Crackpots…Sigh….

[J]

I am going to go on a bit of a rant here, so please read this with a grain of salt..

I recently found out there was a prepper expo coming to my area. Great, I think, I might be able to go and get some new ideas and such and see what is on the market as the latest, greatest thing. i rarely but at these places, as they tend to be grossly overpriced in my area.

I started looking at vendors’ websites and got flat disgusted at a few of them. Some of the keynote speakers were off of Doomsday Preppers (eye roll) and there was even one that had preps specifically for the (wait for it) ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!!!!

I mean, why?

It cheeses me off a bit to see this. I know there will surely be some of the Tinfoil Hat Crew there, but there will also be some curious types that will want see what is out there. Seeing crackpot stuff like that would definitely turn me off the idea of prepping if I were new to it.

If anybody wants to add their thoughts to this, please feel free; maybe I am missing something here, Waht do you guys think of these types of expos? Anybody go to them? Have you ever found anything worthwhile?

[Echo5Charlie]

I have not seen an expo like that around here. Personally, If I had time to kill and it wasn’t much to get in I might check it out. If it cost more than five bucks I’d skip it.

I just blow off zombie apocalypse people. My brother in law being one of them. He feels if your prepped for that you can handle anything.

I might just go to make fun of people 🙂

[Brandon]

I agree with you, J, that is kind of annoying. It’s just marketing, and unfortunately, there are people that eat that up. And I also agree that a lot of people that are curious about prepping probably will be turned off by stuff like that.

There might still be some good stuff there, though.

[J]

I usually look things over for new ideas, in all honesty. it usually goes ” wow, that’s cool, I could make that for less than half the cost!”

snake oil salesmen annoy me.

[Brandon]

I’m with you, bud.

[Echo5Charlie]

I think they pass most people off. Prepping has gone commercial, and what used to be common sense has turned into the newest widget you will die without.

I was raised in the mountains in NorCal, we had no running water, a “cabin” with a dirt floor and one solar panel to either play the radio or run one light bulb at night. Eventually we dug out a cellar and put plywood over the hole. That got us fancy and off the floor.

I don’t remember a single widget growing up. Not even a Gerber! We had water buckets, and shovels, axes, saws and rifles, rope (not para cord) and somehow we lived. We did have the old gi mummy bags for winter. Granted you go to town once a month and get a few things, but that has been the case for hundreds of years.

[J]

yea, and the skills and knowledge you gained would, in my opinion, serve you better than any gadget on the market.

it is funny to me how there are things you ” can’t live without” that were invented only 10 years ago or so…. how did humanity ever make it? 🙂

I am over my rant, might go to this thing just to see what’s there. who knows, maybe there will be something there interesting, besides zombie killing stuff that is 🙂

[Echo5Charlie]

I’m sure there will be something there you can’t live without lol.

I did learn some. I learned to go without that’s for sure. All the comforts are great but not needed. Best of all I developed an immunity to poison oak which carried over to an immunity to the poison ivy that is in this area.

[PJ]

I would avoid these expos like the plague. Nothing to see here, move along….

[J]

Thanks, guys, good to know that I am not the only one to feel this way about these kinds of functions.

[PJ]

Also think about this…if I were the gubmit and wanted to build a database on the fringe survival movement what types of events would I choose to attend? yea….no thanks

[Echo5Charlie]

We are all already on a list. Bought a gun in the last several years? That nics check was called in right. They admit to storing phone data…

Monitoring the Internet, storing ips and websites visited. Much easier than sending anyone anywhere.

Some people may disagree, but in my mind I’m on a list already. I’m not anti government, just pro constitutional government. Probably means the same thing to them though.

[Brandon]

I completely agree with pro constitutional government meaning anti-government to them, Echo5.

As far as them doing anything to people on any of their lists, all they can do is pick off a few people individually, every once in a while, to try to scare all the other people on the lists. They might like to take care of people en masse, but they simply can’t.

[Echo5Charlie]

I agree Brandon.

[PJ]

Who gets on a list when buying a gun? Face to face and cash money! But I concede we are all on some sort of list somewhere, whether it be by credit score, drivers license number, voter registration, veteran, etc etc. My point is this, it’s one thing to be on a list but it’s another thing to be a person of interest on said list.

Resources are not unlimited by those who might be scanning or compiling these lists and in my mind it would be much easier to move from a number to person of interest if seen at a prepper expo, especially chatting it up at a booth with known militia types.

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