Why Americans are Prepping for Society's Collapse

I don't really care what the trigger event is it could be a pandemic could be the grid goes down an asteroid could hit this is a doomsday prepper showing me one of his secret locations made to survive society's collapse I don't care if Mother Teresa is out there with free orphans we will not give food to anyone prepping began in the 1950s driven by fears of nuclear collapse leading many Americans to build Fallout shelters and it's evolved over time but since 2017 the number of Preppers has doubled due to growing tensions in politics economy and

environment so I wanted to spend the day with the Mastermind behind the survival Community to understand are Preppers just radical far-right conspiracy theorists is America in society headed for collapse or is it just fearmongering the biggest threat it's artificial intelligence this technology is going to kill most of mankind and might destroy the planet and if Society collapses how afraid should we be all I going in was the show Doomsday Preppers and so that's honestly what I was expecting first R of prepping by the way is don't tell anyone your our location is confidential it's kind

of like Fight Club in a way it's exactly it's exactly that way so you're saying this is like the tallest log Watchtower you said tallest log building period in the world in the world do you want to strap up now yeah let's do it strap me up so is this like uh rule number one is always be strapped here well in a collapse it absolutely is if if there's a Marauder group they're not just going to come blundering in and attack you they're going to look at you they're going to send out observers they're going

to spy on you we want him to decide no way in hell do we want to attack these guys so he showed me around the tower from their rooms to how it was built and now brought me up to the top to see how they can see threats for miles away this deck is Plastic Lumber it'll Flex don't feel like you're going to fall so how many acres uh we have 26 Acres 2 yeah RV area there see a giant tank there that's a th000 gon propane tag you don't normally see him that big and

that puppy is always topped off cuz that's our propane generator Mara group could come through here so we got a Guard Station over there pointing at that so you'll see later on from their weapons to their food it was clearly well thought out but I was still curious because what were they exactly prepping for Wow you went to Harvard yeah Harvard I saw your video on Harvard I'm an analyst I was in the intelligence field as an the Air Force and so I've studied threats and that's why I'm a prepper no one can study crisper

and biotechnology or artificial intelligence and come to any conclusion except that this technology is going to kill most of mankind and might destroy the planet it will eventually it's inevitable so what do you think is the most likely outcome we don't we call it a trigger event I don't really care what the trigger event is it could be a pandemic could be the grid goes down an asteroid could hit throw up block out the clouds and the biggest threat it's artificial intelligence the threat of artificial intelligence is not bad computers and bad robots the threat

of artificial intelligence is bad people what if you're some religious fanatic and think that we need or you're a biologist who thinks that there's too many people I'm going to design a virus or design a nanotechnology disaster to kill off almost all the people and now I've saved the planet interesting even crappy North Korea with their crappy little nuclear force can destroy the O electric grid whenever they want and when our grid goes down you lose Municipal Water Systems the economy won't function our military doesn't function either so that's how you destroy the United States

as you do an attack on our electric grid and when that happens it's game over well Preppers know that and that's why Preppers follow first world prepping is don't time when your prepper cuz they don't want people to know that hey I got a basement full of stuff um so for rch we are the nation's probably the world's largest recreational and survival community and we have both so when you come here in Good Times you vacation but in bad times we turn into survival community and our members know that it remains to be seen whether

this whole world-ending thing is valid and whether you and I should be doing something to prepare because every day we hear all these different ways in which the world is going to go to [ __ ] whether that's something out of her control like a pandemic or a disaster to an allout War you must stay at home riots breaking out in city after City Vladimir Putin is not joking but what's interesting is that people with probably the most exclusive access to what's going on in the world have now started to prep over the last few

years Tech billionaires are buying Up luxury bunkers in military security to survive a societal collapse like Mark Zuckerberg literally just bought a $270 million private bunker in Hawaii is there something that Mark Zuckerberg seems to know that we don't and it's not just him people like Shaq Kim kashian Tom Cruz are installing private bunkers inside of their own homes as well as Tech investors like Peter theel are getting passports in other countries like New Zealand to build bunkers there it's some pretty big holes in Colorado and there's a lot of bunkers in New Zealand too

that are owned by billionaires and it's one of the reasons why I wanted to make this video because if billionaires and preppers are becoming the same are we The Crazy Ones for not preparing for the worst because take a look at this for example I am preparing for a worldwide pandemic this video of a pandemic prepper was filmed 12 years ago and if you look at the comments literally everyone is calling her a Karen but now she's probably laughing her ass off in her bunker so I wanted to confront him on what he knows that

we don't and see exactly what and how they were preparing for because as the saying goes are you crazy until you're not so we'll get into it and first I've been wanting to tell you about this upcoming event in which you can compete for a million dollar all you have to do is download and play my Vegas slots for a chance to win a trip for you and a plus one to the Bahamas and a seat at the my VIP World Tournament of slots and as a sponsor of this video it's happening this October 24th

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players by using my link in description for your chance to win and enter this tournament now back to the video so no air conditioning in here but you can feel the difference when you go underground what's your best weapon that that you you personally like shooting the most uh it would probably be this this is the long sniper S I mean for for close in I still I'll still take a 12 gauge shotgun if it's close in I'd rather have a 12 gauge pump uh the AR is a great weapon but um this thing makes

a lot a lot of power behind it it's a lot harder to miss so we've got you know steel helmets for guards the night vision equipment so at night if a deer is coming into our garden to eat we obviously want to shoot that deer we can't can't shoot with the rifle that's going to scare members wake them up and they're going to you know we'll have an injury potentially rushing to defend ourselves that's what we got crossbows uh so we can shoot the deer with that uh this is a radiation detector these are very

important I said we have two of these at every location cuz you can't afford to be without a radiation detector but the main thing we stockpile are are rice uh wheat berries it's basically wheat that you grind up into the flour uh pinto beans and rice again it's all about calories so if you step in here more wow a lot more food storage there go there toilet paper that might be the currency of the future I want to make it absolutely clear we do not promise a year of toilet paper I mean if you saw

Co that that was a currency vitamins that's another important thing to stockpile is vitamins and then we have a variety of food so there's some fun stuff you got to have a lot of salt there is a little bit of coffee we don't rely on electricity we've got wood stoves so you can run this on a wood stove all the time I'm curious I'm sure you've gone and called this many many times a conspiracy theorist does that affect you anymore or did it early no that that doesn't have anything do with purpose there are some

people who you know think that well I'll give you that you know FEMA wants to do concentration camps I've heard that rumor before what is a like FEMA FEMA Federal Emergency Management Association uh some people say oh FEMA that wants to do concentration camps and and that's just nonsense you know we've got real threats to worry about uh FEMA is not our enemy they're not going to be able to help us so remember Hurricane Katrina yeah so Katrina FEMA was in charge of the relief efforts there and they did a pretty bad job do you

realize that most US states sent guard troops to help in the Katrina recovery effort it was just one little localized area and a collapse everyone's and you know when the grid goes down across the US everyone's in trouble and the other thing is nowadays there's so much more interest in marauding whether it's due to walking dead or or what the reason there's just so much more interest in is Maring another example is flash mobs I should have mentioned that earlier those things happen more and more well it happens all the time in California the Home

Depot thing yeah where these mobs go in the luxury stores too yeah Nordstroms whatever it was quite a few of them there's so much more of that that Americans are just getting more and more trained to marod and so there seems to be many ways that Society could collapse from the electrical grid to the political divide but before we went to the shooting range he wanted to show me how people were going to live in this survival community so this is a luxury room here a toilet right next to the bedroom this is yeah it's

well it's a private room this is their private toilet their private sink so this is an older couple but this is their stuff so most of our members will do this we have food that we stockpile but you know they want more toilet paper so they brought more toilet paper they stockpile food cuz a lot of our members are Preppers before they join so they've already got stuff is there like a common profile of people that are are like your clients like they tend to lean Left Right have certain interests they do tend to be

libertarian Libertarians understand that the government isn't going to be able to protect you in a collapse Democrats tend to believe that the government will take care of you and the Democratic party wants people to believe that they want a dependent population they love welfare programs they love social programs look at Bernie Sanders he would have he's a socialist so if you believe the government's going to take care of you why would you prepare so you guys always have like guns placed strategically anywhere again every member has to have a weapon and most people have a

rifle and a pistol now this is again this is not normal this is a really large uh luxury room most of our rooms are quite a bit smaller than this these are shelf stable meal bars they're not they're not good I don't think anything that's that's considered food that looks like this could be good in a collapse when you're starving to death you'll be you'll think it's the it it's basically it's a lot like a sea ration from World War II you know it's it's grain and stuff compacted together very very dense you're trying to

get as many calories as you can is like in it or no it's not meat well I'll tell you sugar wheat flour palm shortening corn starch yeah this is carbs this is calories this is calories to keep you alive so this is our this is our kitchen so wood stoves got the pipes over here this is our wood stove here yeah I guess how's food going to be is are you just going to be hunting the animals that are here absolutely they're hunting everything that moves so yeah know snakes will eat snakes damn uh wild

boar a lot of wild boar is good now if it's an old meal I'm not going to eat that for people but we're certainly going to make dog food out of it our our guard dogs will eat it they look very distr uh these are Dorper meat sheep so you don't grow these sheep for wool you grow them strictly for meat and they can reproduce fairly quickly they're really good survival sheep did they taste good I think so oh my god oh [ __ ] so as I mentioned earlier billionaires are now starting to prep

but that still doesn't account for why the number of Preppers has literally double over the last seven years and what it's done is that it's changed the face of the typical prepper from what it used to be because let's be real you thought of a certain profile when you clicked on this video or or thought of a prepper right I mean I did because what's been most interesting is that more minorities people considered left of Center politically have now begun to prep and I think a big part of this has been the diversity and inclusion

programs like queers for prepping that that really got a lot of people into it I'm I'm kidding I'm kidding bad joke bad joke but in all seriousness it makes sense whether it be in the past like Hurricane Katrina to the 2008 Global financial crisis to the more recent examples like the pandemic people in our generation have seen a lot of major institutions fail as well as systems and I think what people no matter what side of the political aisle or how rich you are are realizing is that when [ __ ] hits the fan it

will impact everyone and it makes sense why there's a demand for survival Community like this but whether it be investing in your own bunker or buying into one one other Trend that has been interesting to see has been the increase in gun sales they saw 30% more gun sales last month than the previous like even my pops who's round six and never really shot guns throughout his life at all has recently bought a gun just a few years ago because of the uncertainty and a lot of the political divide and so I was curious to

see how these guys preed with guns and what will probably be the most important tool if things go to [ __ ] I was in the Marine Corps for for 15 years as a military policeman you know I I was looking for a community to be a part of because I had been part of one when I was in the military and then I found uh Drew while I was searching online and then found out that he actually hires people who are veterans so I came out here I've been out here for two years now

all right then let's do a let's do a bet who can get a bullseye uho it's a lot it's a lot louder than I thought yeah so aren't you glad you uh oh my God the F the first bullet like caught me off guard so grab onto this pull it back all the way now it should have put a round in the chamber there's the safety right there so just when you're ready once you get yourself on target put it on fire it's not going to [ __ ] up my cheek is no no no

you'll be surprised it's not uh super powerful is it what you expected yeah it is okay wow that was awesome can I ask you a serious scenario that could happen like let's if so say ship goes to fan and you know you guys have everything PR perimeter secured and a wife or like a like a mom and like a daughter comes walking up asking you guys for like help would you guys be merciful in that would you take the shot maybe people could band together and consider you know making a care package for them or

something but I I would have to be like look you we're being extremely generous doing this but you you you have to move on from this you can't on us yeah uh we will not give food to anyone I don't care if Mother Teresa is out there with three orphans we will not give her any food and the reason is I don't know how long a collapse is going to last I got a contract a promise to my members to keep them alive and we're focused on that if I give away any kind of food

and the collapse lasts longer and our members now start starving to death that's on me so we have a absolute policy only members can be here in a collapse we don't give away anything How about if it was like your family and friends but didn't join how would you treat that I I would give some of my personal things to them but I would I would tell them you you knew it's not like I didn't tell you it's not like you didn't know I I'm I'm sorry but you know you have to do your do

your thing you know keep keep the gun pointed out yeah so keep it put it down there you just sit it down make sure you put it back on safe safety hey look look look yeah you got okay I got I got one head shot and then you were off a little bit oh my God I wasn't even close o I feel like I just completely missed also is it better to go like this like uh yeah I usually CL close one don't look at the Target focus on this while you're pulling the trigger did

I get a bull side you got to you got to catch up man although I although I fire like 20 bullets so yeah looks like you oh look at that you hit the dirt once but then you ended up with the first bullseye of the day so let's go there you go let's go I mean I have to be like honest too cuz like everything that you guys have shown me today you know and and we're about to get into I feel like very unprepared I mean I've realized that right yes and and I knew

that going into this too but do you feel like in a way a lot of like modern humans have been kind of Stripped Away or not not prioritized being prepared when kind of like that line of civilization could also just be chopped off very very quickly there's such a Reliance on on everybody else you know there's a my my Plumbing is going out there's a guy to take care of that I I don't want to go to Burger King and get a hamburger the guy will bring it to me and I think what I've realized

is that as a modern man man we do not know how to do jack [ __ ] the modern man today can order food find love learn information be entertained all on a phone all while taking a [ __ ] and in many ways I'm no better right I live right in the city where I have access to a Target or a Whole Foods and literally anything from what I wipe my ass with to the 20,000 different brands of cereal and chips right at my disposal but hey your boy can shoot them so as a

modern humans we've lost this need for survival skills as we become more more disconnected from how we get our food water to different products but at the same time I can't help but think that this Obsession or in some instances hope that the world ends is even realistic or is it more so like this part of human nature to want to appease this discomfort that we have with death and what I mean by this is because there's been predictions before right from the Millennium apocalypse in year a000 to Y2K in 2000 to the Mayan apocalypse

more recently in 2012 and none of this obviously happened but these also won't be the last but that's not the only evidence for it right like we're fascinated with this concept of the world ending whether it's the amount of views these sorts of Bunker videos get to Media like The Walking Dead to I Am Legend and now which you know very much well this could happen the theory that AI is going to replace us all and so I'll be curious to know what you guys think in the comments but I I at least was starting

to view prepping way differently than when I came into it but now I wanted to really challenge him because is all this necessary or is all of this about profiting off of people's fears my job is I need I need to know what's happening and if I see something coming I can contact my people directly if you guys live in that area and you're you have to evacuate you could come here I see so in a way like when things and Trends and incidents happen it's kind of like a good marketing push for you guys

is that fair to say it is that sounds a little bit like predatory like if I frame it that way but so it's this is a form of insurance this is just a life insurance for if all if everything else totally collapses anyone can have a situation where you become a Marauder if you're starving to death and Military people see that we recognize it but Preppers in general they're people who are realists and they recognize that when Law and Order vanishes and it can vanish easily people are going to do bad things to stay alive

and we saw that in the United States over the past several years people say it was the covid pandemic it really wasn't Co it was more Portland places where they saw rioting going on and police lost control all it takes in any City you name the city I don't care how great your police force is how well behaved they are if hundreds to a thousand people decide to go out looting you cannot stop them I think the biggest theme is that you guys all kind of distrust the government uh or else you wouldn't be prepping

right it's not just the government but the government can't help us all in in a thing so I mean the government can't can't take care of all of us and in every situation so it's it's just kind of you know the police and the National Guard their top priority is protect the government or protect the city officials so they now have to assign more policemen for protecting the government so the first thing that happens in a collapse is your Threat Level goes up people are out looting and marauding and the number of policemen available to

protect you goes down so whether you or a prepper believes that society's collapse is going to come down to a new pandemic the electric grid failing or a Civil War I think there's one thing in common in the book tribe by SA fashion Jer a former War correspondent explains this perfectly in his book he explores how Modern Life despite its comfort and stability has led to feelings of isolation depression and a lack of meaning but during moments of great instability hardship and crisis like war or a disaster what he found is that people acted differently

an example right after 9/11 he found that people from all backgrounds surprisingly found solidarity in a great sense of purpose 400,000 volunteers participated in the rescue and Recovery 500,000 units of blood were donated and over $2 billion was contributed to Charities and what Jer found is that just how people have an instinct to survive they also have an instinct to bond and cooperate as a tribe during times of stress and hardship I know you mentioned mental health as like a prity when [ __ ] does go down do you feel like a lot of members

actually might actually be happier than they were before in the sense that they have a sense of purpose they're out in nature what do you think about that the biggest problem is that you know not everyone you know is going to be protected so you're going to be upset by you know other family members and friends who aren't going to make it through a collapse you'll get to make some pretty good friends during a collapse and you may want to go back together and maybe you know work together cooperate so this shows the Hard Times

bring people together but there's a catch cuz if there's a tribe that must mean that there's other tribes and more likely another enemy because at the same time there was solidarity amongst many Americans there was also a 1700% increase in hate crimes where not only innocent Muslims were targeted but also anyone perceived to be Middle Eastern or South Asian balbeer sing sodi was one such innocent man though he wasn't even Muslim but a seik but he was shot and killed outside a gas station and what I realize is as much as I love to believe

that when Law and Order breaks down that we as humans will band together it's more likely that it will be more in the form of smaller tribes that people create for community and to ensure survival and often times this common enemy will be used and even needed to create a greater sense of this community and overall purpose so I think what this says is that in order for us to achieve world peace as humans we're going to need like an alien invade us because as much as I love to believe that humans are fundamentally good

maybe the truth is is that we're more so selfish and that when it comes to survival selfish things might be done in order to survive and if anyone watching at this point can agree is that what the show Doomsday Preppers got wrong is that may maybe these Preppers aren't really as crazy as they may seem and at the very least it probably can't hurt for all of us to prepare in some way and just like we do with all the topics in our channel is that unless we go and talk to these people that we

may write off as crazy will only ever see the world through the media's lens that they create for you because remember not everything is the end of the world and not everyone is as crazy as they seem and so don't click off yet because you can now click the link in description to learn more about how we can start taking the next step of leading the future of Journalism together but if you want to support another way you can subscribe to our free Weekly Newsletter where we deliver you that one big story that you need

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