Prepping is divorced from doomers if we look outside mainstream media reporting.

In the PNW of the US, there are many thriving prepper communities of all political persuasions and I find that the vast majority of them are not doomers, and in fact, try to avoid doomers and satirize them.

I think of it as something of a hobby. A little bit camping-adjacent. But just a little bit.

It used to be a hobby.

But now we have major, extended weather-related events once or twice a year (wildfires and winter storms). And then there was the pandemic.

So now, it's a mission-critical thing.

I said in another comment, it is an endless task of talking down the newbies off the ledge of their doomsday prophecy.

"No we are not going to be in a Mad max world in 2 years!"

Agreed, but I've also experienced some Mad Max-ishness at the (small) town and neighborhood level during a couple of events (wildfire chaos and complete hosedness from winter storms) where my inner redneck engineer flourished.

When it happens at the atomic level, the larger government elements aren't really supplying timely assistance or even functional law enforcement.

There are tens of millions of people who practice emergency preparedness. There is only a tiny handful of people with private bunkers, and it's overwhelmingly just rich folks who treat it as an offbeat hobby or a status symbol - like a wine cellar or a collection of luxury cars.

I get that it's fascinating, but the "bunker prepper" argument has no place in a good-faith discussion of emergency preparedness.

[Edit: added "private" to address some irrelevant rebukes below.]

During the Cold War, Switzerland maintained fallout shelters for its entire population (plus an extra 25%). If you owned a house, the government would periodically inspect the fallout shelter and verify that it was stocked with food and water. Cities had large, communal shelters.

Finland and Sweden were also big on fallout shelters.

"There is only a tiny handful of people with bunkers"

uhm? Ever heard of Zwitserland?

Switzerland total population is just over 8 million - so about 0.1% of total. I think "tiny handful" is correct.

Not sure if I'm interpreting your response correctly, but every house and apartment bloc in Switzerland has a bunker.

> when the government is overtaken by brown socialists?

Interesting that you chose this example when nearly every socialist/communist revolution that has ever happened in history started with mass murder.

Surely "nearly all" is implicit in the word "revolution" more than in "communist"? (And socialism being so much vaguer in practice that I never know if the person saying it means "The Democratic Party of the USA" or the way that the nordic countries are "socialist", which are a long way from Chinese communism, which is itself denounced as being "state capitalism" by some).

It wouldn't be far fetched to argue Denmark is more socialist than China.

Having browsed the prepper communities for years it is actually pretty cool how reasonable a lot of them are. The big thing they have is constantly heading off the newbies with their doomsday prophecies/fantasies.

Most long term preppers advocate for a deeper pantry, so a few months instead of a few weeks, a few gallons of water in a shed. A focus on personal health as there is no point hoarding guns if you cannot run 100 meters. Increase personal skills that can be useful in a time of disruption such as basic medical aid. And community, that is key - "If you want to fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others." African proverb

A lot of them point out about how the stereo type of the food hoard on your own land with a small military of guns is foolish. That even if the worst case Zombie situation did arise, that just makes you a target for others and would have to become endlessly paranoid just to maintain a terrible lifestyle.