The Misunderstood World of Preppers

Up until a month ago, the term “prepper” was associated with an old man, usually white, usually a vocal gun owner, with a hidden survival bunker that some people thought was crazy. Well, as it turns out, those assumptions are (mostly) wrong.

Given the mass closures and mass panic associated with COVID19, many people are turning to prepper websites or prepper Facebook groups to try to learn basic survival skills. Through this, the collective identity of the prepper community is growing and changing.

Patrick Henry, writer at The Prepper Journal, said in an email, “Traffic [to the website] in March 2020 was 292% greater than the same period in 2019.”

One reason there is an increase in the prepper community is due to the psychological phenomenon known as “locus of control.” According to Psychology Today, locus of control refers to the aspects of one’s life they feel they can control. Because people have lost control due to the pandemic, they are searching to control the few aspects of their lives they can.

Some of these prepper sites may be doing more harm than good. Diane Vukovic, lead writer for primalsurvivor.net and author of “Disaster Preparedness for Women” who has been prepping for nearly 10 years now, said, “the prepper websites will often take on these kind of extreme viewpoints and extreme tones because it sells best, if you scare people with fear mongering about all the bad things, they're gonna buy whatever solution, you're selling them even if it's actually really impractical.”

In order to combat this, Henry said, “Advice I’d give would be to have multiple sources of information, and don’t rely on just one website or person for your prepping knowledge.”

For some, such as Vukovic, prepping can be “for the little emergencies like a power outage,” and most of the advice that she has given and received is “just common sense.”

As mentioned, the prepper stereotype is an image of bunkers, hoarding, and extremes. While some people do embody the extremist views of these preppers, people who consider themselves preppers do not fit into a single mold.

“The most extreme voices are the ones that are the loudest,” said Vukovic. She said it took her a long time to accept the prepper label, “I still didn't want to have that label, because it's too much associated with this craziness.”

Both Henry and Vukovic believe preppers to be much more widespread than is commonly portrayed, and to be made up of primarily rational people.

There does not seem to be an accurate number of people who consider themselves preppers in America. According to a 2017 article by Finder, they said 141 million Americans said they had survival items on hand or had recently purchased them. Another website, Survival Sullivan, says that there are 3.2 million preppers in America. A third site, 24/7 Wall St claims that there are 3.7 million American preppers.

There are a few potential reasons for these discrepancies. One reason could be due to an unclear definition of the term prepper. Vukovic said many millennials believe in community gardening, solar energy and fighting climate change, which are the same things that extreme preppers discuss. She said, “there's this complete overlap of ideals, especially when it comes to self-reliance, but the people who are doing these things just don't call themselves preppers because it's become such a nasty term.”

Another reason these numbers vary so wildly could be due to the fact that those who consider themselves preppers tend to be media shy. Henry said, “While there is certainly a segment of the prepper community that falls into that category, they are not the majority. Most people just want to be left alone.”

There’s also distrust in authority which psychology professor at the University of Minnesota Angus MacDonald III said, “it is a subculture that has not made itself accessible to scientists.”

When it comes to prepping itself, both Vukovic and Henry say it is a way to relieve anxiety, and being prepared is just common sense. “It doesn't get me down instead it actually uplifts me because I've got a plan in my head of what would happen if that scenario did occur, and I'm thinking how can I better prepare for that within reason,” said Vukovic.

MacDonald said that using prepping to alleviate anxiety is not inherently problematic but, “if that is your only technique for dealing with anxiety, then that's the point at which you should be reaching out and developing other skills and other coping mechanisms.”

Another aspect that makes prepping desirable is that there is a very strong sense of community associated with the practices and teachings.

“And that community, although it's a community about distrusting others does reinforce itself, both in terms of ideas about the ways in which things can go wrong or will go wrong or the inevitability of that, but also what to do about it, how to prepare,” said MacDonald.

In terms of community, Henry said, “Most preppers, though not all, have a network of friends, whether local/physically close, or virtual. While the idea of the ‘lone wolf’ survivalist can still be strong in some segments, most preppers realize going in it alone isn’t feasible in the long run.

Vukovic finds a lot of these people in Facebook groups, she said, “my tribe of people, I actually don't know them. These are people in communities, but yes a good portion of them do not call themselves preppers. They are the people who are talking about different gardening systems and solar panels and, you know, different sorts of crafts.” She said that she has learned a lot through hikers as well, and said even though few call themselves preppers, they all tend to have a prepper mentality.

Henry had a couple of suggestions for beginners. He said it’s important to print out information should the internet stop working, and to “practice the knowledge you learn.”

Vukovic said many people who want to start prepping tend to either find extreme websites, or look to FEMA or Red Cross whose information is too simple. She said, “And I think a lot of that paralyzes people, so it's like alright I'll get some extra canned foods and that's good enough, where there really needs to be this kind of middle ground like here are the basic things you can do, and how to build on those.”

About preppers and the community in general, Henry said, “They’re just like you and me, except they take the idea of having a disaster plan seriously. You wear a seatbelt not because you distrust your own driving, but because of the unknown elk in the road or another driver who gets distracted, is drunk or is just a crappy driver. You may never need that seatbelt, but having it on increases your ability to survive that unexpected event. Same with prepping.”