Neutrality for the sake of survival and how to manage the full spectrum of ideologies

Watchtower - March 24, 2024

Scenarios

First most, politics are not allowed.

It’s very clear that society for Americans is rapidly transforming due to several factors and people are largely polarized in what they believe, how they choose to exist and what they expect others to be like in terms of their own beliefs.  

In terms of prepping and long term survival from a SHTF event that could play out for the medium to long term changing society as we know it today,

What are people doing to prepare in terms of which side you may be on when things go bad?

Do you find yourself welcoming to all type of beliefs and ideologies?

Do you hold strong opinion and are more narrowly focused in an ideology?

Do you find it dangerous to be around certain types of ideologies more than other types?

Are you concerned about being subjected to aggressive type ideologies (cults, criminals, hordes) or even passive type ideologies (hippy, no-violence, share-the-wealth types) compromising your safety and survival during troubled times?

Do you just plan to go it solo or work with a small group of folks knowing that strength in numbers can also backfire at a certain point?

Please share your thoughts, you don’t have to answer any specific question from above. 

-Watchtower

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This is certainly a tough question. One thing I’ve done in the past is make it clear that I don’t want to talk politics/etc with some friends I get along with fine but know share radically different values on some subjects than I do. If anything gets mentioned by them, I smile, DO NOT ENGAGE, and change the subject. Most of them are smart enough to catch the drift and move on. In a tight-knit survival-ish situation, some of these friends could be useful to work with, but also we’ll hopefully be busy enough working on staying alive to manage to avoid more talks like that. 

 

My take on is that politics or religious beliefs may be the cause of a war/revolution/schism but that is the way it’s always been. I prefer not to participate but to watch from a safe distance. I’m not religious or politically active and hold no strong views. I follow the mantra of enlightened self interest, outwardly respectful of authority while quietly doing my own thing.

 

I’m brand new here, but it’s so ironic that I came across this post. I had this discussion with some of my staff last week!

The best way to answer these is to determine the largest defining factor.

Where do you live?

I believe the smaller your community (think rural farm town), the more likely those community members are to have a more open mind about opposing politics and religion. In a time of societal “shift” or collapse, the common threads of that town will hold it together significantly better than other places. Small towns become families in many ways, including infighting. But, an outward threat would quickly unite them. 

In a larger city, there is too much anonymity to hold a cohesive unit with your neighbors. People would be much more likely to seek out others who think the same as them, and then create their communities inside of others. 

In my town, there are increasingly open conversations about what the near future may hold; and those conversations have taken place on both sides of the aisle. We all agree that outsiders who would mine our town for our resources are the greatest threat to our safety and security. We saw it during COVID and the great gas panic of 2019. City dwellers were driving to surrounding rural towns and emptying them out. Our County Judge ended up signing an executive order that required a local address (verified via Drivers’ License) in order to purchase certain supplies and food. While that sounds very big brother, remember that rural communities are at the end of supply chains. For example, Exxon gas might delivered 4 days a week to stations in Austin, but in my town, it might be once every other week. Our local leaders couldn’t let the people starve because of the greed of others who weren’t prepared. 

We recognized Preparedness Month last month, and our local churches have been pushing out information.

I think our last step in my town is