Paranoia vs Preparedness

Maybe I'm alone in this, but maybe not. Where is the fine line between being prepared and being paranoid? With the UN treaty vote coming up, many people are saying the blue-helmets will be invading any time now and all of our firearms will be taken by force. The Mayan's said the world is ending in December and people are stocking up on supplies (food, water, ammo, etc.). I want to be prepared for a disaster of any type, but I'm trying to do so without putting on my tinfoil hat. Do I buy hundreds of dollars worth of food and water supplies? Part of me says there's no way anyone would dare invade the US and another part of me says to watch out! I've already got the firearms and ammo preparation covered (or at least I hope).

So am I being paranoid, or should I keep preparing for Armageddon?

What about you???

If the world is ending why would we need to stock up on anything?

" ...many people are saying the blue-helmets will be invading any time now and all of our firearms will be taken by force."

Not really very many and almost all are fringe and just fear mongering. Same bunch that claimed Pres. Obama was going to put us all in FEMA camps.

It does seem to be a fine line but there's nothing paranoid about being prepared. I doubt the world is ending in December but any natural disaster or similar can easily cause a food shortage or rioting, etc. Look at what Katrina did to New Orleans.

I've been hungry and I don't like it one bit! So I keep a few months worth of food on hand along with plenty of water, and ammuntion to keep anyone from taking it. People will kill their own mother if they get hungry enough, it's a pretty harsh transformation of priority.

better to 'have not need' than the other way around, but I leave the tinfoil hats to the crazies.

Rice and other grains, canned goods, salt, vitamins other dry stuffs are excellent and cheap to stock up on and can feed you for a long time.

i get paranoid when i'm not well prepared.

First, please stop talking about the UN small arms treaty. The treaty working group is prohibited by the charging document from getting involved in the internal affairs of and transfers within a sovereign. The treaty, if it ever gets written, will restrict sales and transfers of weapons across national borders ONLY, as specifically the illicit production and movement of arms and ammo (specifically into war zones and places where the weapons are being used to violate human rights.)
http://www.poa-iss.org/poa/poahtml.aspx

As to paranoia, it's always a wise choice to keep a few days of food on hand, but if our government or society collapses, you can't be prepared enough if you live in a city. The best course of action is to prepare for what you can, and accept that there is always a chance of an errant asteroid, space invasion, cataclysmic earthquake, or inability to flush (and few of us city dwellers could function very long without running water).

Be prepared because being prepared is the smart thing to do. Being prepared because you think the U.N. is going to invade in the immediate future is paranoia. Keeping an eye on the current firearms treaty because there's always a chance they could sneak in something dastardly is smart.

Just Prepare

OK, so I have had this conversation with everyone I come in contact with. I will remind all of you about Katrina. Look no further than this utter mess for your answers! You cannot depend on our government to take care of you in any emergency! They had fubar after fubar; they forced people to leave their homes and took their guns from them all in the name of helping them. I think it’s your responsibility to feed yourself and family, NOT an option! Let’s say you don’t need the items you stocked up on? Great we are all happy. IF there is ever a economic crash, hyper inflation happens, you have food and water stored. You always keep it rotated and stocked. What is the worse that can happen?

Now if something happens? Natural or other? You are prepared you don’t have to count on others to feed or defend your family. However if you did not? I guess you will join all the others and start robbing each other to survive? I see NO CHOICE HERE. Just stock up, provide for yourself and those you love. Don’t be a drain on a defective government system. Just my .02 cents.

I can only hope that the UN or some treaty gets written so that the American people will have hard undisputable evidence of our politicians who are willing to flush our constitution down the toilet .. it will flush these people out and expose them

for me, i am preparing for paranoid people that aren't prepared that will cause the mass pandemonium i will have to protect myself from. Self inflicted hysteria from the sheeple basically.

as far as the government, id rather be prepared and resist/fight back if reality sets in and speculations actually come true. i do not want to be caught with my pants down unable to keep my freedom from tyranny. This doesnt mean i woulst start anything but will standup for the constitution.

Being prepared,,, is watchin' your 6 as much as possible.

Being paranoid,,, is *Thinkin'* someone ELSE is watchin' it ALL of the time,,,

Just because you're paranoid ,,,DOESN'T mean that **THEY** are after you ! :shocker:

Be prepared,,, carry as MANY Mags as you want, so just in case that ***THEY *** ARE after you, you'll have a fightin' chance ! :monkey

well,,,

McX said:

i get paranoid when i'm not well prepared.

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I am paraniod,,, therefor I have prepared....

I always keep at least two months of food in my house.
And two years of ammo.
My front yard beach will provide unlimited years of clams and oysters,
water in streams up the hill will last forever.

Outdoorsman said:

Maybe I'm alone in this, but maybe not. Where is the fine line between being prepared and being paranoid? With the UN treaty vote coming up, many people are saying the blue-helmets will be invading any time now and all of our firearms will be taken by force. The Mayan's said the world is ending in December and people are stocking up on supplies (food, water, ammo, etc.). I want to be prepared for a disaster of any type, but I'm trying to do so without putting on my tinfoil hat. Do I buy hundreds of dollars worth of food and water supplies? Part of me says there's no way anyone would dare invade the US and another part of me says to watch out! I've already got the firearms and ammo preparation covered (or at least I hope).

So am I being paranoid, or should I keep preparing for Armageddon?

What about you???

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Prepared = Readying yourself (without causing undue strain on your finances/family) for a bad situation that can happen. Examples: Spare food/water/ammo in case a natural disaster.

Borderline Paranoia = Preparing for things that both mildly affect your finances AND are unlikely to happen. Examples: Preparing for for invasion/government collapse/meteor strike and having to make financial sacrifices in order to prepare for such unlikely things.

Paranoia = Believing things that are highly unlikely to happen AND having your preparations for such things consume your life. Examples: Believing the government is out to get you/UN is about to invade/etc. May also be paired with preparations for such things, but simply believing in such a thing is enough to be paranoid.

So basically it all comes down to living within your means and the topic having a reasonable potential. So preparing for a governmental collapse isn't being paranoid (to me) as it can happen to any country. But preparing for it over other things that are more likely (such as a localized disaster) or if the prepping negatively affects your finances, then that is going towards borderline or flat out paranoia. Also many things can be used for multiple reasons, and as such you need to look at the primary for the prepping imo.

nonameisgood said:

First, please stop talking about the UN small arms treaty. The treaty working group is prohibited by the charging document from getting involved in the internal affairs of and transfers within a sovereign. The treaty, if it ever gets written, will restrict sales and transfers of weapons across national borders ONLY, as specifically the illicit production and movement of arms and ammo (specifically into war zones and places where the weapons are being used to violate human rights.)
http://www.poa-iss.org/poa/poahtml.aspx

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Don't want to devolve this into an ATT debate, but your statement is what many of us fear the most. They always start out with some innocuous thing (but its ONLY for this one little thing) then make changes until it takes away everything we hold dear. The best approach to the UN ATT is to stop it in its tracks and not be a part of it at all. If the USA signs on (and ratifies it) and gives the UN an inroad then where will it stop?

END RANT

As for being prepared, I say absolutely! I was a Boy Scout and then a SAC warrior. being prepared is what we did.

Lay in a stock of 6-12 months worth of beans & bullets. Pasta, rice, grains, canned goods, water, batteries & ammo to keep some one else from taking it from you. There are many good "prepper" sites to get a good plan for your family together.

nonameisgood said:

First, please stop talking about the UN small arms treaty. The treaty working group is prohibited by the charging document from getting involved in the internal affairs of and transfers within a sovereign. The treaty, if it ever gets written, will restrict sales and transfers of weapons across national borders ONLY, as specifically the illicit production and movement of arms and ammo (specifically into war zones and places where the weapons are being used to violate human rights.)
http://www.poa-iss.org/poa/poahtml.aspx

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Paranoia: The UN ATT will lead to gun confiscations in the USA.
Preparedness: Knowing that the UN ATT will lead to gun confiscations in the USA and working to keep the USA out of this treaty.

By the way, how many guns are made overseas and then sold here? If the ATT does impact the 'transfer' of weapons across international boundaries how will this affect me getting a new Springfield XD45? Will the government permit those manufacturing sites to be relocated/rebuilt in the USA? How much small arms ammo comes from other countries?

Paranoia is knowing that the UN ATT will lead to gun confiscations in the USA....eventually. Preparedness is the citizenry doing something stop it.

Your dismissal of the potential consequences of the UN ATT is not being prepared and your lack of paranoia leads you to not be prepared.

(.....and places where the weapons are being used to violate human rights.)

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It could be successfully argued that this is currently happening in the USA. Aurora Colorado? The UN salivates when aberrations such as Aurora occurs.

OC for ME said:

Paranoia: The UN ATT will lead to gun confiscations in the USA.
Preparedness: Knowing that the UN ATT will lead to gun confiscations in the USA and working to keep the USA out of this treaty.

By the way, how many guns are made overseas and then sold here? If the ATT does impact the 'transfer' of weapons across international boundaries how will this affect me getting a new Springfield XD45? Will the government permit those manufacturing sites to be relocated/rebuilt in the USA? How much small arms ammo comes from other countries?

Paranoia is knowing that the UN ATT will lead to gun confiscations in the USA....eventually. Preparedness is the citizenry doing something stop it.

Your dismissal of the potential consequences of the UN ATT is not being prepared and your lack of paranoia leads you to not be prepared.

It could be successfully argued that this is currently happening in the USA. Aurora Colorado? The UN salivates when aberrations such as Aurora occurs.

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The treaty will affect interstate commerce, Uhhhhh between states is interstate commerce. All ammo and firearms will have to manufactured within each state. I guess that is not so bad if the fed does not try to outlaw manufacturing within the states.

The UN language refers to countries as "states", and in our case, individual US states are the internal affair of the US, as a sovereign nation state.

Paranoia is by definition an irrational or excessive fear or concern. You can certainly find a broad swath, rather than a fine line, between prepared and excessive. All too often, people without imagination or foresight look upon the prepared as being paranoid.

How many of you live in the 10 original states in tornado alley or the 20-30 other states where tornados are likely? Do you have a storm shelter? Is a tornado more or less likely than other cataclysms? (the real answer is that neither is likely). But that doesn't mean we don't prepare, only that we realize that "unlikely" is not "impossible", and we shouldn't let the remote possibility interfere with our lives.

nonameisgood said:

The UN language refers to countries as "states", and in our case, individual US states are the internal affair of the US, as a sovereign nation state.

Paranoia is by definition an irrational or excessive fear or concern. You can certainly find a broad swath, rather than a fine line, between prepared and excessive. All too often, people without imagination or foresight look upon the prepared as being paranoid.

How many of you live in the 10 original states in tornado alley or the 20-30 other states where tornados are likely? Do you have a storm shelter? Is a tornado more or less likely than other cataclysms? (the real answer is that neither is likely). But that doesn't mean we don't prepare, only that we realize that "unlikely" is not "impossible", and we shouldn't let the remote possibility interfere with our lives.

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This is going to sound odd, but most people can survive a tornado by just digging a grave.

Preparedness Probably Precludes Potential Paranoia

Alliteration aside, paranoia is generally (as in: other than DSM-IV) defined as:

Exhibiting or characterized by extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others.

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What the definition fails to define, is precisely who the "others" are. Is it just a certain few others, a specific group of others, most others or all others? And, "distrust" is a normal human emotion when not "extreme or irrational". We have probably all met somebody whose mere presence made us uneasy. There was something about that person (or group of persons) that just didn't "sit right" with us.
How is "extreme" defined?
ex•tremeɪkˈstrim(adj.; n.)-trem•er, -trem•est
1. (adj.)going well beyond the ordinary or average: extreme measures. (there are more definitions, but, for the most-part, they are simply slight variations of the same theme)
We could spend hours playing the semantics game and dissecting the English language, so for the purposes of this post, I'm going to use my own definition: Paranoia: The unfounded (irrational), over-the-top fear or distrust of a number (X) of others.

Even the truly paranoid frequently have one or more people that they do trust (in varying degrees). The exception to that would be the "paranoid schizophrenic" (schizophrenia characterized especially by persecutory or grandiose delusions or hallucinations or by delusional jealousy - a psychotic "break with reality"). If one is prepared for a specific circumstance, or a number (X) of circumstances, that in their world view have the potential to bring harm to them and theirs, they are not necessarily paranoid. Personal perception is everything. Most of us would probably agree that a consuming fear of being abducted by beings from another planet is somewhat more than paranoid... but, that is our judgment based upon our world view. A person with impaired judgment has a distorted sense of reality, but it is their reality, and the possibility of "being abducted by beings from another planet" may be the controlling factor of that reality.

"I love my country, but I don't trust my government", is a phrase we have all heard or seen. It's everywhere! On signs, imprinted on t-shirts and bumper stickers, and if you do a web search for the phrase you will get this response:

About 35,400,000 results

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That phrase is very popular. Does popularity remove the stigma of it being a paranoid thought? Pretty-much, yep. Although some would say the sentiment expressed is representative of an "extreme and irrational fear or distrust of (a specific group of) others". Is there any basis in fact for believing the government to be less than trustworthy? Ask a Native American, Japanese-Americans of the 1940's, or the older Black residents of Tuskegee, Alabama. Look into the deconstruction of Social Security since it's creation as a "Trust Fund"in 1935. It's been downgraded from it's original protected "Trust Fund" status and placed into the General Fund - and thereafter plundered by Congress on at least 4 occasions. It was harder for them to steal from a Trust Fund.

Keep in mind that the primary function of any government is control of the masses. The only difference between governments is in how much control, and how that control is exerted. There is certainly a point where individual preparation - for any given event - subjectively becomes over-preparation. In the biblical parable of Noah and the Ark, Noah's neighbors thought Noah was a nut-job... but Noah didn't have to "doggie-paddle" for 40 days and nights. Those who aren't prepared to survive, may be missed by those who are. If somebody in the Twin Towers on 9-10-01, expressed a sense of impending doom, that person would probably - and may have - been called "paranoid" by his/her co-workers. If one is adequately prepared, there is no need for paranoia. Just my thoughts. Pax...