Human See Human Do: Deception and Why it Works So Well

Human See Human Do

Deception and Why it Works So Well

Introduction

As a species, we humans are very easy to deceive. As if that were not bad enough, certain individual and groups of individual in our species earn their living deceiving others. These include lawyers, politicians, lobbyist, special interest groups, and big business. The individuals and groups of individuals who make this all possible on a day to day basis are collectively referred to as mass media

Before the rise of mass communication, especially visual mass communications (television), it was more or less impossible for a single individual or a small group of individuals to deceive on a grand scale. A single individual or small group might deceive the people of their town, village, city, or region, but that was the extent of how far an individual or small group could deceive.

Today using modern visual mass communications (television), a single individual or small group of individuals such as lawyers, politicians, or robbers in suits can sell the other members of their species almost anything. Please note that the word “sell” in that last sentence was placed there purposely. Deception is essentially selling, usually the selling of an underlying idea that is often hidden on purpose.

Psychology

As human beings we gather quite a bit of our information about life by watching others. If the other humans we observe are competent and have no intention to deceive, the information we gather will usually be accurate and help us lead more productive lives. But what if the other humans we observe intend to deceive? What if they modify their words and actions to sell us on their ideas?

It’s very important to note that it is much easier to fool human beings using visual information than it is to fool human beings using audio information. This is why television marketing is so successful. Indeed, if you want a statement to sum up deception of human beings, this is it: The eyes deceive us.

Most human beings in industrialized societies get most of their information from television, a means of communication that exploits the human vulnerability to visual deception. This present’s a multitude of opportunities for individuals or groups of individuals who wish to deceive us, or, more correctly stated, want to sell us their ideas.

Concrete Examples

Tugging on the heart strings: This method uses strong visual data to get the human being emotional about a given problem. Once the human has gotten emotional, the messenger then suggest a solution for the problem that helps the messenger’s agenda while hiding the real cause of the problem. A common example of this is the television adds that show starving, malnourished children in third world countries. Seeing children in such condition id deplorable and few humans are not affected emotionally when seeing such sights. So then the messenger takes advantage of the emotionally affected human and may suggest, ever so covertly, that the emotionally effected human should somehow feel guilty over this and send in a donation.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to charitable giving. If you have the means, one should give to the poor. However, for this example it’s worth looking at what the messenger does not tell you.

In many of these countries where you see the children dying from malnutrition, the reason these children don’t have enough food is because warlords and corrupt government officials hog all the food for themselves and dole it out to their sycophants. Also, the people in these countries are prevented, by their governments, from owning firearms. Thus, they have no way to remedy the situation.(My solution to world hunger would involve the distribution of simple break open shotguns and ammunition to the starving people, starting with women who have children. Let them make examples of a few warlords and corrupt politicians who hoard the food. Putting fifty buckshot in someones center mass sends a strong message.)

The food the United States and other countries give the poor people of these countries just continues these poor people’s states of dependency. Giving people food does not address the fundamental problem: Why can't they produce and distribute enough food? There is an old saying that goes like this: “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.” Maybe we should give the worlds poor the skills and resources to be independent and self reliant. One charity I greatly like who does this is Heifer International. They give livestock to poor people all over the world to help them achieve self-reliance. Their web address is www.heifer.com

Expert fixations: This method uses visual deception to present a picture that the people who are speaking are experts whose ideas and solutions should be trusted. A very good example of this technique is the Sunday morning panel news shows. They have supposed “experts” dressed in nice suits and ties. The “experts” then sit around a nice table and discuss the matter at hand in the most serious tone of voice. The set up implies, ever so subtly, that these “experts” only have everyone’s best interest at heart at that it is impossible for these “experts” to have their own agenda. However, if one looks at the pronouncements of these “experts”, the idea that they are experts and are free of their own agenda becomes suspect.

“Free trade benefits everyone in the United States.” Never mind that when the United States rose to global economic prominence after World War 2, the United States practiced ruthless protectionism and hit foreign products with high tariffs. Never mind the fact that the top one percent on the planet are getting richer while the other ninety nine percent are getting poorer. (See the book Bad Samaritans by Ha-Joon Chang.)

“Illegal aliens do the jobs that U.S. citizens won’t do.” Correction: Illegal aliens do jobs for wages no U.S. citizen would accept.

“Some businesses and banks are too big to fail.” Kinda like the Roman Empire, right?

“We will have to give up some of our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms to protect the United States from terrorism.” Really? I thought that the terrorists, not the U.S. Constitution, was the cause of terrorism.

COMMENT: The use of “experts” is one of the most effective techniques of deception used by visual mass media. Indeed, there are many people in the U.S. today who automatically give someone “expert” status if that person talks about a given subject on a television news show, never mind the fact the person has no expertise. Just because someone is on a tv news show does not make them an expert. Just because someone gets a lot of tv time does not mean they are competent in their field of "expertise".

The Bottle Neck: This method uses a setup similar to the expert fixation in that it employs a highly controlled panel of “experts” to limit the range of choices for the human who is watching. They push other human being towards an intellectual bottle neck.

During presidential elections this method is used to suggest, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly that you only have 2 real choices to vote for in the presidential election. On the television shows that use this method, there will be several “experts” who will tell you why you need to vote democrat and there will be several “experts” who will tell you why you need to vote republican. These shows rarely consider 3rd party candidate’s or candidates in the 2 major parties who are not considered to be in the group that runs everything in the 2 parties

In the last presidential election, Ron Paul, while a republican, was treated like a libertarian (a third party) because of his strong stance on being true to the United States Constitution. Notice how Ron Paul was treated during the republican debates. Notice how he was given much less time to speak than the other republican candidates, and when he mentioned the Constitution, the other republican’s facial expressions looked as though they were listening to some crazy uncle, thus sending the message that Ron Paul was not a real choice.

These three examples are but a tiny fraction of the deceptions techniques perpetrated by visual mass media (television). Given that there are so many techniques of deception, it is good to have a few general rules to apply to protect yourself from deception.

Rule # 1-To the largest extent possible, get your information by reading. Even though reading uses the eyes, it is essentially an audio means of getting information, as most people hear the words in their mind when they read them.

Rule # 2-Get your information from multiple sources.

Rule # 3-If you must get your information from mass visual communication (television), always ask yourself the following question: “Could there be an alternate explanation?”

Rule # 4-Work off the assumption that anyone talking about a given subject has their own agenda. Everyone has a dog in the fight.

Rule # 5-Be wary of the beautiful. Psychology has shown that people who are more attractive are considered more competent than people who are less attractive, even when objective data proves the lesser attractive person more competent. This is why television broadcasters have really pretty women and quarterback type men anchor their news shows.

Rule # 6-Be wary of those on television who try to get you excited. Getting people excited is a basic sales technique. When you get excited clear-thinking leaves the building.

Rule # 7-Avoid being intimidated. People who sell so called “self help” merchandise use this technique all the time. They say things like “Winners do this” or “Losers do that.” And of course, to be a winner you must buy their product or accept their ideology.

Rule # 8-If you are male, be a man and think for yourself. If you are female, be a woman and think for yourself. Other people, especially the so-called experts may have more knowledge and training than you, but that does not mean their judgement is better than yours. The experts may have knowledge, but thats no guarantee they have wisdom.

Rule # 9-Be very skeptical when the mass media bakes broad and general cconclusions.

Crisis, Martial Law, and Black Market Operation

Crisis, Martial Law, and Black Market Operations

In the coming years, I think there is a strong possibility that there is going to be crisis and martial law in the United States and in other nations as well. During such periods, the items you need to survive will become increasingly scarce, especially if the crisis and martial law goes on for an extended period of time.

This article could have well been entitled How to Be a Successful Criminal, because what we are talking about bartering during cisis and/or martial law. In crisis and martial law, bartering of goods will be considered a criminal act. As such, if you barter you will be a participant in the black market (at least in the eyes of the government). Remember, during crisis with martial law, you can be arrested for just about anything.

The rules I cover in this article come from the book Black Market Operations: Marketing Theory and the Fencing of Stolen Goods, A report by Ted Roselius and Douglas Benton, associate professors in the college of business at Colorado State University. The book was published by the now defunct publisher Loompanics Unlimited. You may still be able to find the book on some internet booksellers. The book’s ISBN number is 1-55950-017-4. If you can get a copy, I recommend you add it to your preparedness library.

For the record, I do not support criminal behavior during normal times. However, during periods of crisis, especially prolonged crisis with martial law, you have to do what is necessary to survive. Just because the martial law government labels your bartering a “crime” does not make it unethical or evil. On the contrary, your first duty is to provide for your family. (See 1st Timothy chapter 5 verse 8.)

In the book listed above, the author’s list some characteristics of goods that are best for selling and trading on the black market. Let’s examine those characteristics in detail and how the principles will apply to a pure barter economy during a prolonged crisis with martial law.

1. “High Value-generates more cash per risky transaction.”

Selling and trading goods on the black market is always risky. It is especially risky if you are under martial law, as you can be executed for essentially anything. Therefore, if your taking a big risk, you want to make sure that there is a big reward for taking the risk. In crisis or under martial law how much value your barter items have will determine how many goods and services you can trade them for. Some items that will have a high trade value include guns, ammunition, freeze-dried food (see # 2 ), antibiotics, narcotic pain medication, liquor, knives, batteries, and radios Under normal conditions bartering items like narcotic pain medications and liquor could be very risky. However, during crisis and martial law, the bartering of anything can get you arrested and possibly shot. So in crisis with martial law, bartering anything is a high risk activity. Make sure your barter brings enough rewards to justify the risks involved in bartering.

2. “ Low bulk and low perishability”

Any product you sell on the black market will have to be transported and will have to be in useful condition at the time of the transaction. Therefore, perishable items are out in most situations. The same is true for large, bulky items. However, what constitutes large and bulky will depend on your own situation. If you have a large pick up truck, you will have the advantage of being able to transport large items that those without large pickup trucks cannot transport.

Most food will perish very easily. However, freeze-dried food, dehydrated food, and to a lesser extent MRE’s (meals ready to eat) will make good barter items. So will water purification supplies

3. “Branded items”

Here we are talking about items with a brand name on them. People trust branded merchandise. In fact, people trust branded merchandise so much, the criminal class has started branding merchandise like heroin and cocaine by putting them in packages with brands on the package so that users will make repeat purchases of their product.
Imagine this: John Smith has a case whisky he is going to trade for a rifle. He goes to the meeting point and produces a clear glass container with a light brown liquid inside and there is no seal on the top of the bottle.

Now imagine: Peter Sloan has a case of whisky he is going to trade for a rifle. He goes to the meeting point and produces a glass container with a label on it that says “Crown Royal” and the seal on the bottle is in tact.

Imagine if you were the man trading the rifle for the whisky. Which of the two people listed in the paragraphs above would you be more inclined to do business with? The correct answer is Peter Sloan, because Peter Sloan has branded merchandise. John Smith might have cooked up some grain alcohol in a still and put some brown food coloring in it and called it “whisky.”

If the crisis and martial law last long enough, and you can produce useful goods, you should consider coming up with your own brand and putting that brand on your product.

4. ” Non-sized items”

This means items like clothes and shoes are not good items for trading or selling, because you have to find a buyer who fits the clothes you have. This is a GENERAL RULE. (A general rule is a rule that applies between 7 and 9 times in 10) There are exceptions. For example, lets say you live in a relatively remote area and you are having an extremely cold winter. You manage to find someone who wishes to trade a supply of military parkas for items you have. If you are in a situation where you can barter sized items and benefit, do the deal!

5. “Established and well known price”

This rule applies more to the black markets during normal periods than crisis periods and martial law periods. Remember, criminals pay zero for their items because they steal them. (I do not endorse criminal behavior) Let’s say a criminal stole 4 cases of vodka, and the normal price in the legitimate retail world is twenty dollars a bottle, the criminal should make it know that he is selling the product for less than the normal price twenty dollars a bottle.

During crisis and/or martial law, normal pricing rates will go out the window. The prices for everything will go up. However, if the crisis and/or martial law last long enough, established prices for goods and services in the barter economy will develop. By making your barter price slightly below the “established” barter price that develops for a particular good or service, you may have more success than the individual who sticks firmly to the established barter price. Notice I said make your price slightly below the barter economy established price. Say five percent lower than your competitors. If everyone else is trading their extra rifles for 100 bottles of whisky, trade your extra rifles for 95 bottles of whisky. Pricing your barter goods slightly below the barter economy price may give you an edge.

6. A. “Products should not be subject to post purchase dissonance.”

Here the authors were talking about people who changed their mind and want their money back. In simple terms, buyers remorse. During crisis and/or martial law, ALL SALES AND TRADES ARE FINAL..........unless you can get something of more value in the return/exchange process. If the situation is very bad, you should always be prepared to enforce this rule with bullets.

B. “ Low traceability.”

The items you trade should not be easily traceable. Guns are a good example of items that are easily traceable, because virtually all guns produced in the last 30 or so years have serial numbers.

Suppose you trade a pistol to John Smith for 50 freeze-dried meals. Later John Smith is captured by the martial law troops and they find his gun. The serial number on the gun will be traced, and you will soon have government troops knocking on your door.

If you sell or trade anything in a crisis or martial law scenario that can be traced to you, to the best of your ability remove anything from the item you are selling that allows it to be traced, such as serial numbers or identifying marks.

C. “Marketing opportunities increase substantially with and increase in the range of consumer types.”

That is a fancy way of saying with a more varied customer base comes more opportunity to sell and trade. If your dealing with people who need food, having guns to trade is of little use. If your dealing with people who need medicine, having food to trade is not going to help.

With this in mind, I have two recommendations:

1. Provided you have the means, start building a supply of items you can barter. Determine what items are of most value to the people in your area or region. If you have extra money, stockpile items that are of value in your area, provided you don’t break any of the previous rules.

2. Get to know as many people as possible in your area. DO NOT discuss your preparedness plans with them. You simply want to get to know them socially so that in the event a crisis and/or martial law, you will have a larger base of people to trade with. A bonus with this is that you might find some decent people and make new friends.

One last thing: Try to be decent. Get a fair trade when you barter but DO NOT ruthlessly exploit your fellow human beings. Also, if you have large supplies of goods, do a little charity and give away some things to sick people, old people, orphans, and others who cannot fend for themselves. But only do this if you have large supply of goods that will more than take care of you and your family

You Are the Glass

Some people ask the question "Is the glass half full or half empty?" Know what? It does not matter. What matters is that you have a glass.

You and your life are the glass. If you get the knowledge you need and apply it consistantly, in time your glass will overflow.

This does not just apply to preparedness. It applies to every area of your life. If you're not happy with your present situation, get the knowledge you need to fix your situation, apply it consistantly and you and your life WILL improve.

I and S - Improvise and Scrounge

Improvising and scrounging are two very important skills to learn for preparedness and survival. One of the things I have tried to drill into the readers of my newsletter is to do the best you can, with what you have NOW!

In the recent past it was my belief that money was the primary limiting factor on an individuals preparedness plans. However, now I believe that attitude, creativity, and doing the best with what you have now are as or more important than money

Yes, it would be ideal if you could buy a 5-year supply of Mountain House freeze-dried meals in the # 10 cans. However, most people won’t have the money to do that. However, there is nothing stopping most people from buying 1 or 2 cans per month.

Improvising is doing the best you can with what you have now. So lets say that purchasing 1 or 2 cans per month of Mountain House freeze-dried food is too much. You can stock up on dried beans and grains like rice. Buy them in bags at your grocery store and put them in plastic pails with lids on them secured by Gorilla tape.

Scrounging is when you actively search for something you need. Usually if you find what you need, there will be an element of barter involved.

For those of you who are Star Wars fans, you will remember C3PO, a protocol droid fluent in over 6 million forms of communication. Another droid who never made it to the big screen but was in some of the Star Wars books was M3PO, a military droid. Image C3PO in olive green instead of gold. In addition to M3PO’s military training, he was loaded with commodities trading software so he could “scrounge” for what his unit needed when deployed to some backwater planet. Earth could become a backwater planet during several TEOTWAWKI scenarios such as a 1 mile wide asteroid hitting the planet or even a limited nuclear war between the United States and Russia or China.

So how does one learn to scrounge?

First, you’ve got to know your area and know your neighbors. If you don’t know your neighbors and your area, scrounging is going to be difficult. If your neighbor Jack is a welder, you know he’s probably got welding equipment and welding rods. If your neighbor Bill is a carpenter, you know he will have hand tools.

Problem: You need some welding done on your trailer. Jack, the welder will do it in exchange for a large hammer. What do you do? You find something you have the Bill wants and trade that something to Bill the carpenter who gives you a big hammer. You give the hammer to Jack, the welder and Jack does the welding needed on your truck.

The previous example is a good reason to get to know your neighbors and what they do for a living and what skills they have.

Learning your area is also important. Learn what items are in demand in your area and learn who has them. Stockpile these items if possible or have some good or skill you can trade for them.

The Fundamental Law of All Preparedness

The fundamental law of all preparedness is Murphy’s Law, which states: “Whatever is the worst possible event that can occur will occur, and it will occur at the worst possible time.”

Learn it, live it, love it, because it is the truth.

In virtually any situation , if you determine what is the worst possible event that can happen, prepare for it to the best of your ability and to the degree that your money allows, you will usually be on fairly stable ground.

For example, when you go out in a boat, what is the worst event that can happen? Sinking. And when is the worst possible time that it can occur? The time you have no life-jackets on the boat. Therefore, it’s good to make it a rule to always carry a life jacket for each person on the boat. Yet people go boating all the time with no life jackets. Why? They lack something, and that something is what I call RATIONAL CAUTION.

What differentiates RATIONAL CAUTION from paranoia is that rational caution is proactive, paranoia is reactive. A person who has true paranoia see’s danger coming from every direction, but yet such a person rarely if ever studies their situation and apply Murphy’s law to their situation. Such a person is almost never proactive. There are exceptions, but as a GENERAL RULE (a general rule is a rule that applies between 7 and 9 times in 10) most paranoids are almost totally reactive.

Simply put, rational caution makes you sleep better at night, while paranoia keeps you awake

Some Basic Preparedness Questions

1. How much potable (drinkable) water do I have in storage and how long would it last me and my family if all other sources of water were gone? Ideally, you want to have 2 gallons per person per day. If most of your stored food is freeze dried or dehydrated, raise this amount to 3 gallons per person per day.

2. What chemicals and/or devices do I have to make non-potable (non-drinkable) water fit to drink? Chemical treatments include chlorine, iodine, and hydrogen peroxide. Devices may include equipment to boil water, charcoal filters, reverse osmosis devices, ultraviolet light system, and distillation apparatus.

Most everyone has the ability to boil water. Boiling will not remove the particulate matter in non-potable water, but it will generally kill most micro-organisms. Boil the water for 10 minutes.


3. How much stored food do I have and how long would it last if all outside sources of food were gone AND all sources of electric power were gone? HINT: This means all frozen food and foods requiring refrigeration are GONE. (Freeze-dried food is the best for long term storage, but it is expensive relative to other foods for storage. Canned goods are the option many people will have to use.)

4. How much essential medications do I have on hand and how long would they last if all sources of them were gone? (Essential medications are over the counter and prescription medications you take on a daily or near daily basis.) If you take a lot of prescription medications, this may be a very important issue for you. For Prescription medications, most insurance companies will pay for only a month’s supply at a time. There are ways around this I will address in a future issue.

What about over the counter medications you use on a regular basis? How long would your supply last if you were cut off from all sources of these medications?

5. Do you own any firearms? If yes, do you know how to use them? Are they reliable? Guns that have not been shot in 50 years should be considered unreliable until proven otherwise. What about ammunition? How much of it do you have?

With regard to preparedness I CONSERVATIVELY estimate that for every 1 person who is prepared, there will be 199 who are not prepared. When a crisis comes (and it will), those who did not prepare are going to come to those who did and try to get help. Some of those seeking help will ask. Some will not be so polite and they will try to take your preparedness supplies. That is why firearms are so important.

Understand the following and understand it well. You are under no moral obligation to help those who could have prepared but decided not to prepare. Perhaps they spent all their extra money on SUV’s, etc. YOUR PRIMARY DUTY IS TO YOUR FAMILY.

WHEN THE UNPREPARED COME TO TAKE THE SUPPLIES YOU STOCKPILED FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY, YOU MAY HAVE TO USE DEADLY FORCE. THIS IS WHY FIREARMS ARE SO VERY IMPORTANT IN ANY SURVIVAL PLAN.

Some will no doubt say that such a stance is un-Christian. If you believe such a stance is un-Christian, I suggest you read 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 8.

One of the best recommendations I can give you is to keep your preparedness efforts secret. Tell your other family members, including the kids, to keep your preparedness efforts secret. That way, when a crisis comes, you may not have to worry about the unprepared trying to beat down your door.

6. What supplies do you have for energy? Generators are good, provided you know how to use them and they are reliable. What about natural gas? Do you have cylinders or tanks of it and heating devices that run off it? There are a lot of fuels you can use for energy-gasoline, diesel, kerosene, propane, methane, liquid propane, and white gas. Each fuel type has its own advantages and its own disadvantages.

You have 3 main areas of concern here:

1. Energy to run essential electric and communications equipment.
2. Energy for cooking and for some water purification systems.
3. Energy for heating and cooling.

Generators are a great investment if you can afford them. Many experts agree that the most reliable generators for long term use (day or weeks) are the diesel kind that run at 1800 revolutions per minute. When choosing a generator, you want to get as much power as is needed to the degree your money will allow. However, don’t plan to run everything in your house during a crisis. Plan to run only the essential items.

Don’t get me wrong. If you have a lot of money you can buy a generator system that will run EVERYTHING if the power goes down, but you are going to spend a good amount of money to get such a system.

One of the best investments you can make for cooking is a wood stove, provided you live in a region where wood is abundant. The Coleman Company also makes a wide variety of cooking devices that run off small, portable propane cylinders or Coleman fuel. These cooking devices are so small even an apartment dweller can store them.

Energy for heating does not have to come from electricity. Many companies make space heaters that run off propane or other gases. Your main area of concern when using these systems indoors or in areas that are not well ventilated is the buildup of carbon monoxide gas.

7. How much CASH money do you have on hand?

In a crisis, you can work off the assumption that checks and credit cards will not be honored. The more severe the crisis, the more this will be the case.

Start putting back a little bit of cash every month. Even if it is only $5.00 per month or less, that is a start. Put it in a secure place and in a place where it is safe from fire. In a crisis, this stockpile of cash will come in handy.

Ethics-Helping Those Who Cannot or Will Not Prepare

There are some people in this world who do not see or understand the value in being prepared. The people who make up this group represent about 99 percent of this planet’s population. Because such people make up such a large group, it is very dangerous for the people who do prepare to believe that the people who do not prepare will have no affect on us should a crisis present itself.

You may be thinking: “Who cares? They had their chance to prepare, and they didn’t!” Well, life is never that cut and dry. Also, the question is one of ethics, doing what is right. What really is the point of surviving if your going to have to live out your days with people who are moral cretins? Indeed, if that is the world we who prepare will have to inhabit after a crisis, we had better come up with methods to purchase and store lots more ammunition.

So who do you help and who gets priority. In answering this question I look to the Judeo-Christian Ethic.

1. Your first duty is to your spouse and your children. If you are serious about preparedness your spouse and children should already be covered to the extent that your funds will allow.

2. Your parents come in second after your immediate family. Your parents may not have believed in preparedness or they may not have had the money to prepare, but the reason they did not prepare is irrelevant. You have a moral obligation to help them in a crisis. However, what defines “help” is indeed a tricky issue. Also, keep in mind that your duty to your spouse and children DOES take priority over your duty to your parents, per my interpretation of the Judeo-Christian Ethic.

I wrote in an earlier issue of this newsletter that one of the best policies to adopt is to keep your preparedness activities secret. Don’t discuss your preparedness activities with anyone except those people who are in what you might loosely refer to as a “network” of others involved in preparedness in your area, and even then be very careful. Teach your children not to discuss your activities like food storage with other children. In a crisis, the unprepared will come and beat at your door the same way the unbelievers came to the door of Noah’s ark when the rain started.

With that in mind, if your parents live close to you, say 50 miles or less, taking them into your own survival retreat is probably the best course of action, PROVIDED they can keep their mouths shut. If they are inherently more concerned about the survival of their own family over the survival of others (non-family), a quality shared by virtually all rational people, you are probably on safe ground. However, if they are of the type that spout off mindless religious mantras such as “All people are equal in God’s eyes.”, (A TRUE statement when taken in it’s proper context) then you are going to have problems. Simply put, if your parents have the “egalitarian socialist ethic”, and they will tell everyone they talk to about you cache of food and supplies because doing anything else would be “unfair”, you are better off helping them out from a distance, by giving them food, medicine, money, and supplies but NOT bringing them into your survival retreat. Keep in mind however that if they are the type who tell everything they know to everyone, once they realize you have supplies, everyone who has any contact with them will also know you have supplies. So your BEST option for helping in such a situation might be to give them food, medicine, money, and supplies anonymously.

If your parents live a long distance from you, say over 200 miles, giving them any real help in a big crisis is going to be hard. My advice is to plan ahead. If your parents who live far away are not in the habit of being prepared, the Christmas season provides a wonderful opportunity to help them. Potential Christmas gifts in such a situation might include generators, a supply of freeze dried food, emergency medical kits, books on preparedness, water purification equipment, cold weather clothing, propane cylinders and heaters, pump action shotguns with 1000 rounds of ammunition, you get the idea. IMPORTANT: DO NOT BEAT THEM OVER THE HEAD WITH THE PREPAREDNESS SERMON-A MAN CONVINCED AGAINST HIS WILL IS OF THE SAME OPINION STILL.


3. Your siblings, brothers and sisters, come in 3rd place, and all of the warnings and suggestions I gave in the section on parents apply here.

4. Your extended family comes in 4th. This includes aunts, uncles, and cousins. Again, all the warnings and suggestions in the section on parents apply here as well.

It’s doubtful, neigh impossible, for a single member of a family who did prepare, to effectively help all 4 groups without killing their own family in the process. If you can help your parents and siblings, you will be doing far more than most. Always remember who takes priority over who.

Assuming it would actually be possible (it isn’t) to help all family members including extended family, one would now be faced with the question of what type of help, if any, should I give to non-family members who did not prepare? Keep in mind that from this point on what I am discussing is largely theoretical.

If one group came to mind, it would be those non-family members who were not able to prepare themselves because of severe mental or physical disability. If you were to find yourself in a position to help such a person without compromising your family, then help them. Why? Because they are entitled to our help by right? No. Because it is simply the decent thing to do. I would also add that as a student of preparedness, this is the one group of the non-prepared that I would have sympathy for, and more importantly, empathy for, in a crisis.

After those who were not able to prepare because of severe mental or physical disability, it is probably the right thing to put the poor next in line. By poor, I mean those individuals who had no money to prepare because just surviving normal day to day living took all of their money. I AM NOT speaking of individuals who were “poor” because they lost all their money at the casino’s, or on other self-destructive activities.

Excluding those individuals with severe mental or physical disabilities and the poor, essentially everyone else you will deal with in a crisis had some chance and ability to prepare, but chose not to. Maybe they lived in a house that was too big. Maybe they had expensive vehicles. Maybe they had expensive recreational activities. Maybe they were simply stupid, or worse yet, intelligent but purposely ignored the facts.

When dealing with those who could have prepared but chose not to, there is really only one guiding principle: Be a decent human being guided by rational self-interest. Rational self-interest is not an immoral concept, as many people would have you believe. In fact, during and after a crisis, it is perhaps the most ethical position one can take when dealing with those non-family who were unprepared by choice. Why? Because there is no reasonable way one can judge who among this group is more worthy of help. Sure, you COULD judge them by what they say, but their action of non-action, being unprepared when they had the means to be prepared, speaks louder than anything they can or will say.

Remember, I said be a decent human being. Do not exploit the position of such a person, but DO engage in value for value transactions when dealing with those who are non-prepared by choice. If you help them, make sure you get some kind of benefit in return. Benefits are not always concrete things like food and supplies. A benefit might be technical expertise. A benefit might be intelligence. A benefit might be something as simple as the advise from an older person with more real world experience than you. Just make sure you get SOMETHING of value in return for your aid.

When crisis comes, you cannot sacrifice for everyone. If you attempt to do so your preparedness efforts made for your family will amount to nothing. Family comes first.

With this in mind it seems no surprise to me that one of the goals of socialism is to destroy the family unit, and replace the family unit with the state. The Most High God established the family unit as the foundation of society. So if anyone tells you that you should sacrifice the preparedness you made for your family for the good of the unprepared masses, remember whose side such a person is on.