Prepping… It seems strange to some, and downright stupid to the masses.
Whether you have begun prepping recently or have been involved with self-preservation for decades, you probably know that getting others to understand why you do it and why they should can be an incredible challenge.
Raising awareness about prepping and how to convince others to start prepping can be a frustrating experience.
If you’re like me, once you started prepping, you started thinking about survival. Purchasing gear, acquiring new skills and planning different strategies for when SHTF became a normal hobby. Survival is all about being able to live and thrive under any set of unfortunate situations.
When you think of yourself surviving, you may immediately consider your loved-ones. You may have many friends, family and other loved-ones that you hate to see suffer or potentially die in a scenario that YOU know you are prepared for, but also know that others are NOT.
Convincing others to prep is difficult for a number of reasons:
1. The public media has ostracized preppers.
This is a fact. Just look at the television show “Doomsday Preppers”. 99% of the people on that show fail the #1 rule of common sense prepping: Risk Analysis. Many of them are prepping for events that will likely NEVER happen, and thus, are put on television because it’s always fun to watch someone else do something you think is absurd, hence our fascination with “reality” television.
This is just one reason, however. It has become popular now to label anyone who stocks up on food, water, shelter, guns, ammunition, medication, medical supplies and anything else as “paranoid”.
2. Many believe the “government” will “help” them.
People have a false imagination of our government. The public has, for the most part, become incredibly reliable on our “system”. The reliance of the public on our “system” is akin to a child in a mother’s womb: They need the government to supply them with food, clean water, safety, shelter and much more. This naturally thought process immediately makes people believe that that same “system” they have relied on their entire lives will swoop in and rescue them when they are at their lowest.
However, what will these people do when they pick up the phone, dial 9-1-1 and nobody answers? What will they do when they are so low that they have to reach up to touch bottom and they suddenly realize that the “system” they have put their “trust” in has failed to protect, rescue and provide for them?
These are just two of many reasons why people tend to shy away from preppers. Most will purchase one of the many readily available “5 person emergency kits” and throw it in a garage hoping it will provide them with what they need long enough for help to arrive. Once again, you see this constant dependance on our system.
How can you convince others to start prepping? I have some advice that may help you when talking to family, friends and other loved-ones about raising prepper awareness.
First, do not sound paranoid. Even if you are, do not give off the appearance that the world is going to end in 5 minutes.
Second, do not talk to those you are trying to convince about things such as tyranny, terrorism, “SHTF”, “WROL”, “TEOTWAWKI” or economic collapses. You may want to avoid these terms altogether simply because there will be a million and one excuses to be made against each one of them.
Third, you may want to convince them by talking about natural disasters simply because it is something people know they cannot be protected from, and it will be the easiest to prove. An earthquake, fire or tornado can hit at any moments notice without proper time to prepare and leave.
Fourth, use the Socratic dialectic method of convincing. This method was used by Socrates, and it is simple: Ask questions. Instead of talking AT someone, talk WITH someone. Asking them questions, such as, “Hey, Mom: If an earthquake hit, would you be prepared?” Asking questions about their answers and making people think about how to answer them will often times allow them to convince themselves that they are unprepared.
Finally, if they realized they are unprepared, what now? Give them one or two things to purchase first. Do not mention them learning any survival skills, as this will only make them think you’re crazy. Instead, possibly tell them to stock up on some freeze-dried or emergency food bars and water. This is a basic start, and it will possibly make them feel unprepared AFTER they purchase these items because they will start thinking what else it is they do not have.
At any rate, this is a very beginning way how to convince others to start prepping. You do not want to force it upon them, but you just want to avoid some terms, speak in realistic terms (to them), ask questions and suggest something simple to start them off easy.
How have you raised the awareness of your friends and family members about the need to be prepared?
