Prepper, what in the world, is it painful?

  I struggle with the word "Prepper", I don't know what it really means, or how to narrowly define it, or if it's even possible. It's a broad brush and is not clearly defined, in this article I am asking you for help, you tell me what it means. 

  I may be stepping on thin ice with this article, I certainly hope not as I am not a confrontational person. I won't reveal what website I was on that inspired me to answer the monitor's honest question in a post. To paraphrase the gist of the question was that he is trying to attract more members, he has several thousand which I believe is pretty good, he is wondering why more people are not joining. The site is on "Prepping", and that word is the main part of the title of his opinion site. He left links to his "wiki" which is a definition of what the site is about and what sort of articles he will accept. He does an excellent job monitoring his site, I for one appreciate it. He included a number of pages describing the site and what the requirements are, to enable anyone wanting to comment on them the opportunity to do so. It takes a lot of courage to post a question like that, it basically says I need to change it and I don't know how. It just so happens I have been thinking about this exact question for a long time, it was one of those 3 am thoughts we all have. I answered in his comment section, I have included it in this article and I would like as much feedback as possible, it may seem like a small thing to a lot of people but it is big in the Natural Disaster Survival niches. I attempted to strike a positive helpful post, I have a problem with the word "Prepper", I suspect you will as well after you have read what I have to say.

                       I have eliminated the word Prepper from my writings, yes my youtube channels, blog post, and my entire online appearance is based on being prepared, of which the word prepper is derived but as usual, I have another way of thinking about it. I have defined my online identities the same on all platforms and that is based on three tenets: 1) Self-reliance 2) Self-awareness and 3) Personal responsibility, all of my articles, are based on these as well. I am an advocate of preparing to the point of being set up to help people in need, I want to be a responder versus a "victim", "refugee" or "survivor", it's most likely my ego driving that. I'm not going anywhere if there is an event unfolding, and I'm not turning anyone away. I am prepared for one week, 7 days, and that is what I present to my clients, customers, and family. I attempt to relate to an audience a lot of people do not understand why I do but it makes sense to me. My goal is to inspire Ladies in the age span of 25 to 55, single mothers and older ladies who really do need to be set up for a 7 day period. I am not a fear monger, after all, there is nothing to be afraid of, especially if a person has a plan and supplies to enable them to react to an event, in a planned, organized manner. That's where my issue with the word prepper originates, it covers too much ground, everything from having an auto breakdown kit in the car to having a fully supplied bunker somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It's very confusing to people, as it is to me, and it is up to us as webmasters, monitors, and YouTubers to define our site's position of where we stand and what you can expect when you tune in. Two types of people that have defined themselves perfectly, in my opinion, are "Homesteaders", and "Bushcrafters", they know what they are about, now it's up to us within the "Survival" niches to define ours. I am asking for as many comments as I can gather together to answer what the word prepper means to you, it doesn't matter if you are not one and have no desire of ever being one, I welcome your opinion, I am concerned we scare people away, when in fact in my case I'm here to help. Below is my comment to the monitor, he did thank me for my input, I would like to continue working on it with him if he is open to it.               

                      Following is my comment on the monitor's post:

  I write a blog every other day, it's subject matter is self-reliance, self-awareness, and personal responsibility. I also have a website dealing with the same subjects. I have a lot of opinions on your question but I will address one in this post. If I use the word "Prepper" in an article, no one reads it, why? It's my opinion the definition is so floppy it means different things to everyone. Some people (and what I am an advocate of) is to attempt to encourage people to be prepared for the first week after a natural disaster. Others advocate leaving their homes with an arsenal and "holing up" at some distant place in the wilderness.

  I have read the first part of the wiki and it is exasperating this opinion, one of the reasons I stopped using many words one of which is "Prepper", Questions come to my mind such as *are you a militant? Or a family trying to protect themselves? What about the insanity of leaving your house, your chances of becoming a refugee are compounded when that action is taken. Where are you going? Do we realize how big of an event must occur to justify hiding out somewhere? When I see refugees on TV I wonder why they didn't stay and fight for their homes versus running off? A lot of people see preppers as abandoning their friends, families, and communities, then expecting to return when someone else fixes the mess. To compound that most events are localized in a relatively small area, how many people for example "bugged" out during the Detroit Riots in the 1960's, or the civil unrest in the Midwest during the "Black Lives Matter" demonstrations? How many people showed up to support the Bundy's standoff in Oregon, how many understood what it was about? (Socialism) Think about Ruby Ridge, and Waco, how many showed up to help in those cases? None, no one showed up, the commitment appears to be hollow.

  My question is "where does your preppers site dwell?" It's confusing, appearing to attempt to cover a lot of area with one broad stroke, It appears to me you are trying to please everyone, you won't. When reading over the submissions one is able to see the confusion, some ask "where do I start?" others "where should I bug out to?" "What weapons are best to have when bugging out?" Some answers are long and drawn out, some accurate some not, many are open-ended with no answer possible.

  When in fact we are attempting to sell a lifestyle that frankly doesn't make sense to a lot of people because they don't know what the word "Prepper" means, I don't either that's why I abandoned the word. Do you find yourself explaining to people what you are not most of the time versus what you are? I do, once I tell them I advocate having enough stores to make it the first week after an event they understand, but up to that point, the general thought is I am a right-wing militant which could not be further from the truth in my case.

  The person writing the new wiki description would have to compile some sort of consensus of opinion as to what level of "Prepping" this site will address and become an advocate of that. Not to condemn the others but concentrate on the fundamentals of which level this site is addressing. It will be a long journey for the person trying to define this site if it needs to be changed at all, and that's where it should begin, does it need to be changed? If it does it can be done in a number of ways, or continue on the same path not changing anything. Perhaps a consensus of members and non-members as well should be taken to more understand how people generally understand what the word "Prepper" means. (Follow this link to one definition of the word)

  Your question is one I have been thinking about for about two years, and I cannot answer it other than with what I have stated. I don't feel as if I could have written a better description than the person that has written the existing one. It doesn't take much research to discover which other words and phrases we use are complete turnoffs to the same people we are attempting to encourage to become prepared for events. When I look through G+ I see sites with 10,000 plus members, when I look at the sites labeling preparedness in their title I mostly see less than 100 members. If we look around it is common on every platform I have looked at, few people read "Prepper" blogs. (I stopped using the word blog as well, people don't read blogs either.)

  This is my opinion, I may be right, wrong, or indifferent but I have thought about it a lot. I believe starting by defining the word "Prepper" as it relates to your site is the place to begin, I would drop the word Prepper, but that has it's problems as well, is there another word? Is this site advocating being prepared for one week, or eternity? That is the question to answer in order to make more sense of the word "Prepper" and what your site stands for.

  I would like to know if this is a fair comment, thanks for reading it.

  So there it is, I am experiencing the same situation with my youtube channels, the name of it is "emergencykitsplus", it is not descriptive at all and it needs to be fixed. This is a good niche, however, it has gone off the tracks a bit and I believe it's due to trying to pack all aspects of preparing for natural and man-made events into one box and painting it with a broad brush. We need to define the word and stop using it as a "catch-all", but like I asked, "is there a better, more descriptive word to use?"

  Thanks for reading and hopefully sharing this article, a comment on your definition of the word "Prepper" is highly appreciated, what does it conjure up in your mind? Is it negative, positive, or something that just couldn't matter less to you? Thanks again I appreciate you reading and commenting.



jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com