Mr. Editor:
Since stumbling across SurvivalBlog a few months ago, I’ve been amazed at the amount of valuable information contained here. This site has become a daily read for me, and I’ve learned much from the contributions here. That said, however, I did find some of what Todd S., the writer of “Long Term Situational Awareness Can Give You The Edge” to be both disturbing and impractical.
First, the disturbing part. What the writer does not plainly state, but what is clearly implied, is that when he decides that when a particular societal situation arises, and he wants food, he quite clearly plans to steal it from its rightful owners. Notice that he never explicitly states that he would steal the food. However, to cite one example (regarding the SYSCO truck filled with food), is he assuming the truck driver will be there with a cash register, ready to take a Mastercard and bag the groceries? Of course not. Nor would that be the case for any of the other examples he cites.
The fact is that looting is stealing, plain and simple. If you can spend the time and effort to scope out all the lootable food storage locations in your neighborhood, then you can spend the same time and effort to create your very own storable food depot in your basement. You don’t need to become a thief of someone else’s goods if you have your own.
Now, as for the second point — the impracticality of looting these locations. You may think that you are the only one who has noticed these storage facilities, but think again. The first people who are going to be heading there are the owners and employees; and these people also have the keys to the entryways, room doors, and padlocks. They will get there long before you do. And if one of them does happen to arrive, armed, while you are attempting to crowbar your way in, you will have a very ugly situation develop very fast
I know that JWR wrote in an epilog to this letter that these actions would be unconscionable in any situation other than a massive depopulation scenario. However, even in that case, how can you be certain that you know all the actual owners of this property, where they are located, and that they and all their heirs are dead?
Far better should you put yourself in a position of implementing a food storage program, with several caches at secret locations, which would carry your family through an extended problem scenario — than implementing a plan to loot others’ property while putting yourself in serious potential danger. – DP
James,
There are only two ways to look at Todd’s wargaming: Either he assumes the entire world is going to drop dead at the same time, leaving him free to mill around and take anything he wants, or he is well on his way to becoming a competent and dangerous thief/looter.
I was with him up through the abandoned Sysco truck. I lost him sometime around his cataloguing all of the areas cattle. Does he think the ranchers, their hired help, and their families won’t have an interest in these animals? So does he hope to hire out to these people, or rustle their stock?
Just because that contractor doesn’t have the means to store the large quantities of fuel at his house,, doesn’t mean he isn’t taking it from his yard a couple of hundred gallons at a time. That might be naive of him, but it doesn’t make Todd correct in taking it because he assumes it has been abandoned. Todd is liable to get himself shot or blown up by a booby trap. Contractors are generally resourceful. They work hard for what they have, and are going to be loathe to part with it.
God help all of us if preppers have to sink to the lowest common denominator. Todd’s letter starts him out close to it. Perhaps I’ve been going about this preparedness thing all wrong. Instead of saving, packing, stacking and storing,, I should just be making lists of everybody else who does.
Thank you for your work, – J.B.