Bugging out, New-York style

Cheer up:  doomsday preppers no longer are restricted to those scary hyper-male government-conspiracy-obsessed Christians you see on TV.  Manhattanites are embracing the trend, in their own Manhattanish way.

Speaking strictly for myself, I'd say that Rule #1 for surviving an apocalypse would be "move out of Manhattan this instant."  For some New Yorkers, though, that's unthinkable, so they've turned their attention to practical plans for escaping the island in an emergency.  Inflatable kayaks are one approach.

As a species, we don't seem to have much imagination when it comes to the sudden loss of the intricate web that supplies us with food, water, and other necessities of life--and that goes eleventy for people who live in tall buildings on a small island crammed with 3 million people:
Urban survivalist culture also overlaps with sustainability and homesteading culture. Many preppers are interested in organic and local foods, farmers' markets and the reduction of toxic chemicals. Some meetings, for instance, have focused on such things as how to make deodorant and laundry detergent at home . . . .

7 comments:

Grim said...

Speaking strictly for myself, I'd say that Rule #1 for surviving an apocalypse would be "move out of Manhattan this instant."

That seems like very sound advice to me.

raven said...

Seconded with "move out of any big city".

MikeD said...

The only comment on the article struck me as a very good one that these preppers never have given a second thought to:
"Rural areas in general don't have the infrastructure to support large migrant populations. Most urbanites would starve (or be shot as trespassers) if they attempted to swarm rural areas in a bug out situation."

Just because you got off the island does not mean you're now going to be a welcome guest of those "backwoods hicks" who live in those rural areas. Sure, if there's a terrorist attack and it only affects the island, then you might be welcomed by sympathetic citizens. But if it's a natural disaster that affected those communities as well, assuming that they'll be happy to take care of your urbanite behind might be a foolish hope. And if we're talking infectious outbreak (Ebola is a stupid thing to worry about, because as long as you stay away from bodily fluids of symptomatic victims, you're not going to catch it), then you likely would be turned away or even shot on sight to protect the local population.

Ymar Sakar said...

The new method if you have access to the water, is to get out on a boat and survive in place at sea. No humans, essentially, only the weather to deal with. Then return to your "safehouse" once the looting is over.

Thus you can live in a city and still sustain yourself "in place", but without being mobility locked to a population center that is diseased, full of zombies, or getting burned by rioters and military forces.

Eric Blair said...

Anything big enough to do what y'all say it will do would kill everybody anyway.

Your 'prepping' is a waste of time and money.

Eric Blair said...

And oh God, that article is such a bunch of hipster fuckwadness that it would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

Gringo said...

MikeD
Just because you got off the island does not mean you're now going to be a welcome guest of those "backwoods hicks" who live in those rural areas.

Especially when them hicks in the sticks are aware of chic NY attitudes towards rural hicks and flyover country.