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Which describes you best?

  • Prepper

    Votes: 373 54.9%
  • Survivalist

    Votes: 308 45.3%

Prepper or Survivalist

102K views 157 replies 120 participants last post by  bounder 
#1 ·
Most of us are probably a combination of the two but for the sake of this poll please choose which one describes you best.

For me it's definitely Prepper. I first got involved by being prepared for hurricanes and it grew from there.
 
#3 ·
Gotta be one before you can be the other, yeah? Then are there any true survivalists on here now? I say no. Practitioners? Perhaps. But no true ... survivalists. Not yet.

What survivalist uses hi-speed broadband internet? I mean I haven't seen many threads here regarding a 'bug out' laptop.

:thumb:
 
#6 ·
I learned a long time ago it is better to get prepared now than to look back and say I wish I had done this. It is like with the guns and ammo things going on right now. SOme people are going to get it done early and watch the rest go crazy when the time comes. get prepared and be prepared. Listen to guys like Kev and Lowdown3. They practice what they preach.
 
#7 ·
Most of us are probably a combination of the two but for the sake of this poll please choose which one describes you best.

There should not, in fact, be a difference between Survivalist and Prepers but the press and left have had 30 years to vilify the name of survivalists, assisted by gun toting idiot extremist.
Prepers has not yet be been smeared so thoroughly…yet. They are taking a different tact though. Preper as a cold hearted hoarder, stuffing himself while the masses (read unprepared sheeple) starve. A criminal of sorts who might have even caused food shortages by his actions. Logic not with standing that you bought in a time of plenty, the anger, hatred, fear and envy will be directed at you hoarders and hungry mobs will even feel justified in looting you of every thing you have.

The time is coming soon when both survivalists and prepers will be made into dirty words. Prepers is still a more Politically Correct term, at the moment, so many have begun using that term.
 
#130 ·
Prepper = being prepared
Survivalist = being prepared to go to the next level.
There is a difference- mostly mental. Being a prepper means preparing for bad times. Hurricane, winter storms, loss of power etc..
Being a survivalist is ratcheting things up a notch. At that point you are prepared- but also ready and able to keep your stuff + take what you need. That's when the Mad Max syndrome will kick in.
 
#11 ·
For us it's a combination of both. I'll have to put some thought into before I participate in the poll.

What I find interesting is that the LDS church sees 'prepping' (for lack of better term) as part of their religion. So if the Mormon's are doing it under 'religious ideologies', why are the rest of looked at negatively if we're doing the same thing, sans the religious aspect?
 
#15 ·
I believe that one should be survivalist before all...You can be prepper but what's it's worth if disaster strikes you away from everything you prepared? the way i look at it is like this: survivalist = force, prepper = brains ... in order to survive you need some balance between them :)
 
#17 ·
You're absolutely right. Being only one will leave hurdles that may be impossible to get over. I hope everyone can find that balance you mention. Otherwise they're missing out on the life after the survival.

I'm a preparer. Have the guns, ammo and training for all the defense & hunting I can handle. I put eveything to use as often as possible to maintain skills and have fun, but it's not my focus.

Over the years priorities & views changed. I don't prepare to simply survive natural &/or societal disasters. I'm going to go on living well; with all the comforts & securities I can.

Biggest focus is on the "Ole' Homestead," and the way of life that's there when it's needed. Started out as a cabin/shack, but over the years it has grown into a beautiful, totally self-sustaining home for those I care about. Even though they don't know about the place.

Thanks to everyone for the great work and information. Keep it up.

Gridless
 
#20 ·
I'm a survivalist because I think society as a whole kinda sucks. I mean it's people eating food that they have no idea where it came from. They can go through a whole day and not remember it the next day. They spend their life doing what they think will please others. They don't know how much water is flowing through the building they are in right now. They don't know how electricity, their main power source even works in their own house. They are scared to be out in the dark and need lights for everything. They need others to entertain them. I mean who would want to live like that? Whoops, I guess anyone who wants to pay for someone else to give them food to store in their house.

I made a life on society's fringe and have no need to try to belong to that bizzare way of living. I am a survivalist, I chose my own life and make the sacrifices that are needed to do that. A survivalist is there now, not waiting for bad crap to happen so that maybe they can start living the life they think they want.

Maybe you should have made three groups: preppers (reactors), wishful survivalists (rambos), and actual survivalists (people who have stepped out of the society's norms of "someone please trade me food for money").

shuck
 
#50 · (Edited)
Ahem, by knuckle dragger you mean violent fringe rambo elite uber mall ninja gun heavy wanna be survivalist. :rolleyes:
There is nothing politically correct about the way I prep..Nor do I consider prepping to be survivalist lite. Thank you very much.
I do my own thing my own way and while it is nice to share info with you all, at the end of the day I have no illusion that when the S'HTF I'm on my own.
No matter what the h*ll you want to call it. It doesn't matter, one iota. what matters is that you get what you're doing right, that is if you want to survive.
 
#24 ·
230,
Agree, The media has a tendancy to portray the survivalist in one of two ways, either as a counter culture lunatic or as a Bear Grylis, Les Stroud type. The reality is neither stereotype is accurate.

So it seems they either cast the survivalist as a nut case to be avoided, and yes there are a few...or they air programs such as mentioned to see if they can identify us as a demographic to sell to.
 
#26 ·
Then your definitly not a survivalist.

A Prepare basically just stockpiles stuff. They have guns, and they have stockpiles of gas and food.

A survivalist has the stockpile, the guns but they also have the skills to go along with survival. If you stick them in a woodland with nothing but a knife and a loincloth, then they will make it out alive.

I find that the Preppers are actually crazier then the survivalists. Just from personal experience.
 
#27 ·
Oh lol I'm none of both, because I don't stockpile :) Don't have the money for it, when I get a job (go to college right now) I might.

I guess I'm just a vigilant citizen. I mean, I've got a BOB and weapons and a modest amount of food for a few days, but I don't qualify as survivalist or prepper. Maybe as a low profile survivalist (cuz I'm not crazy and I like outdoor skills).
 
#28 ·
So a "survivalist" running around a woodlot carrying a knife and wearing nothing but a (smile and a) loin cloth is not nuts? Bear Grylyis squeezing an elephant turd and drinking the jucie is not nuts?
Preppers and survivalist are either equally nuts or they're not. Trying to draw a distinction between preppers and survivalists is like trying to split hairs. Besides every discipline known to man has its share of nut cases. There are bound to be a few loose nuts that decide it's cool to be a prepper or a survivalists. By and large most people who engage in prepping are not nuts.
 
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#30 · (Edited)
No my friend, there's a big difference between preppers and survivalists. Preppers usually don't develop the necessary skill sets that survivalists do. The moment their stockpile of food and ammo run out, their just as screwed as the next guy. That's why it's not splitting hairs.

Crazy, what I find crazy about some preppers is that they are trying to prepper but it's obvious they don't know how to preppar. It's sport of sad and funny at the same time. Then some of them don't want to be talked to their senses and when you give them a bit of advice their like "leave me alone". It's that group of preppers that makes the dynamics of the prepper group crazier then the survivalists, because we can actually debate, talk and enjoy talking about all of our survivalist crap.
 
#31 ·
I think it isn't very useful to make a diffirence between a prepper and a survivalist. Prepping is a part of survivalism. I´m affraid this thread is heading to nowhere.

A much better distinction imo is made in this thread:
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=40875

The 3 types of survivalists

#1 is the prepping focused survivalist
#2 is what we in this topic call a real survivalist, with more plans and prepared for more things.
#3 is just paranoid lol
 
#33 ·
I am a Prepper... but I also have some basic knowledge of how to get by if I was dropped in the middle of nowhere.
But the question I asked myself is, if things truly go full blown SHTF... why would I "WANT" to live past the supplies I prepped with?
Another thing, if you prep for an extended period of time... (I’m currently at a month of full prep but working on extending it) To get past the chaos and to where things have been re-ordered... True Anarchy is impossible to maintain, basic society will always re-establish itself. So for me there currently isn’t a “need” to be a full blown survivalist
 
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