Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Macro Survival - Law, Order, Commerce and Community





Earlier we talked about individual and family survival in the form of stock piling v. producing. I thought this time it might be worthwhile to discuss Macro survival as opposed to individual.

It was rather fortuitous that as I was collecting my thoughts for the post this evening that I came across this article.

Trading Meat for Tires as Bartering Economy Grows in Greece

There are many out there who for one reason or another cannot see anything but a complete 'Mad Max" type scenario when discussing a decline or collapse situation. Their late night fantasies are filled with looting hordes, murdering warlords, cannibals and the Lord knows what else. While history is filled with such acts what it never really discusses is that these hot spots are never everywhere and in most cases are isolated and short lived.

Nothing living besides a virus or bacteria can thrive on a diet of only death and destruction. It isn't possible. Man kind has always needed Law, Order, Commerce and Community to survive. Now it may not always be the exact type of law or order any one particular group would like. The commerce may not always be particularly fair nor the community all it can be but no matter how bad an area gets you can count on any survivors eventually forming a group that somehow includes all four of the basic macro survival needs.

Any warlord with enough intelligence to lead people can tell you it is easier to govern even as a tyrant than it is to constantly loot and plunder. There is also much more of a future in it too even if you are the most murderous dictator that ever lived. All groups require resources or they simply vanish. If all you are doing is looting and killing eventually you run out of resources. At some point the distance to next easy meal is greater than your plunder will let you travel.

Don't believe me? Just look into the average life span of any famous Pirate captain. With only a very few exceptions (and a couple of turn coat deceptions) you could count their escapades in mere months.

No matter the circumstances commerce always returns on it's own. Often times before the other three and many times it is the commerce itself that ushers in the need for Law and Order.

In a sense you have to view any collapse as a collection of related but different organisms. The individual, the family or tribe and the community. Each one needs the other and the smaller two need some form of production either in foodstuffs or traceable skills to survive. Only the survival of the individual and the tribe allows the community to survive.

In many ways the best example of describing a post collapse society is in Kunstler's "World Made by Hand" series. Although I am not so much into the witchcraft or supernatural aspects of his writing I believe Kunstler was spot on in portraying the very need the characters in his books had for the four macro survival needs. The Law and Order parts also showed how those two may not always be the same from one group tot he next or even what any particular group really wants.

If you haven't read this series I would recommend it if for no other reason to give you more insight into the attitude, feelings and emotions of common man survival.

In a sense once again those who would recommend or champion an idea of isolated survival and hoarding are doing us a great dis-service. In the case of isolation you may not specifically be a part of the problem but you sure as hell are not going to be a part of the solution either and therefore are voluntarily ignoring a macro survival need.

Unlike individual or family survival however the Macro needs cannot really be put into place until the vacuum is apparent. You can acquire the skills, tools and mindset to help them along when the time is right though.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!




17 comments:

  1. A good post, which made me review my thoughts about what our aims are here on our smallholding in SW France, apart from wanting to take control of what we eat and to have a lifestyle which is far removed from the mad pace of life as we knew in when we lived in the UK. We are indeed acquiring 'the skills, tools and mindset to help them (the people) along when the time is right'. I had not been thinking of ourselves in regards to the greater community, but rather saw us as 'battening down the hatches' people, isolating ourselves from all around us. Thanks for the post. I think of ourselves in a different way now. Vx

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    1. Vera - Just by being a stable and productive small hold you are supporting the community and the Macro survival needs of Man kind. This is the default of humanity I believe.

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  2. I have bartered for many things over the last few years as it is just more cost effective. Employers seem to want all of your day for just a small amount of pay and it is rigged to where no benefits are allowed plus when you make money the price of forced healthcare goes up and you get penalized for working. If I trade less time for something in trade, I get the item or service that I would have bought without getting screwed by healthcare and other taxes. It does take more work and thinking to barter but this is a good thing as so many people seem to have stopped working and thinking.
    Right now I am working on a guy's car for hay, helping at the brewery for beer, watching a guy's house and animals for access to cutting up a huge oak for my fire wood. I will take cash for work as well but it isn't worth getting an "official" job with obamacare which is really just a massive tax for less health coverage which is rigged to the more you make the more you pay on the scale really hurts low income workers.
    What we are seeing with the collapse is really a collapse of the Progressive movement which has been failing for the last 100 year, it doesn't work but it is such a money maker for the leaders and so effective at controlling the masses that it succeeds as it fails. Kind of like a blight that gradually kills the host plants but very slowly so that it can expand to other plants and is not even noticed. How many people saw the republican leadership and democrat leadership both become progressives? It happened in the 1930s for dems and 1980s republicans. Anyway the movement is controlling most of the world now and it doesn't work but like yeast in a brew, it will die once the resources it needs are all consumed. We are reaching that point on a global scale but once it is dead then people can thrive again on a local level.

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    1. Sf - That is a good analogy with the yeast. You of all people I know see things for how they are. We are fined, taxed and billed for so much health care it is insane. The smart ones like you are finding ways around the system.

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    2. sf,
      what a clear exposition! very good reading!

      i don't know that we'll thrive because the pollution is making the water deadly, at least here in n.e. ohio.
      have to use it. none else available.
      fracking 'brine' in water table.

      but maybe we will at least have a season of freedom for our kids and grandkids.

      sounds like you have an enviable set up!
      God bless!

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  3. Well thought out Sir. Never much read Kunstler but maybe I will have to take a look.

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    1. TB - He has this certain twist I find somewhat distasteful but for raw emotion I find him somewhat spot on.

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  4. You make some excellent points. An interesting and informative read.

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  5. Very well stated. Thanks for the concise description.

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  6. PP - when we first got here, we knew we were walking into a small, closed community of people whose ancestors had been here for 200 years! in fact, in our 2 communities of 60 people, no one comes here unless you can trace your ancestry for 200 years AND you must have paperwork to back it up - or you'll be kicked out! we knew that we had to walk into our first event with a food offering, use jam's last name and let people know that i was born further north on the island and so was jam's father. then we worked our butts off at the community events, made sure to become known as "the huggers"...and both of our communities have begrudgingly had to accept us! we knew our game plan and we knew our goal. and we have been successful! you can't just build a garden and get some animals - you have to be fully integrated into the community - something no prepper/survivalists spend much time on writing about!

    another good post buddy! sending much love! your friend,
    kymber

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    1. Kymber - Well you could have moved in next to me and announced you walked around nekkid and I would have welcomed you too :)

      Seriously though you have a valid point. How exactly do they make the ones who don't measure up or give up hugs move though?

      What happens if a new comer refuses to kiss the fish?

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    2. buddy - kissing the fish is expected. they run you out of town if you don't kiss the fish. never really thought of the walking around nekkid thing. heck - maybe that's why we were accepted so easily. and there we were working our butts off at community events???? crap...kissing fish and nekkidness might have been the key!!!!

      oh and trust me - they know how to move people out that they don't care for...in like weeks - it's THAT bad! and the newcomers move on! they ALWAYS move on - they make their lives living hell. i have seen it first hand. don't like it, but they do it!

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    3. Oh I am sure it had a lot to do with both you guy's winning personalities and general likability more than anything else.

      But nekkid women do have a way of opening up doors where ever you may go too :)

      And ya can't beat fish kissing for generating a community feeling either I imagine.

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    4. buddy - i'll do a post later but jam's mom and stepdad have been down for the last week. i was holding a surprise 50th birthday party for him last saturday, but the surprise got blown - blah-blah-blah - details coming soon. but i was sooo proud at the dinner/party - everyone went up to his parents and said how glad they were to have him in the community, that he was such a good man, such a hard worker! his mother got teary-eyed a few times because the people just didn't stop saying such nice things about him! i was very proud too because i know what a good man he is...and i wanted his mom and step-dad to know how beloved he is in our two communities.

      and yes - he has kissed many fish and it has been witnessed by many in our communities....i think that's what got us in the door!

      you always sniff out the facts eh? yer like some kind of golden retriever or something! xoxox

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    5. Oh it's pretty obvious Jamby doesn't have an unlikable bone in his body. He's a bit too gullible to Feminist propaganda arena but then again having a partner such as you is going to put a man into a protected pocket so he hasn't experienced the true darkside of the movement either. Makes it understandable :)

      Retrievers usually just bring stuff back now a pointer or scent hunter blood hound....

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