Topic: Preppers Are A Cult?

[Maddy]

Just ran across this article and had to laugh. Prepping is now a cult, I guess. LOL.

Penn State Professor Accuses Preppers Of Cult-Like Behavior

http://www.offthegridnews.com/2013/05/02/penn-state-professor-accuses-prepper-of-cult-like-behavior/

<snip>
Preppers are a cult, according to a Penn State professor who has been studying the prepping concept. Dr. Peter Behrens feels that anyone who stockpiles more than seventy-two hours’ worth of supplies is paranoid. The learned professor thinks there are three tiers of prepping: pastime, preoccupation, and pathology. I imagine he would see the errors in his thinking about day five into a civil unrest scenario.

During a recent interview, Dr. Behrens made this sweeping comparison. The Penn State professor thinks that anyone spending more than 10 percent of their time on firearms training, and garnering supplies and resources, has ventured into the dreaded “pathological prepping” zone. I spend more than 10 percent of my time any given week taking care of my rescued tortoises; perhaps I am also a part of some weird reptile cult and just did not realize it.

Even the folks at FEMA now suggest keeping three weeks’ worth of emergency supplies on hand. But Dr. Behrens feels that preppers who think having more than seventy-two hours of necessary food and supplies on hand also possess “special shorthand unique to the group.” Apparently using the phrase “bug out” qualifies as shorthand and is an indicator of cult-like behavior. The good doctor also feels that preppers have a collective “us-versus-them” mindset. For an educated man who has supposedly spent many hours researching the habits of preppers, he sure is ill-informed. Read more
</snip>

[oldcoastie6468]

"Professor of Abnormal Psychology."

He can teach with personal experience in that weirdo section of society.


http://www.lv.psu.edu/FacultyStaff/29282.htm

[IronDioPriest]

What a knob. Preppers are nearly the antithesis of a cult: Putting no faith in charismatic leaders; recognizing ultimate self-responsibility; decision-making apart from any accepted norms within ones broader community or social circle; aversion to unnecessary gatherings; acting in ones own interest with secondary regard for those outside ones direct responsibility.

How is any of that cult-like in the least?

The ONLY way I can see that he could arrive at this conclusion is to say that because Mormons prep, that preppers are cultists. And that is just plain bigotry. Mormons may not have things theologically "right" in the view of some, but their behavior is not cultish in the least.

[Maddy]

What a knob. Preppers are nearly the antithesis of a cult: Putting no faith in charismatic leaders; recognizing ultimate self-responsibility; decision-making apart from any accepted norms within ones broader community or social circle; aversion to unnecessary gatherings; acting in ones own interest with secondary regard for those outside ones direct responsibility.

How is any of that cult-like in the least?

The ONLY way I can see that he could arrive at this conclusion is to say that because Mormons prep, that preppers are cultists. And that is just plain bigotry. Mormons may not have things theologically "right" in the view of some, but their behavior is not cultish in the least.

Yep - I had to laugh when I saw that. It makes no sense and I'll go out on a limb and say that this guy is just another blithering liberal idiot with a title.

[Maddy]

"Professor of Abnormal Psychology."

He can teach with personal experience in that weirdo section of society.


http://www.lv.psu.edu/FacultyStaff/29282.htm

lol, indeed.

[Libertas]

He just wants preppers catalogued as such so it is easier for the Goobermint to declare them as such and unleash the Stormtroopers upon them and seize their wealth.

This douchenoozzle prof is a statist!

[Glock32]

If he's looking for a cult leader he can find one at the next Penn faculty senate meeting: Dr. Michael Mann

[IronDioPriest]

If he's looking for a cult leader he can find one at the next Penn faculty senate meeting: Dr. Michael Mann

No doubt.

[Predator Don]

If he's looking for a cult leader he can find one at the next Penn faculty senate meeting: Dr. Michael Mann

That's the truth. It's the cult like following of Obama which keeps me stocked up on supplies. If not for Obama's declaration of "fundamental change" in America, I wouldn't be so quick to stockpile.

[Pandora]

If he's looking for a cult leader he can find one at the next Penn faculty senate meeting: Dr. Michael Mann

That's the truth. It's the cult like following of Obama which keeps me stocked up on supplies. If not for Obama's declaration of "fundamental change" in America, I wouldn't be so quick to stockpile.

Quinn's First Law:  Liberalism always has the opposite effect of its stated intent.

You ain't paranoid if they're really out to get you ........ and, as they are .......

[John Florida]

  Professor indeed! He looks more like a child molesting douche.Clueless in the extreme with an exagerated sense of his self relavence.

[KittenClaws]

Just ran across this article and had to laugh. Prepping is now a cult, I guess. LOL.

Penn State Professor Accuses Preppers Of Cult-Like Behavior

http://www.offthegridnews.com/2013/05/02/penn-state-professor-accuses-prepper-of-cult-like-behavior/

<snip>
Preppers are a cult, according to a Penn State professor who has been studying the prepping concept. Dr. Peter Behrens feels that anyone who stockpiles more than seventy-two hours’ worth of supplies is paranoid. The learned professor thinks there are three tiers of prepping: pastime, preoccupation, and pathology. I imagine he would see the errors in his thinking about day five into a civil unrest scenario.

During a recent interview, Dr. Behrens made this sweeping comparison. The Penn State professor thinks that anyone spending more than 10 percent of their time on firearms training, and garnering supplies and resources, has ventured into the dreaded “pathological prepping” zone. I spend more than 10 percent of my time any given week taking care of my rescued tortoises; perhaps I am also a part of some weird reptile cult and just did not realize it.

Even the folks at FEMA now suggest keeping three weeks’ worth of emergency supplies on hand. But Dr. Behrens feels that preppers who think having more than seventy-two hours of necessary food and supplies on hand also possess “special shorthand unique to the group.” Apparently using the phrase “bug out” qualifies as shorthand and is an indicator of cult-like behavior. The good doctor also feels that preppers have a collective “us-versus-them” mindset. For an educated man who has supposedly spent many hours researching the habits of preppers, he sure is ill-informed. Read more
</snip>

I guess when TSHTF, Dr. Peter won't be asking to join a cult?

[John Florida]

Just ran across this article and had to laugh. Prepping is now a cult, I guess. LOL.

Penn State Professor Accuses Preppers Of Cult-Like Behavior

http://www.offthegridnews.com/2013/05/02/penn-state-professor-accuses-prepper-of-cult-like-behavior/

<snip>
Preppers are a cult, according to a Penn State professor who has been studying the prepping concept. Dr. Peter Behrens feels that anyone who stockpiles more than seventy-two hours’ worth of supplies is paranoid. The learned professor thinks there are three tiers of prepping: pastime, preoccupation, and pathology. I imagine he would see the errors in his thinking about day five into a civil unrest scenario.

During a recent interview, Dr. Behrens made this sweeping comparison. The Penn State professor thinks that anyone spending more than 10 percent of their time on firearms training, and garnering supplies and resources, has ventured into the dreaded “pathological prepping” zone. I spend more than 10 percent of my time any given week taking care of my rescued tortoises; perhaps I am also a part of some weird reptile cult and just did not realize it.

Even the folks at FEMA now suggest keeping three weeks’ worth of emergency supplies on hand. But Dr. Behrens feels that preppers who think having more than seventy-two hours of necessary food and supplies on hand also possess “special shorthand unique to the group.” Apparently using the phrase “bug out” qualifies as shorthand and is an indicator of cult-like behavior. The good doctor also feels that preppers have a collective “us-versus-them” mindset. For an educated man who has supposedly spent many hours researching the habits of preppers, he sure is ill-informed. Read more
</snip>

I guess when TSHTF, Dr. Peter won't be asking to join a cult?

   He'll be begging to to let in,with luck I'll be the one he asks.      

[oldcoastie6468]

College and university "professors" are a cult. 

[Pablo de Fleurs]

Topsy-Turvy. We're branded. Evil seeks to destroy good. Boy Scouts, churches, Christianity, Tea Party. Interestingly (really characteristically) they won't attack the Islamic faith...because they know they'll have their heads handed to them....literally.

Isaiah 5:20

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Modern Thinker’s Creed,
by Steve Turner


We believe in Marx, Freud,and Darwin
We believe everything is OK as long as you don’t hurt anyone to the best of your definition of hurt, and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy’s OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything’s getting better despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there’s something in horoscopes UFO’s and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Muhammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher though we think His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same-at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing. If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its compulsory heaven for all excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn

We believe in Masters and Johnson What’s selected is average. What’s average is normal. What’s normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed. Americans should beat their guns into tractors.
And the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good. It’s only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society. Society is the fault of conditions. Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him. Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust. History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds, And the flowering of individual thought.

If chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky and when you hear

State of Emergency!

• Sniper Kills Ten!
• Troops on Rampage!
• Whites go Looting!
• Bomb Blasts School!

It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

i.e. himself.

[trapeze]

While we are on the topic of preppers and prepping...

I have made it a point to watch "Doomsday Preppers" for the last several months. I have seen most of the previous episodes and, so far, all of this current season. My observations: Who is the target audience for this show? I find it hard to believe that preppers themselves are the target audience because of two things. 1) There seems to be no advertisements that are aimed at preppers and 2) the show seems to go out of its way to subtly mock those who prep.

The lack of prepper advertising is blatant and undeniable. And it's not like there aren't a LOT of prepper products and manufacturers out there...there are. The big prominent ones like Wise Foods and Food Insurance you would think would be completely in the bag for this show. They may advertise on occasion but they don't advertise on a regular basis. Vendors like this should be practically underwriting the show but they are not.

As to the way the show displays preppers...that is sort of undeniable, as well. They seem to pick preppers to profile who are borderline goofy to outright nuts. Witness the guy who is prepping for a "continental shift." That's insane. I could list lots more but so could you. The other telltale is the epilogue of each show where the show's producers announce "the odds" of whatever catastrophe the profiled prepper is prepping for. Inevitably, each and every single time "the odds" are that the catastrophe will almost never happen. Now in the case of massive and sudden "continental shift," I agree. But...I see more and more people listing their reason for prepping as "economic collapse" whether it be national or global. Now that's the catastrophe that I am expecting and yet, "Doomsday Preppers" says that no way is it going to happen. Huh?

Well, anyway...I still watch the show because even though I have to ignore a lot of the unnecessary drama I do occasionally see something of interest or use.

But as to the larger question...is prepping a cult? No. Not by the classical definition. There is no cult leader and there is no cult indoctrination. And there certainly is no cult behavior. The behavior of preppers is methodical and determined but hardly cult-like. So my vote is "no."

[Predator Don]

Doomsday professors.

[Libertas]

Just ran across this article and had to laugh. Prepping is now a cult, I guess. LOL.

Penn State Professor Accuses Preppers Of Cult-Like Behavior

http://www.offthegridnews.com/2013/05/02/penn-state-professor-accuses-prepper-of-cult-like-behavior/

<snip>
Preppers are a cult, according to a Penn State professor who has been studying the prepping concept. Dr. Peter Behrens feels that anyone who stockpiles more than seventy-two hours’ worth of supplies is paranoid. The learned professor thinks there are three tiers of prepping: pastime, preoccupation, and pathology. I imagine he would see the errors in his thinking about day five into a civil unrest scenario.

During a recent interview, Dr. Behrens made this sweeping comparison. The Penn State professor thinks that anyone spending more than 10 percent of their time on firearms training, and garnering supplies and resources, has ventured into the dreaded “pathological prepping” zone. I spend more than 10 percent of my time any given week taking care of my rescued tortoises; perhaps I am also a part of some weird reptile cult and just did not realize it.

Even the folks at FEMA now suggest keeping three weeks’ worth of emergency supplies on hand. But Dr. Behrens feels that preppers who think having more than seventy-two hours of necessary food and supplies on hand also possess “special shorthand unique to the group.” Apparently using the phrase “bug out” qualifies as shorthand and is an indicator of cult-like behavior. The good doctor also feels that preppers have a collective “us-versus-them” mindset. For an educated man who has supposedly spent many hours researching the habits of preppers, he sure is ill-informed. Read more
</snip>

I guess when TSHTF, Dr. Peter won't be asking to join a cult?

   He'll be begging to to let in,with luck I'll be the one he asks.      

[RickZ]

I don't watch the tv show because 'The first rule of prepping is:  You don't talk about prepping'.  And certainly not on national tv.

The target audience?  I'm not sure there is one, but if there is one it's most likely law enforcement and the medical psychiatric community.  What they are doing is demonizing another segment of society that believes in being self-sufficient.  How can the government screw you over help you if you are self-sufficient?  Calling prepping a 'cult' is the first step in declaring prepping a mental disorder, subjecting those who are deemed preppers to lose their RKBA and possibly their children to the state, two among many issues.  Just one more step in the long line of indoctrination to accept tyranny as being 'good for you'.  Plus, by not looking for the government to help, they'll label you 'crazy', because only the crazies would not accept 'free' gub'mint cheese.

[Libertas]

Government has a bigger problem...how many preppers are there really?  I mean serious preppers?  How many gun owners are there?  Nobody is in the state's crosshairs more than gun owners!