SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Today, we focus on the Appalachians.
Consider the Appalachians
The latest from our friends Patrice and Don Lewis, over at the great Rural Revolution blog: Consider the Appalachians. Here is a quote from their essay:
“Yesterday Don stumbled upon what looked to be an academic paper published in a periodical called “Education and Culture,” Spring 2002. The paper is titled “Culture, Poverty and Education in Appalachian Kentucky.” Seldom have we read anything so breathtakingly condescending.
The Appalachian culture stretches back centuries. Ever since reading the Foxfire books 
But the author of this piece (Constance Elam) seems to think it an almost willful act of defiance that the Appalachian people like their culture and don’t want to alter, change, or leave it behind.
Dr. Elam writes: Appalachian Kentucky has a long history of poverty and subsistence living that has permeated the social structure and culture, including public education. Consequently, poverty has actually postponed or delayed the development of public education, as well as contributed to nonparticipation in the education system by much of the population well into the 20th century. … “Livin’s more important than schoolin'” is a powerful statement by one mountain woman that condenses a complex socio-economic situation into the priorities of mountain life.”
Chase Bank Slams Laura Loomer
Chase Bank Suspends Conservative Jewish Activist Laura Loomer From Her Online Banking Account
Expanding the NFA to Include ARs & AKs?
The latest legislative affront to our liberty, from the District of Criminals: ARs AKs & Precision Rifles To Be NFA Items Under HR1263.
An Eastern Oregon Ranch on SurvivalRealty
Here is a new listing over at SurvivalRealty (a blog spin-off, operated by my #1 Son): Remote, Yet Easily Accessible, Off-Grid. (A house on 149 acres, near Enterprise, Oregon.)
Are We on the Road to Collapse?
A BBC documentary asks: Are we on the road to Civilisation Collapse? Here is the opening of the fascinating article:
“Great civilisations are not murdered. Instead, they take their own lives.
This article is part of a new BBC Future series about the long view of humanity, which aims to stand back from the daily news cycle and widen the lens of our current place in time. Modern society is suffering from “temporal exhaustion”, the sociologist Elise Boulding once said. “If one is mentally out of breath all the time from dealing with the present, there is no energy left for imagining the future,” she wrote.
That’s why the Deep Civilisation season will explore what really matters in the broader arc of human history and what it means for us and our descendants.
So concluded the historian Arnold Toynbee in his 12-volume magnum opus A Study of History. It was an exploration of the rise and fall of 28 different civilisations.
He was right in some respects: civilisations are often responsible for their own decline. However, their self-destruction is usually assisted.
The Roman Empire, for example, was the victim of many ills including overexpansion, climatic change, environmental degradation and poor leadership. But it was also brought to its knees when Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410 and the Vandals in 455.
Collapse is often quick and greatness provides no immunity. The Roman Empire covered 4.4 million sq km (1.9 million sq miles) in 390. Five years later, it had plummeted to 2 million sq km (770,000 sq miles). By 476, the empire’s reach was zero.
Our deep past is marked by recurring failure. As part of my research at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, I am attempting to find out why collapse occurs through a historical autopsy. What can the rise and fall of historic civilisations tell us about our own? What are the forces that precipitate or delay a collapse? And do we see similar patterns today?”
BLK LBL Bipods
Ian McCollum mentioned this nifty product that he spotted at the recent SHOT Show: BLK LBL Bipods for AR-15s, AR-10s, and Ruger Precision bolt action rifles.
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BLK LBL tripods: Starting at only $500. I think not.
BLK LBL Bipods remind me of the integrated forestock built in bipod system on the Keltec SU-16 SA rifles. One big drawback I see is the exposed barrel when the bipod is deployed. I would like to see some sort of secondary cowling in the vacant recess when the bipod is deployed to give the shooter something to hold on to besides the naked barrel.
RE: the Appalachians, as a child of both camps I may have a somewhat different view than most.
My East Tennessee grandfather was a rural mail carrier on horseback, then bought the second auto in the mountain community. He also farmed, and during the Depression, bought up neighboring farms when they went bust, using his US Mail salary to do so. He raised ten kids, none of whom wanted to farm.
My Washington DC grandfather was a carpenter who had developed malaria in the Army in the Great War, and was invalided out of service without shipping overseas. His carpentry career was hit or miss, with recurring bouts of malaria, and he died relatively early, two weeks before I was born. His six kids made do, and all the boys learned carpentry skills that they kept as hobbies. Two of the boys joined the police force in DC. One joined the Marines.
So I grew up with a foot in each area, lived in both, and loved both. My parents were big on education, so I went to college in Tennessee, then into the Army for a career. Had two assignments each in Tennessee and DC, and on retirement, stayed in the DC area for another twenty years.
On retirement, however, we moved back to East Tennessee, buying a cabin on the lake and enjoying the slower paced lifestyle.
Both sets of cousins live reasonably comfortable lives, but the country cousins have a lot less stress.
There is poverty and crime in Appalachia, and you will be an outsider no matter how long you’ve lived there if you weren’t born there. However if you respect their way of life you will be welcome.
I have yet to find ANYONE say Laura Loomer’s account was suspended BECAUSE OF POLITICS.
Accounts can be suspended for many reasons including a lone SJW somewhere monkeywrenching the works (one in Amazon’s kindle section deleted Castalia House completely for almost a day!).
I’ll be the first to cut my Chase card in half with the rep listening (I did it to my Citi MC), WHEN THERE IS PROOF.
Have we too abandoned due process and have simply become a mirror of the leftist lynch mobs?
RE: HR.1263; this bill would BAN ALL SEMI-AUTOs that accept detachable magazines, not just the AR & AK. While it is still in it’s infancy stage, it is worth keeping an eye on. Of course HR.8 is expected to pass the House, and possible the Senate, as JWR pointed out a week or two ago.
Patriot nurse did a treatise on Appalachia, where she is from. She stated that it is strategically a good place to be. But she also stated that you basically better move your own community w you. Unless you are from Appalachia you are on your own. Residents don’t even accept folks from outside the county. Patriot nurse was quite clear that re-locating to Appalachia may not be the best idea
Oddly enough, being a Roman Catholic is very helpful if you move to Appalachia.
The sister of a New York friend did so – she moved to the eastern Kentucky mountains. On Sunday, she drove a good many miles to Mass at the nearest Catholic church.
She was greeted with joy. “You’re from New York? Wonderful! Would you like to join the X, Y or Z committees? We really need you here.”
There are so few Catholics in Appalachia, and anti-Catholicism (whore of Babylon style) is so normal, that Catholics who move there have an instant clan, and instant acceptance.
I now advise Catholics who live in my area of New York, and who are planning to move to the southern mountains, to make sure to move within reasonable distance of a Catholic church precisely so they will not be outsiders.
Anyone who reads or follows the news about all the horrors of sending children to public schools can see that the folks in Appalachia are correct to value learning from living life, and their elders rather than going to public school, which overall is a very bad influence on young impressionable children. Better to be taught at home and church than to be corrupted and ruined by public schooling.
http://www.christianstatesofamerica.net
Appalachia is beautiful. God’s country they say. There is so much pure unadultered land there. Treat the folks well, and you will be treated kindly in return. When I first began my project building a bunker, I considered that area of the country. Visited it to look at three plots of land. Ultimately decided it was not the right place for me. A lot had to do with if there was a disaster where I needed to get to my bunker quickly, long haul drives/roads would not be truthworthy and it’s just too far away from where I live. This summer I do plan to spend time there. Purchased a van 2 days ago and will be doing a solo cross country expedition again. It helps center me and find my peace. I will be driving days, spending the nights in the woods with a tent or in inclement weather, parking the van in a Walmart or other bright parking lot. There’s a sweet summer smell there I will never forget. Something very pure and special about that part of the US.