any hardening techniques applied during the manufacturing process. This was from a well know hardware store chain! Junk. I had to throw them all out with disgust.

It is genuinely difficult to find good, well made products that will hold up and endure what used to be considered ‘normal’ wear and tear. The advancements in modern engineering design and manufacturing have enabled products to be built that are barely on the edge of holding themselves together, with little margin of ability to endure shock, dropping, bumping, etc.

It is so easy today to design ‘cheap’ and to build ‘cheap’. And in fact, nearly all products today are built with this philosophy in mind. ‘They’ have researched and discovered the point at which they can get away with building cheap stuff compared with the point at which a threshold-number of people reject the product due to its being ‘too’ cheap. This maximizes their profits of course. The problem is, we pay for it and accept it.

I have been guilty myself at times, of not complaining when I encounter aggravating circumstances with a product that I’ve purchased with a certain expectation as to its quality, only to discover it is far inferior to that which I had expected.

I’m old enough now to have experienced a time when things were made well. Things were often heavy duty by default. Things lasted longer. They were built better, stronger. Nowadays, forget about it – good luck finding it.

We live in a throwaway society, a generation of people who know know no other way. The system absolutely loves this, because it keeps people buying new stuff when it doesn’t last, or when it breaks.

If you are disgusted with this, then start complaining to your retailer AND to the manufacturer! We all must begin to take the time, even though the product in question may not be worth our time. If we remain silent, NOTHING will change.

Today it is pretty easy to find the manufacturer’s contact information on the internet. Just Google it. Then, it may be more effective to actually write a letter rather than email them. Send it to the Director of Sales. Same thing with the Retailer. Send them a letter!

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Incarcerate Criminals, Not Marines

In the United States, firearms are used as often as 2.5 million times each year in self defense, in the vast majority of cases without a shot being fired. Best estimates reveal that firearms are used three to five times more often for defensive purposes than for criminal acts.

Firearms are used three to five times more often to stop crimes than to commit them, and accidents with firearms are at an all-time recorded low (National Center for Health Statistics and National Safety Council).

There are thousands of federal, state and local gun laws. The overall murder rate in the jurisdictions that have the most severe restrictions on firearms purchase and ownership – California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Washington, D.C. – is 8% higher than the rate for the rest of the country.

New York has had a handgun licensing law since 1911, yet until the New York City Police Department began a massive crackdown on crime in the mid-1990s, New York City’s violent crime rate was among the highest of U.S. cities.

Gun control primarily impacts upon upstanding citizens, not criminals. Crime is reduced by holding criminals accountable for their actions. Crime is NOT reduced by incarcerating Ryan Jerome, an ex Marine, for doing the right thing acting in a responsible manner and asking a ‘Security officer’ where to check his handgun when he visited the Empire State Building while in the city for the first time doing business as a licensed jeweler from Indiana who also happens to be licensed to carry in Indiana.

Said his lawyer, Mark Bederow: “It’s open season on tourists who come to New York and make a mistake. Sacrificing them in the name of stringent gun control serves no useful purpose.”

If and when there is a legal defense fund established for Ryan Jerome (confirmed by an MSB reader who contacted his attorney), we will support the effort here. It’s just plain wrong to waste taxpayer money to make ‘examples’ of people of character who simply screw up or have been misinformed, and who instead should just be given a slap on the wrist while saving the court system’s money for real criminals instead.

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Trouble With The Law You Were Trying To Obey

Guest post: by ‘Be informed’

All of us have mistakenly broken the law, most of the time in very minor ways such as going over the speed limit driving. Many individuals will actually try to get away with breaking the law, sometimes get caught and punished. What though happens when you actually make it a point to actually obey the law and go to extra lengths of making sure that you were doing everything correctly, and end up inadvertently committing a crime because you were given misinformation? What about a law that is in total obscurity that lawyers know nothing about it? How can any reasonable district attorney ever prosecute such a case against anyone you ask yourself. It sadly happens all the time.

Ryan Jerome a law abiding citizen that has served his country and all American’s country as a marine faces charges of illegally carrying a hand gun, in which he had a concealed license to do so in his home state. He did not receive correct information about carrying weapons that he seeked as a honest human being, and now faces many years in prison for trying to obey the law. Mr. Jerome is is now in the position of the daunting task of surviving the law system (that he fully supported as a serviceman of the U.S.) that is now contemplating trying to take away his freedom for being misinformed, something that can happen to any of us, anywhere.

This marine is caught between a rock and a hard place in which he could be made as “an example” in the middle of a very intense political maneuvering battle that is going on over the rights of individuals in regards to firearms. All over the United States there is an extreme polarization of both sides of the rights to possess fire arms or not. The real issue here is what is fair and rational to the “sole” individual, the marine or anyone in the future or present, that becomes quite secondary to those in control. What do you do when you or someone you know becomes an unintended pawn in the political game of chess, or an obstacle in some politician’s hidden or even visible agenda?

Unless there is some sort of agenda, prosecutors do not want to waste their time with some individual that obviously had the full intention of obeying the law and simply made a mistake. Not only is this a waste of time, it is a waste of money that could be better spent on the REAL criminals and controlling REAL crime. So assume if you or someone else is being prosecuted for a crime in which it is apparent to a blind man that you were fully intent on obeying the law they say you broke, it is for a higher purpose for those higher up in the government that want to control something. District attorney’s office are controlled by those in higher governmental positions and this is where the DA ultimately gets their commands and duties from.

Being on one side of a coin of an intense passionate issue does have one advantage, that being you have some allies trying to help you. While some may see you as nothing but as also a pawn to gain their advantage is really irrelevant because you will someone in your corner. There are however even better allies that might have any opinion on the issues, and just plain are terrified of a run-away law system that will eventually engulf their own lives and come back to haunt them unless they do something about it.

When it is obvious you have been a victim of a law system gone haywire to any sensible sane person, letting as many know about this as possible is essential. The key here though is NOT the issue to stress, whether it be gun rights or something else, it is to show to the public that this is an example of anyone in the future being a target of a law system ALLOWED to get away with rampant intimidation and unfair practices against its citizens. People feel more outrage and are more likely to do something about it when their butts could be on the line for something else later. The media can in this case be well used as they love human interest stories and drama about government corruption and abuse of the law that we are all under the scrutiny of.

Public outcry is so important to those to trying to curb the irrational actions of those in control, as the last thing a politician wants to be classified as is someone who supports cut-and-dried legal policies that are unfair and dangerous against personal liberties of ALL the citizens. Every politician is well aware of money and if your unjust situation can generate enough interest to not patronize their sources of revenue, this can be tremendous help to someone caught in this legal plight. For example marine Ryan Jerome could get much help in his legal dilemma from fellow marines and other armed forces service people by a boycott against visiting the city until rational fair justice is given to Mr. Jerome that fully intended to obey any and all laws of the city.

If you don’t have much money and have been charged with a crime, whether it is a so called politically motivated charge or not, don’t think that automatically that all public defenders are bottom of the barrel attorneys, some are, but many are not. Public defenders have to have a certain success rate or they risk being replaced, and many are looking to make a name for themselves by winning cases. If you are innocent or if you were wronged in the prosecution process, you can win your case and simply going for a plea deal because you feel that you cannot win without a top-notched widely known lawyer is not fair to yourself.

Even if the worst occurs and you are unfairly convicted of a crime that defines reason, most countries including of course the United States have higher appeal courts that could easily overturn ridiculous court rulings. Not settling for an absurd court decision and continuing to fight for your rights and until you have been vindicated and freed needs to remain your true goal. All the way up the ladder from state appellate courts to state supreme to supreme court of the U.S. Even when you are physically free from incarceration your real final goal is to be exonerated and your good name cleared. They are many disadvantages to have a conviction on your record, especially one that you never deserved, and this makes it worth it to clear your name.

Most survival situations people think of life and death natural and man-made disasters, but under the nose of everyone is the potential for anyone to truly LOSE the survival battle because of obscure and hazardous laws out there that most people, including those with law degrees are not totally aware of or do not understand fully. These laws are a danger for everyone’s freedom because laws are often made to support only a certain group or individual’s benefits. When one of these laws surfaces like a blood thirsty shark and affects one of more people all of us are affected. Simple clarity avoids the ignorance of the law excuse. Any unclear law has to be be made transparent enough so there are no honest mistakes about its interruption are made, much like this poor marine that was only trying to obey the city’s laws like he was taught to obey orders as a marine.

(submit your own guest post here)

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People are Owned and Consumed by their Possesions

A recent post comment got me to thinking about how so many people today are truly “owned and consumed by their possessions”, as recently stated by an observant M.S.B. Reader. This ‘condition’ is arguably one of the core root causes attributing to the high stress of modern day life.

Don’t get me wrong. Who wouldn’t like to have more than just the necessities of life, or bigger and better versions of those same necessities. Who wouldn’t enjoy having nicer ‘toys’ to play with. In fact, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the possession of such things in my opinion, provided that you are not owned or consumed by them!

Here’s what I mean…

A possession that owns you may mean that you owe someone or some institution to have possession of that possession. You have it, but don’t own it, and are under contract to pay for it under the agreed terms. Therefore, the possession really owns you.

You are consumed by a possession or possessions when it or they expends you, or uses you up. How? By either the debt that you owe for it or them, or by the emotion, ‘greed’, – the ‘keep up with the Joneses’ syndrome.

For whatever reason, probably my upbringing, I have never been overcome with the emotion of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’, or the mentality of leveraging nearly everything I earn so that I can ‘appear’ to own possessions that are beyond my means. As I have lived life, I have been astounded at the acceptable notion of many that are younger than me, that it is OK and normal to leverage what they earn to purchase possessions that are way beyond their means.

Some may argue with me that this is a ‘bad thing’, since they are perfectly capable of paying their debt each month when the bills come… however they are missing a few extremely logical and important points. What are they sacrificing for having these possessions now (rather than later – or at all), and what if their ability to earn the required sum to pay the bills is taken away from them.

The point is, when you owe, you are a slave, even though you may not feel like it right now. I just heard a news report today that many Americans will now have to ‘work’ into their 80′s before they can retire! Are you kidding me?? What kind of retirement is that???

It used to be that people would live within their means, meaning they would not borrow more than what they knew they could pay off in a reasonable time. Better yet, save the money, forgo the instant gratification of having it now, and pay cash for it later. No debt, and therefore not a slave to the system.

When borrowing money, the interest you pay on that money, over time, will amount to an extraordinary sum… a sum which could have been in your pocket instead.

Don’t fall victim to feeling like you have to keep up with your friends or neighbors who have nice things in their possession. Just know that most of them really don’t own them, and are sealing their fate by burdening themselves with excessive debt and a long life of slavery.

Instead, just smile, and know inside yourself that you will likely build real net worth by simply remaining frugal and happy with the things that you can afford. Your life free of debt will be truly rewarding, and you will have a reasonable chance of retiring at a reasonable age.

…just a thought

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