Can You Be Paranoid and Prepared At the Same Time
“Paranoia: (adjective: paranoid) is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion”
“Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself” (merriam-webster)
Being prepared does not mean you are paranoid, but being paranoid may mean you are not prepared.
When you begin to prepare against things perceived or even conjured up because someone wrote a story and there is no clearly defined threat then maybe you need to pull back and reassess your situation.
There are extremes in any situation, and just because you are paranoid does not mean they are not after you, but use logic and learn how to evaluate the threats realistically.
Do not develop a herd mentality, because eventually you will end up walking off the cliff. Learn how to verify information and do not take anything at face value when it comes to information found on blogs and websites on the Internet. Some people simply have too much time on their hands and ask yourself what is the motive of those preaching certain things.
Someone that sells gasmasks will of course try to convince you of the need for one for example. Then there are lonely desperate souls that simply want to connect with others and the only way to get attention is by making outrageous claims. Then of course, the agitators, which in some cases are anarchists, are always looking for those that seem eager and ripe for indoctrination.
Face the facts even if the conspiracy theories out there are true you still need to be prepared and you cannot get ready if you spend all your time conjuring up unrealistic scenarios.
Spending all your time looking for people to validate your own fears is not how you prepare. You will end up hoarding weapons and boarding up windows and when a flood comes along then what.
Natural disasters are not conspiracies nor are Iran, North Korea, terrorists’ organizations and China. These are real threats and should be prepared for accordingly. However, no one really knows what type of threat as of yet, one can only speculate and you can only be ready in a general sense as you would for any crisis or disaster.
It is too easy to be caught up in conspiracies and some people actually look for things to become worked up about, and why is this. One reason is people cannot stand prosperity. Once things start going relatively smooth some people become bored and simply want to create drama in their lives. They may try to create drama to convince others of their point of view. There is nothing more aggravating for some people then to have others not get as worked up about something as they are themselves.
Some that buy into certain scenarios may dread the thought of never using the things they have gathered around them, so what happens is they continually look for reasons to pull out their guns and count their rounds.
Imagine someone reads an article online about the government having a secret program to confiscate all of your weapons, before the SHTF to prevent people from creating civil unrest (being a danger to those in government is the implied reasoning).
The ones reading the articles may be swayed by the rhetoric and then they want to see others get as worked up about it as they are. Most people would just nod their head and hope to change the subject but passionate and worked up people never become satisfied, when convinced of pending doom.
They will keep looking and will eventually find others that will validate their own fears and notions and soon there is a group that believes without a doubt there is a secret program in place where troops or law enforcement are kicking in doors and gathering private citizens’ weapons.
Knowing all this, what type of preparations, do you suppose this group is carrying out? You can see where logic and paranoia simply do not make for good prepping. This is not to say however, you should not have a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to what the government may be capable of doing.
To Easy To Believe
The administration has just announced military cutbacks and a reduction in forces. More specifically Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has called for shrinking the U.S. Army to its lowest level since World War ll.
Easy enough for some to immediately see a conspiracy here, may very well be one, but to what end. The conspiracy may be simply what many suspected all along that the administration does things based on ideology.
The administration in the simplest terms probably believes there should not be a super power in the world and if there is, it should not be the United States. Equality seems to be their mantra these days and they want equality to apply to all things. It goes back to the notion if no one is allowed to have guns then no one ever is shot. The same applies to armies except for the fact the U.S. is the only one that seems to have this notion.
The policy of the administration is similar to “mutually assured destruction” only in reverse.
Trial balloons are floated all the time and the defense cuts proposals are possibly just that, a toe in the water if you will. Any politician regardless of party that has a military base in their state will howl at the notion of closure so the actual cuts are a long way from fruition, so before you rush down to the army surplus store think about that aspect of it for a few minutes.
Some may take the recommendation of cuts to mean the U.S. is surrendering to the world and we will be overrun soon. Some may even believe the administration is afraid of its own military and thus wants less armed and trained troops around that would create a stir when the administration turns tyrannical.
Armies in some countries do have a way of biting the hand that feeds them. Troops often refuse to fire upon innocent civilians that may be their friends and neighbors and eventually get tired of fooling around and have taken over their own government that ordered them to kill. Just look to Egypt.
You can see how it would be easy to conjure up all kinds of theories. Some may even use the recent announcement to convince their spouses/partners they need a few more firearms and other cool gadgets, because the country is going to be invaded and the military will not be there to stop them, so it is up to us “honey”.
Some may give those in power to much credit for thinking ahead and laying the groundwork. To be a dictator one must have a reasonable expectation being in power for essentially forever. Does anyone see this being the case in the U.S.?
In the mean time, those becoming worked up are not getting ready for threats that are more realistic, for example, hurricanes, tornadoes and spring melts that will cause flooding. Those a bit too paranoid may be polishing brass cartridges instead of starting gardens and some are turning their plowshares into sabers instead of digging wells and tilling the land.
Prepping is about using your plowshares to put food on the table during hard times while your firearms rest within easy reach as you sow the fields for fall harvest and dig wells to make sure you are prepared for anything.