August 4, 2025 • 21 mins
Fear of being labeled an extremist shouldn't stop you from being prepared. In this eye-opening exploration, we dive into how different cultures worldwide view emergency preparedness—with some fascinating surprises.
Starting with a practical breakdown of "junk silver" as a bartering option, we analyze whether those pre-1964 dimes and quarters (with their 3.75 troy ounces of silver per $5 face value) are worth the premium price when compared to straightforward silver rounds. The math gets complicated quickly, revealing why simplicity might trump historical currency during crisis situations.
The global perspective on prepping reveals striking contrasts. While Americans often battle stereotypes from sensationalized TV shows like "Doomsday Preppers," countries like Sweden have explicitly endorsed preparedness by mailing 5 million households a guide called "If a Crisis or War Came." Japan's approach proves even more compelling—preparedness isn't labeled as "prepping" but exists as an unquestioned cultural norm due to frequent earthquakes and tsunamis.
Perhaps most surprising is how preparedness transcends political boundaries. From conservatives to liberals to libertarians, the estimated 23.5 million American preppers ($11 billion industry) share the common goal of self-reliance during emergencies. By focusing on practical skills like "Stop the Bleed" training and maintaining basic supplies, prepared individuals actually reduce strain on emergency services during disasters—allowing resources to reach the truly vulnerable.
The stigma makes little sense when you realize preparation simply means taking responsibility for yourself and your family. Whether it's climate threats, supply chain disruptions, or unforeseen emergencies, having food, water, shelter, and basic medical knowledge represents common sense, not extremism.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
The National Weather Servicehas issued a severe thunderstorm
warning.
Welcome to the Common SensePractical Prepper Podcast, where
(00:21):
prepping doesn't have to becomplicated or expensive.
Coming to you from awell-defended, off-grid compound
high in the mountains, comingto you from his Florida room in
Richmond Virginia Neitheroff-grid nor well-defended,
unless you count as chickens andcats, here is your host, keith.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, thank you, professional voiceover guy.
Hey y'all, it's Keith andwelcome back to the Common Sense
Sense Practical Pepper podcast,august the 4th 2025.
I want to start out byanswering an email.
This is in reference to acouple podcasts ago when I
talked about bartering withsilver, asking what I thought
(01:08):
about what they call junk silverold dimes, nickels and quarters
way back in the day that had ahigher silver content.
So I don't know a whole lotabout it.
So I went ahead and went on theSD Bullion website and they are
selling junk silver at spot.
Now, if you remember, spot is atany given time, the current
price of silver per troy ounce.
In looking at their website,they are selling $5 of US silver
(01:33):
Roosevelt dimes.
Check me on my math.
I believe that would be 50dimes.
Get you $5.
That's face value.
You hold out 50 dimes andthat's $5.
But the amount of silver inthose dimes comes out to in that
whole, 50 dimes is 3.75 troyounces for all of that and
(01:57):
they're selling it at spot.
So if that 50 dimes is 3.75,you multiply it by the spot
price and you pretty much comeout to about $135, like right
now if you were to purchase that.
So it sounds kind of crazy.
You're like, wait a minute, I'mpaying $135 for $5 in dimes.
(02:19):
I'm not sure if that's such agood deal, keith, but remember
you're purchasing it for thesilver content and then I guess,
for the the melt content, and Idon't have like a crucible.
I'm not going to be goingthrough all of my change and
looking for dimes and andmelting dimes and trying to
remove the silver from the otherstuff.
(02:40):
That's not what I'm going to do.
But I guess when it comes tobartering, those dimes might
come in handy.
Silver has an intrinsic value.
Unlike paper currency, silveras a currency tends to be more
stable.
So that's basically what junksilver is.
If you go to sdbullioncom orany of the other precious metal
(03:03):
sites, they'll sell just like abig canvas bag of like $1,000
coins face value, but then youhad spot the premium and that
sort of thing.
So it's something you can lookat, but I'm not really so sure.
Like I talked a few podcasts ago, is someone you know for those
three dozen eggs?
Is somebody saying okay, well,keith, I'll give you these 50
(03:26):
dimes which cost them $135.
I'll give you these 50 dimes,but remember, in this whole
handful of 50 dimes there's 3.75ounces of silver.
To me that just gets a littlecomplicated trying to do the
math.
But again it goes back to whatsomebody is willing to pay for
(03:47):
any particular item.
So it may sound crazy, but $5worth of Roosevelt dimes, that
is worth $135 silver wise mightbe worth that.
But then again, if you takethat into a coin shop, you paid
$135, you take it into a coinshop you're going to lose money
today because you pay $135, yougo in tomorrow the gentleman at
(04:09):
the coin shop might give you$127.
It's certainly not going to get$135, but the price of silver
goes up like anything else.
You paid $135.
If silver goes up $5, $6, $7,$8 a troy, then then I guess
when you take them to the coinshop you're going to be looking
at a little, a little bit moreof a profit once the coin shop
(04:30):
owner tax on you know, tax ontheir costs.
So it's, it's weird, it's not,as to me it's much cleaner to
have, you know, a silver Eagleor a Morgan dollar or a one
ounce generic silver round,because you don't have to worry
about about so that the silverround is 0.999% silver as
opposed to 50 dimes is 3.75ounces.
(04:53):
To me, the math is a whole loteasier with just a one ounce
silver round or silver EagleMorgan dollar, whatever it
happens to be All right.
So that's my little spiel onjunk silver, and I probably
confused you as much as Iconfused myself.
Okay, what I want to talk aboutis I was thinking the other day,
(05:16):
how do other countries viewpreppers and prepping?
So here in the United Statesthe first thing you think of, if
you're a non prepper, the firstthing you think of is you
probably go to that doomsdayprepper show they had on
discovery channel.
I'm not even probably in rerunsright now.
(05:36):
I watched a few of those yearsago and I'm.
I thought to myself thosepeople are nuts, they don't.
I mean, they were so over thetop.
So I kind of get the stigma orthe stereotype that preppers are
a bunch of right wing lunaticsthat have totally lost their
minds and they're waiting forthe zombie apocalypse or you
know somebody to drop a nuke onthe East coast.
(05:58):
They just it just seemed overthe top and I get it, it's all
scripted.
So I'm not really sure that theDoomsday Prepper show or the
series did justice to those ofus who take it very seriously,
who aren't walking around inhazmat suits, you know 24-7
(06:18):
waiting for, you know waitingfor the zombie apocalypse.
So I did some digging and I wentto my favorite AI program and I
backed it up with other sourcesof information.
I've said it a million timesjust don't take the word of one
AI program Shoot two years agoor even six months ago.
I'd say, don't take the word ofjust one website, because what
AI does?
It scrubs the internet or itscrapes the internet.
(06:41):
So when you ask Grok or anotherAI program, copilot or whatever
all these AI programs arecalled, don't think that you're
talking to like this littlerobot mind out in the ether
coming up with its own ideas.
Ai is programmed and it's goingto scrape the internet, given
some guardrails that theprogrammers assign ahead of time
(07:03):
, if that makes any sense.
So you're not getting any newinformation To you.
It might be new, but the AIprogram is not like
groundbreaking, some trailblazergiving you information that no
one has ever thought of or noone has ever read or created.
Okay, we'll start with theUnited States.
This is going to be an easy one.
So prepping is mainstream andit continues to grow.
(07:25):
Here in the U?
S, it's estimated 23 and a halfmillion preppers $11 billion
annually that are spent onprepping and prepping supplies.
Once and maybe some to someextent was associated with far
right groups or conspiracytheorists.
Don't get me wrong, there'splenty of those out there.
(07:47):
But now prepping is seen asmore pragmatic response to
diverse risks like naturaldisasters, political
polarization and economicinstability.
All right, that makes perfectsense.
Hedge on inflation, supplychain disruption and things
along that lines.
Frequent natural disasters,hurricanes, floods, wildfires,
(08:09):
political unrest— All of thesethings kind of go into why
certain people prep the way theydo.
If you're located in Florida,you're probably looking at
hurricanes.
You're out in California, outWest, you're probably looking at
wildfires, not reallyhurricanes.
Earthquakes it's pretty muchgoing to get you wherever and
(08:30):
tornadoes and severe storms inthe Midwest for the most part.
But it's becoming more and moremainstream maybe.
But as you know the governmentand FEMA, they promote 72-hour
kits.
You can go to FEMAgov and itgives a lot of details on what
you need to build out for your72-hour kit, where you can take
(08:50):
CPR classes, stop the bleedclasses.
So there's a little bit ofcrossover.
So it's not necessarily someunderground movement.
Prepping here in the UnitedStates it's becoming much more
mainstream.
I know folks on both sides ofthe aisle that prep.
I know some folks that areliberals that prep.
(09:10):
I know folks that areconservative Republicans that
prep, and I know people in themiddle I guess that'd be
libertarians they also prep.
It really has nothing to do withyour political affiliation per
se.
It's just how you view theworld and what may or may not
happen.
It's about self-reliance.
Let's put it that way Just takepolitics out of it and you just
(09:33):
call it self-reliance.
I'm going to takeresponsibility for my actions.
My actions have consequences.
I'm going to do what isnecessary to protect myself and
protect my family, regardless ofmy politics, regardless of what
happens outside.
I'm going to do what I need todo to protect myself and protect
(09:54):
my family.
Political agendas just removeit.
It's easy to throw it in, it'seasy to point fingers, but just
take the politics out of it.
And if you do anything, thesmallest thing, you go to Costco
, you go to Kroger and you gettwo extra flats or two extra
containers of bottled water, 36bottles, 48 bottles.
(10:15):
You're a prepper.
I'm sure people are like wait aminute, don't you call me a
prepper for just getting acouple extra things of water at
Costco.
But you are.
You're being prepared.
What are you being prepared for?
Well, I'm being prepared forthe really hot weather that's
coming up, okay, well, why doyou have a flashlight and a
bunch of lanterns and a bunch ofemergency candles?
Well, I'm kind of beingprepared for in case the power
(10:40):
goes out.
If you don't want to be calleda prepper, you think it's a
negative stereotype.
There's some stigma attached.
Call yourself whatever you want.
Call yourself just preparingfor something.
If you don't like the wordprepper, you do.
You Talk about the UnitedKingdom.
Prepping is much less widespreadthan in the US, is also viewed
with skepticism or amusement andassociated with eccentric
(11:01):
survivalists, which is reallykind of odd.
And with Brexit and some of theinstability in the EU, it's led
to some shortages in food, orperceived food shortages.
When they have bad weather overthere, they have bad weather,
flooding, flash flooding.
So it's a little moremainstream, but certainly not to
(11:21):
the extent that it is here inthe United States.
Talk about Sweden.
Now, this is interesting.
Prepping is increasinglymainstream and government
endorsed, spurred bygeographical tensions with
Russia.
Well, that makes sense.
I mean, it's their neighbor.
Once considered a fringemovement, preppers are now seen
as practical, with thegovernment mailing 5 million
(11:43):
households a booklet in 2018, ifa Crisis or War Came.
That's the title of it, urgingfolks to have a 72-hour kit and
self-sufficiency.
See, that's not so bad.
I guess if it comes from thegovernment, more people would be
likely to accept it, I guess.
(12:04):
So if they're saying, well, thegovernment is saying I should
do this, then the folks inSweden are maybe a little more
accepting.
Well, our government says thesame thing.
Go back to FEMA and all theother websites at Red Cross.
You can find a milliondifferent websites and all sorts
of information to cover that.
Finland, kind of the same thing.
(12:24):
They're right next to Sweden,germany, so prepping is growing,
but it remains kind of a niche,a niche hobby, often associated
with bushcraft or urbanprepping, aka stocking up at
Aldi.
If you've never been to an Aldi, well, if you've been to an
Aldi here in the United States,very similar to the ones in
Germany, aldi is the bomb.
(12:45):
I love going to Aldi here and Ilove going to Aldi in Germany.
It's becoming more and moreaccepted over there.
Now.
There are very strict weaponlaws in Germany, so you know
you're not going to have anarsenal like some folks might
have here in the United StatesStockpiling, hoarding a lot of
people those are negative terms.
(13:07):
When you hear hoarding orstockpiling, it's kind of a
negative term, but it's becomingmore and more accepted.
But it's becoming more and moreaccepted.
The government encourages basicpreparedness and what they use
as their barometer is a 10-dayfood supply.
So the government in Germanysays this is what you should
have.
They're going well beyond a72-hour kit.
(13:31):
They're going to 240-hour kit.
In Germany, urban preppers aremore visible.
They have gardens, smallgardens, grow their own tomatoes
, peppers, that sort of thing.
So they're a little moreself-sufficient.
I guess you could say Talk aboutJapan.
So prepping is not explicitlylabeled as such, but is deeply
(13:53):
ingrained due to the frequentearthquakes.
That was in 2011 was a reallybad one.
So we get earthquakes, tsunamisand typhoons.
It's seen as practical,non-controversial part of life.
So government kind of stays outof it.
In a sense, there's no friction.
The government mandatespreparedness, go bags, seismic
building codes, a lot ofearthquakes over there and the
(14:16):
building codes over there arevery, very strict and society
kind of views this as the normand not really a subculture.
Preppers are rarely stigmatizedas preparedness is recognized
universally among all the peoplein Japan.
All right, talk about a couplemore.
Australia.
So prepping is growing inAustralia, especially in rural
(14:36):
areas.
Now what's the old adage?
Everything in Australia wantsto kill you.
The spiders are about the sizeof small dogs and that that so
prepping is is more mainstream.
Floods, wildfires and folks youknow out there in the, the, the
bush, the bush country, theAustralian bush those folks are
in the middle of nowhere.
(14:57):
It's almost a part of life tobe self-reliant, self-sufficient
when help is hours away, hoursaway when the grocery store, the
market, is hours away.
It's pretty much just a way oflife.
The government supportsdisaster preparedness and
society increasingly respectspreppers, especially after
(15:19):
recent climate change events.
India here's an interesting one.
Prepping is emerging in India,particularly in urban areas, and
is viewed as a practical butniche trend.
Influencers like Little UrbanPrepper whoever that is promote
urban survival, but it's notreally widespread and it's often
(15:40):
seen as an import from the West.
Over there, climate risk,floods, heat waves, earthquakes,
economic instability and urbandensity tend to drive the
interest or drive prepping.
So many people jam-packed in alittle area.
I said it before.
Take New York City the powergoes out for an extended period
(16:02):
of time.
There's some sort of supplychain issue.
You have a lot of people in avery small area.
The little markets are going torun out of food super quick.
You don't have the largegrocery stores like you have in
other parts of the country.
So the little markets, thelittle corner markets, the
bodegas, are going to be overrunand emptied very, very quickly.
(16:28):
So globally, so globallyprepping is increasingly being
accepted.
It's on the rise globally,driven by climate change,
geopolitical tensions andpandemics.
Once mocked, preppers areincreasingly seen as practical,
with governments Sweden, finlandand Japan that normalize
(16:48):
preparedness.
Now here in the US it's notreally normalized.
It just depends on where youlook.
So if you look towards FEMA andthe Red Cross, then there's a
lot of information out there.
So in the information's outthere, it's not like it's being
hidden.
But I really don't understandthe, the negative stereotypes
and the negative stigma that is,is there such thing as a
(17:11):
positive stigma and the stigmathat is associated with prepping
and preppers, some preppers andsome types of prepping?
You know, here in the UnitedStates, as anything else, folks,
there's always bad apples,there's bad cops, there's bad
doctors, there's bad lawyers,the people that bag your
groceries at Kroger, and it'salways the bad person or the
(17:35):
negative aspect that's focusedupon.
That kind of gives everybodyelse kind of a bad name.
One bad apple spoils the wholebushel or spoils the whole bunch
.
So that's what at times themedia will tend to gravitate to,
kind of like the DoomsdayPrepper series.
Those people were just way overthe top.
So I can see people notfamiliar with prepping watching
(17:58):
one of those shows and going, ohmy gosh, I don't want to do
anything like that.
Those people are nuts.
Maybe it was done for effect,maybe it was done for ratings, I
don't know.
But I don't quite understandthe negativity that's associated
with it.
You're doing what you need to do, you would hope.
Your friends, your neighbors,your government, local
government, federal governmentwhat have you be encouraged by
(18:21):
the fact that you are beingprepared.
You are self-reliant.
So when the power goes out,when there's some sort of supply
chain issue, they don't have toworry about a certain
percentage of the population asmuch as they do the others that
are not prepared.
So the emergency services, foodbanks, the Red Cross, fema,
(18:45):
there's going to be folks outthere that are prepared and
there's different levels ofpreparedness, don't get me wrong
.
But you're going to havemanpower and material and
assistance that's going to thosefolks that have not prepared
correctly the elderly, whateverit happens to be.
You are not going to have tofind a first aid station, an
(19:09):
emergency food relief cache orwhatever they call them food
relief cache or whatever theycall them.
You're not going to have to tryto find out how many miles do I
have to walk or how many milesdo I have to drive to get to a
food depot to pick up my beansand my rice and my water and my
powdered milk.
You're already there.
You have it in your home.
(19:29):
You're already prepared forthat sort of thing.
So you don't have to risktraveling to these locations,
and that would be definitelyrisky.
So you don't have to risktraveling to these locations,
and that would be definitelyrisky, because you know there's
people that do not want to go tothese food depots, these food
banks.
They're going to wait forsomeone else driving down the
road or walking down the roadand they're going to basically
(19:49):
steal their supplies.
They'll use the supplies, sellthem on the black market, a
million different things.
You don't have to venture outnecessarily, maybe for something
, but if you're properlyprepared, you're not going to
have to venture out to the foodbanks, to the checkpoints, to
pick up whatever services arebeing provided.
(20:12):
Talk about first aid, basicfirst aid and maybe some
advanced first aid.
Stop the bleed Everybody shouldknow CPR.
Everybody should know the basicstop the bleed.
You can go on YouTube.
You can probably go to yourlocal Red Cross.
You can find all sorts ofinformation out there.
It's called stop the bleed.
That's probably the trademarkname of the program.
There's IFACs, individual firstaid kits, tourniquets, that
(20:35):
sort of thing.
So, if you're prepared, you havefood, water, shelter and you
have the basic first aid skills,you're set.
Again, given the circumstancesand the length of the supply
chain, disruption or the lengthof the powers that is out you
are prepared.
You won't have to venture out.
You won't have to worry aboutwhat's going on in the outside
(20:55):
world and you won't have toventure out.
You won't have to worry aboutwhat's going on in the outside
world and you won't have to putyourself at any more risk than
you already are.
All right, folks, thank you somuch for listening and always
take care of one another.
Be safe out there and untilnext time.
Okay, voiceover guy, it's allyours.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Thanks for listening to the Common Sense Practical
Prepper podcast.
Be sure to subscribe so youdon't miss an episode While
you're at it.
Help spread the word by leavinga rating and review.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
The National Weather Servicehas issued a severe thunderstorm
warning.
Welcome to the Common SensePractical Prepper Podcast, where
(00:21):
prepping doesn't have to becomplicated or expensive.
Coming to you from awell-defended, off-grid compound
high in the mountains, comingto you from his Florida room in
Richmond Virginia Neitheroff-grid nor well-defended,
unless you count as chickens andcats, here is your host, keith.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, thank you, professional voiceover guy.
Hey y'all, it's Keith andwelcome back to the Common Sense
Sense Practical Pepper podcast,august the 4th 2025.
I want to start out byanswering an email.
This is in reference to acouple podcasts ago when I
talked about bartering withsilver, asking what I thought
(01:08):
about what they call junk silverold dimes, nickels and quarters
way back in the day that had ahigher silver content.
So I don't know a whole lotabout it.
So I went ahead and went on theSD Bullion website and they are
selling junk silver at spot.
Now, if you remember, spot is atany given time, the current
price of silver per troy ounce.
In looking at their website,they are selling $5 of US silver
(01:33):
Roosevelt dimes.
Check me on my math.
I believe that would be 50dimes.
Get you $5.
That's face value.
You hold out 50 dimes andthat's $5.
But the amount of silver inthose dimes comes out to in that
whole, 50 dimes is 3.75 troyounces for all of that and
(01:57):
they're selling it at spot.
So if that 50 dimes is 3.75,you multiply it by the spot
price and you pretty much comeout to about $135, like right
now if you were to purchase that.
So it sounds kind of crazy.
You're like, wait a minute, I'mpaying $135 for $5 in dimes.
(02:19):
I'm not sure if that's such agood deal, keith, but remember
you're purchasing it for thesilver content and then I guess,
for the the melt content, and Idon't have like a crucible.
I'm not going to be goingthrough all of my change and
looking for dimes and andmelting dimes and trying to
remove the silver from the otherstuff.
(02:40):
That's not what I'm going to do.
But I guess when it comes tobartering, those dimes might
come in handy.
Silver has an intrinsic value.
Unlike paper currency, silveras a currency tends to be more
stable.
So that's basically what junksilver is.
If you go to sdbullioncom orany of the other precious metal
(03:03):
sites, they'll sell just like abig canvas bag of like $1,000
coins face value, but then youhad spot the premium and that
sort of thing.
So it's something you can lookat, but I'm not really so sure.
Like I talked a few podcasts ago, is someone you know for those
three dozen eggs?
Is somebody saying okay, well,keith, I'll give you these 50
(03:26):
dimes which cost them $135.
I'll give you these 50 dimes,but remember, in this whole
handful of 50 dimes there's 3.75ounces of silver.
To me that just gets a littlecomplicated trying to do the
math.
But again it goes back to whatsomebody is willing to pay for
(03:47):
any particular item.
So it may sound crazy, but $5worth of Roosevelt dimes, that
is worth $135 silver wise mightbe worth that.
But then again, if you takethat into a coin shop, you paid
$135, you take it into a coinshop you're going to lose money
today because you pay $135, yougo in tomorrow the gentleman at
(04:09):
the coin shop might give you$127.
It's certainly not going to get$135, but the price of silver
goes up like anything else.
You paid $135.
If silver goes up $5, $6, $7,$8 a troy, then then I guess
when you take them to the coinshop you're going to be looking
at a little, a little bit moreof a profit once the coin shop
(04:30):
owner tax on you know, tax ontheir costs.
So it's, it's weird, it's not,as to me it's much cleaner to
have, you know, a silver Eagleor a Morgan dollar or a one
ounce generic silver round,because you don't have to worry
about about so that the silverround is 0.999% silver as
opposed to 50 dimes is 3.75ounces.
(04:53):
To me, the math is a whole loteasier with just a one ounce
silver round or silver EagleMorgan dollar, whatever it
happens to be All right.
So that's my little spiel onjunk silver, and I probably
confused you as much as Iconfused myself.
Okay, what I want to talk aboutis I was thinking the other day,
(05:16):
how do other countries viewpreppers and prepping?
So here in the United Statesthe first thing you think of, if
you're a non prepper, the firstthing you think of is you
probably go to that doomsdayprepper show they had on
discovery channel.
I'm not even probably in rerunsright now.
(05:36):
I watched a few of those yearsago and I'm.
I thought to myself thosepeople are nuts, they don't.
I mean, they were so over thetop.
So I kind of get the stigma orthe stereotype that preppers are
a bunch of right wing lunaticsthat have totally lost their
minds and they're waiting forthe zombie apocalypse or you
know somebody to drop a nuke onthe East coast.
(05:58):
They just it just seemed overthe top and I get it, it's all
scripted.
So I'm not really sure that theDoomsday Prepper show or the
series did justice to those ofus who take it very seriously,
who aren't walking around inhazmat suits, you know 24-7
(06:18):
waiting for, you know waitingfor the zombie apocalypse.
So I did some digging and I wentto my favorite AI program and I
backed it up with other sourcesof information.
I've said it a million timesjust don't take the word of one
AI program Shoot two years agoor even six months ago.
I'd say, don't take the word ofjust one website, because what
AI does?
It scrubs the internet or itscrapes the internet.
(06:41):
So when you ask Grok or anotherAI program, copilot or whatever
all these AI programs arecalled, don't think that you're
talking to like this littlerobot mind out in the ether
coming up with its own ideas.
Ai is programmed and it's goingto scrape the internet, given
some guardrails that theprogrammers assign ahead of time
(07:03):
, if that makes any sense.
So you're not getting any newinformation To you.
It might be new, but the AIprogram is not like
groundbreaking, some trailblazergiving you information that no
one has ever thought of or noone has ever read or created.
Okay, we'll start with theUnited States.
This is going to be an easy one.
So prepping is mainstream andit continues to grow.
(07:25):
Here in the U?
S, it's estimated 23 and a halfmillion preppers $11 billion
annually that are spent onprepping and prepping supplies.
Once and maybe some to someextent was associated with far
right groups or conspiracytheorists.
Don't get me wrong, there'splenty of those out there.
(07:47):
But now prepping is seen asmore pragmatic response to
diverse risks like naturaldisasters, political
polarization and economicinstability.
All right, that makes perfectsense.
Hedge on inflation, supplychain disruption and things
along that lines.
Frequent natural disasters,hurricanes, floods, wildfires,
(08:09):
political unrest— All of thesethings kind of go into why
certain people prep the way theydo.
If you're located in Florida,you're probably looking at
hurricanes.
You're out in California, outWest, you're probably looking at
wildfires, not reallyhurricanes.
Earthquakes it's pretty muchgoing to get you wherever and
(08:30):
tornadoes and severe storms inthe Midwest for the most part.
But it's becoming more and moremainstream maybe.
But as you know the governmentand FEMA, they promote 72-hour
kits.
You can go to FEMAgov and itgives a lot of details on what
you need to build out for your72-hour kit, where you can take
(08:50):
CPR classes, stop the bleedclasses.
So there's a little bit ofcrossover.
So it's not necessarily someunderground movement.
Prepping here in the UnitedStates it's becoming much more
mainstream.
I know folks on both sides ofthe aisle that prep.
I know some folks that areliberals that prep.
(09:10):
I know folks that areconservative Republicans that
prep, and I know people in themiddle I guess that'd be
libertarians they also prep.
It really has nothing to do withyour political affiliation per
se.
It's just how you view theworld and what may or may not
happen.
It's about self-reliance.
Let's put it that way Just takepolitics out of it and you just
(09:33):
call it self-reliance.
I'm going to takeresponsibility for my actions.
My actions have consequences.
I'm going to do what isnecessary to protect myself and
protect my family, regardless ofmy politics, regardless of what
happens outside.
I'm going to do what I need todo to protect myself and protect
(09:54):
my family.
Political agendas just removeit.
It's easy to throw it in, it'seasy to point fingers, but just
take the politics out of it.
And if you do anything, thesmallest thing, you go to Costco
, you go to Kroger and you gettwo extra flats or two extra
containers of bottled water, 36bottles, 48 bottles.
(10:15):
You're a prepper.
I'm sure people are like wait aminute, don't you call me a
prepper for just getting acouple extra things of water at
Costco.
But you are.
You're being prepared.
What are you being prepared for?
Well, I'm being prepared forthe really hot weather that's
coming up, okay, well, why doyou have a flashlight and a
bunch of lanterns and a bunch ofemergency candles?
Well, I'm kind of beingprepared for in case the power
(10:40):
goes out.
If you don't want to be calleda prepper, you think it's a
negative stereotype.
There's some stigma attached.
Call yourself whatever you want.
Call yourself just preparingfor something.
If you don't like the wordprepper, you do.
You Talk about the UnitedKingdom.
Prepping is much less widespreadthan in the US, is also viewed
with skepticism or amusement andassociated with eccentric
(11:01):
survivalists, which is reallykind of odd.
And with Brexit and some of theinstability in the EU, it's led
to some shortages in food, orperceived food shortages.
When they have bad weather overthere, they have bad weather,
flooding, flash flooding.
So it's a little moremainstream, but certainly not to
(11:21):
the extent that it is here inthe United States.
Talk about Sweden.
Now, this is interesting.
Prepping is increasinglymainstream and government
endorsed, spurred bygeographical tensions with
Russia.
Well, that makes sense.
I mean, it's their neighbor.
Once considered a fringemovement, preppers are now seen
as practical, with thegovernment mailing 5 million
(11:43):
households a booklet in 2018, ifa Crisis or War Came.
That's the title of it, urgingfolks to have a 72-hour kit and
self-sufficiency.
See, that's not so bad.
I guess if it comes from thegovernment, more people would be
likely to accept it, I guess.
(12:04):
So if they're saying, well, thegovernment is saying I should
do this, then the folks inSweden are maybe a little more
accepting.
Well, our government says thesame thing.
Go back to FEMA and all theother websites at Red Cross.
You can find a milliondifferent websites and all sorts
of information to cover that.
Finland, kind of the same thing.
(12:24):
They're right next to Sweden,germany, so prepping is growing,
but it remains kind of a niche,a niche hobby, often associated
with bushcraft or urbanprepping, aka stocking up at
Aldi.
If you've never been to an Aldi, well, if you've been to an
Aldi here in the United States,very similar to the ones in
Germany, aldi is the bomb.
(12:45):
I love going to Aldi here and Ilove going to Aldi in Germany.
It's becoming more and moreaccepted over there.
Now.
There are very strict weaponlaws in Germany, so you know
you're not going to have anarsenal like some folks might
have here in the United StatesStockpiling, hoarding a lot of
people those are negative terms.
(13:07):
When you hear hoarding orstockpiling, it's kind of a
negative term, but it's becomingmore and more accepted.
But it's becoming more and moreaccepted.
The government encourages basicpreparedness and what they use
as their barometer is a 10-dayfood supply.
So the government in Germanysays this is what you should
have.
They're going well beyond a72-hour kit.
(13:31):
They're going to 240-hour kit.
In Germany, urban preppers aremore visible.
They have gardens, smallgardens, grow their own tomatoes
, peppers, that sort of thing.
So they're a little moreself-sufficient.
I guess you could say Talk aboutJapan.
So prepping is not explicitlylabeled as such, but is deeply
(13:53):
ingrained due to the frequentearthquakes.
That was in 2011 was a reallybad one.
So we get earthquakes, tsunamisand typhoons.
It's seen as practical,non-controversial part of life.
So government kind of stays outof it.
In a sense, there's no friction.
The government mandatespreparedness, go bags, seismic
building codes, a lot ofearthquakes over there and the
(14:16):
building codes over there arevery, very strict and society
kind of views this as the normand not really a subculture.
Preppers are rarely stigmatizedas preparedness is recognized
universally among all the peoplein Japan.
All right, talk about a couplemore.
Australia.
So prepping is growing inAustralia, especially in rural
(14:36):
areas.
Now what's the old adage?
Everything in Australia wantsto kill you.
The spiders are about the sizeof small dogs and that that so
prepping is is more mainstream.
Floods, wildfires and folks youknow out there in the, the, the
bush, the bush country, theAustralian bush those folks are
in the middle of nowhere.
(14:57):
It's almost a part of life tobe self-reliant, self-sufficient
when help is hours away, hoursaway when the grocery store, the
market, is hours away.
It's pretty much just a way oflife.
The government supportsdisaster preparedness and
society increasingly respectspreppers, especially after
(15:19):
recent climate change events.
India here's an interesting one.
Prepping is emerging in India,particularly in urban areas, and
is viewed as a practical butniche trend.
Influencers like Little UrbanPrepper whoever that is promote
urban survival, but it's notreally widespread and it's often
(15:40):
seen as an import from the West.
Over there, climate risk,floods, heat waves, earthquakes,
economic instability and urbandensity tend to drive the
interest or drive prepping.
So many people jam-packed in alittle area.
I said it before.
Take New York City the powergoes out for an extended period
(16:02):
of time.
There's some sort of supplychain issue.
You have a lot of people in avery small area.
The little markets are going torun out of food super quick.
You don't have the largegrocery stores like you have in
other parts of the country.
So the little markets, thelittle corner markets, the
bodegas, are going to be overrunand emptied very, very quickly.
(16:28):
So globally, so globallyprepping is increasingly being
accepted.
It's on the rise globally,driven by climate change,
geopolitical tensions andpandemics.
Once mocked, preppers areincreasingly seen as practical,
with governments Sweden, finlandand Japan that normalize
(16:48):
preparedness.
Now here in the US it's notreally normalized.
It just depends on where youlook.
So if you look towards FEMA andthe Red Cross, then there's a
lot of information out there.
So in the information's outthere, it's not like it's being
hidden.
But I really don't understandthe, the negative stereotypes
and the negative stigma that is,is there such thing as a
(17:11):
positive stigma and the stigmathat is associated with prepping
and preppers, some preppers andsome types of prepping?
You know, here in the UnitedStates, as anything else, folks,
there's always bad apples,there's bad cops, there's bad
doctors, there's bad lawyers,the people that bag your
groceries at Kroger, and it'salways the bad person or the
(17:35):
negative aspect that's focusedupon.
That kind of gives everybodyelse kind of a bad name.
One bad apple spoils the wholebushel or spoils the whole bunch
.
So that's what at times themedia will tend to gravitate to,
kind of like the DoomsdayPrepper series.
Those people were just way overthe top.
So I can see people notfamiliar with prepping watching
(17:58):
one of those shows and going, ohmy gosh, I don't want to do
anything like that.
Those people are nuts.
Maybe it was done for effect,maybe it was done for ratings, I
don't know.
But I don't quite understandthe negativity that's associated
with it.
You're doing what you need to do, you would hope.
Your friends, your neighbors,your government, local
government, federal governmentwhat have you be encouraged by
(18:21):
the fact that you are beingprepared.
You are self-reliant.
So when the power goes out,when there's some sort of supply
chain issue, they don't have toworry about a certain
percentage of the population asmuch as they do the others that
are not prepared.
So the emergency services, foodbanks, the Red Cross, fema,
(18:45):
there's going to be folks outthere that are prepared and
there's different levels ofpreparedness, don't get me wrong
.
But you're going to havemanpower and material and
assistance that's going to thosefolks that have not prepared
correctly the elderly, whateverit happens to be.
You are not going to have tofind a first aid station, an
(19:09):
emergency food relief cache orwhatever they call them food
relief cache or whatever theycall them.
You're not going to have to tryto find out how many miles do I
have to walk or how many milesdo I have to drive to get to a
food depot to pick up my beansand my rice and my water and my
powdered milk.
You're already there.
You have it in your home.
(19:29):
You're already prepared forthat sort of thing.
So you don't have to risktraveling to these locations,
and that would be definitelyrisky.
So you don't have to risktraveling to these locations,
and that would be definitelyrisky, because you know there's
people that do not want to go tothese food depots, these food
banks.
They're going to wait forsomeone else driving down the
road or walking down the roadand they're going to basically
(19:49):
steal their supplies.
They'll use the supplies, sellthem on the black market, a
million different things.
You don't have to venture outnecessarily, maybe for something
, but if you're properlyprepared, you're not going to
have to venture out to the foodbanks, to the checkpoints, to
pick up whatever services arebeing provided.
(20:12):
Talk about first aid, basicfirst aid and maybe some
advanced first aid.
Stop the bleed Everybody shouldknow CPR.
Everybody should know the basicstop the bleed.
You can go on YouTube.
You can probably go to yourlocal Red Cross.
You can find all sorts ofinformation out there.
It's called stop the bleed.
That's probably the trademarkname of the program.
There's IFACs, individual firstaid kits, tourniquets, that
(20:35):
sort of thing.
So, if you're prepared, you havefood, water, shelter and you
have the basic first aid skills,you're set.
Again, given the circumstancesand the length of the supply
chain, disruption or the lengthof the powers that is out you
are prepared.
You won't have to venture out.
You won't have to worry aboutwhat's going on in the outside
(20:55):
world and you won't have toventure out.
You won't have to worry aboutwhat's going on in the outside
world and you won't have to putyourself at any more risk than
you already are.
All right, folks, thank you somuch for listening and always
take care of one another.
Be safe out there and untilnext time.
Okay, voiceover guy, it's allyours.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Thanks for listening to the Common Sense Practical
Prepper podcast.
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you're at it.
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