I’ve been interested in this whole prepping thing for the past couple of years, and I noticed something: A lot of people seem to look down on it. The words “prepper” and “prepping” sometimes get negative reactions, and it got me wondering–why’s that?
It feels like some people see preppers as paranoid conspiracy theorists or just plain weird. But when you think about it, there are a ton of reasons to prep, like natural disasters (earthquakes, storms) or a bad economy. Prepping doesn’t necessarily equate to being a bunker-dwelling hermit, right?
What do you guys think? Why do you reckon “prepper” and “prepping” get a bad rap? Is it just how the media paints it, or is it something else? Any of you gotten weird looks or comments? How do you deal with it? And do you think folks are seeing preppers differently now with all the stuff going on in the world these days?
I think you’re running into an issue where the media absolutely loves extremes and this hobby/lifestyle tends to breed them. There are plenty of preppers who absolutely fit the stereotype that most people have of prepping, and any exposure the community gets isn’t going to be given to the nice folks who just have a few jugs of water and a shelf full of canned garden veg in their basement, it’s gonna go to the raging white nationalist who has a minigun and is sure that Jewish people are actually aliens sent here to harvest our thoughts. This creates a feedback loop where prepping means “crazy white nationalists with several guns for each hand”, so crazy white nationalists who like guns pour into the community until they eventually take it over.
I think that you’ll notice the same ideals without the implication of violent right-wing psychopaths if you start investigating homesteading, self-sufficiency, community organization movements, first aid and things like that. We exist, but the word “prepper” is lost to us at the moment.