Sunday, June 21, 2020

Becoming anti-fragile

In an interesting American Thinker piece entitled "How to Fight the Woke – and Win," the author included a piece of advice called "Become Anti-Fragile" as follows:
In war, you must always secure your supply lines. One of the Woke's most powerful weapons is economic pressure, so take that away from them as much as possible. Grow some of your own food, start a side business, or form a self-supporting tribe (like a church group that financially supports itself in case one member gets fired by the Woke). Being anti-fragile will allow you to stand firm when you need to speak the truth.


I found this to be an interesting point. One of the reasons we're seeing widespread capitulation of the Marxist anarchists wreaking havoc across the country is fear. As Tucker Carlson put it, "Suddenly your opinions qualify as crimes. Dare to say what you think at work, and you'll be fired in the middle of a recession. Write what you think online, and you'll be silenced immediately by the big tech companies. So you keep your views to yourself. You have no choice. A lot of Americans are doing that right now: staying quiet. That’s the point of censorship: to keep people isolated and alone – to prevent a consensus from forming that challenges the people in charge. If you’re forced to shut up, they can do what they want to you and your country."

(The headlines below can be clicked to read the articles.)



In other words, it's hard to fight back when doing so could destroy everything you've worked for – your job, your business, your home, your family's security. To this end, I believe it's important for everyone to become as "anti-fragile" as possible.

(This is reminiscent of some advice by Thomas Jefferson, who believed America was incapable of true democracy unless 20 percent of its citizens were self-sufficient on small farms. This would enable them to be real dissenters, free to voice opinions and beliefs, without any obligation to food producers who might hold their survival at stake.)

In a blog post entitled "How do you Prepare for a Revolution?", Daisy Luther (the Organic Prepper) offers excellent advice on becoming less "fragile," to wit:
"You prepare for a revolution by simply continuing to prep. Specifically, consider prepping for the following:

- Supply chain disruption and shortages of food
- Supply chain disruption and shortages of material goods
- Civil unrest
- Disruption of utilities
- Disruption of services"
If you can make yourself immune to the problems associated with the above criteria, you're miles ahead of the curve. This can include living in a place where you can see the enemy coming, and defend yourself (or retreat) as needs be.

As this sobering piece on the anatomy of an internet witch hunt demonstrates, the gloves are off when anarchists have you in their cross-hairs. They won't hesitate to use the lowest, cruelest, vilest means possible to destroy you.


Here are some of the strategies we've adopted to make ourselves less "fragile":

• We have cultivated the "many irons in the fire" approach to income. Our income is not dependent on a single source that can be attacked and disrupted by threats.

• We keep our income sources as "in house" as possible. Again, this reduces the chance of disruption. (I pity the business owners in Seattle's CHAZ area. The anarchists won't let them operate.)

• We don't have smart phones or other tracking devices.

• We live an all-cash lifestyle as much as possible (less chance of hack attacks).

• We have as little debt as possible. The more debt you have, the more vulnerable you are to income loss.

• We have whittled our expenses down to the bone, which in turn makes us less vulnerable to income loss.

• We try to grow or raise most of our food. This is suspended to some extent until after we move, but we have the knowledge, skills, and tools to fully resume when we relocate.

• We're prepared to live without power in case of grid-down.

Those who think we're paranoid for living this way must not be following the news (real news, not fake news).


But don't think we're deprived by the choices we've made. On the contrary, we enjoy our outside-the-box lifestyle. It gives us a much greater peace of mind.

What are some of the steps you've taken to become less "fragile"? Share them. Let's help everyone out.

14 comments:

  1. As you say, your lifestyle is not for some. Some cannot fathom living the way you, and I, choose, and could not function without cities and all they provide. The secret I have found is the happiness gained by never being dependent upon others for your basic needs. Knowledge to be able to provide for oneself is the key..

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  2. Patrice - Thank you for writing this. It has become more critical than ever. It has started to raise its head at my place of employment as well. I made a habit of really not sharing anything about my personal life at work, but it has become more critical than ever.

    I am fortunate in that I am finding myself in a position where I can begin to make even more changes to become anti-fragile in an economic sense. I am also taking steps to make sure that I am becoming anti-fragile in the personal and belief sense. In this case it means becoming more deeply learned in history and philosophy and Spiritual matters to not find myself without bedrock foundations of what I believe and why I believe it.

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  3. You make an excellent point. I wish I had set my life up like this much, much sooner. Still working on it.

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  4. I had one of those sensorship moments at my job recently. There was a riot... er... PROTEST in our town, and many business were broken into and looted. I posted the following on our "team chat;" "More “protests” were “scheduled” for last night, even though there was a 1800-0600 curfew in place. This time, however, they were met by business owners in front of their businesses, sitting in lawn chairs, firearms laying across their laps. There was no additional damage reported last night. ‘Funny how that happens." I was immediately told not to share "opinions" on the chat concerning "black lives matter "protests." This wasn't an opinion. It was a statement of FACT. Nonetheless, it was clear that my input wasn't wanted, and that our HR department didn't want things to get any more "heated." These Bernie Babies are going to miss what they're giving away, throwing away, and destroying.

    I'm nearing retirement age. The closer I get, the less power the company has. I always wondered why older folk were so opinionated. I've realized that it's because they can say what they want without fear of reprisal...

    There is none more dangerous than a person with nothing left to lose...

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  5. If, like us, you can no longer live in the country because of your age or health, do as we did and move to a small rural town, but one large enough to have a small local hospital and a police force, fire department and sheriff.
    We are near our son and his family who do still homestead, and our sisters and brothers, several of whom still homestead too.
    Most everyone here is of the same opinion...we don't broadcast our preparedness but we can listen when we stop by our local restaurants, etc. We still are without debt, bank locally and use cash mostly, have a deep pantry, even in town are prepared to cook without electricity, and have backup heat (both of which we have had to use during power outages), we are very experienced in gardening, hunting and fishing, and I still can meat, beans and fruit and vegetables regularly.
    This is what we have always practiced...we learned it from our WWII parents, and our whole family of our generation does the same.

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  6. Taking responsibility for one’s self is what I’ve concluded to be the most necessary: financially, healthy, knowledgeable, able, equipped, etc. From seeds to grow food to a needle and thread for sewing to fuel for autos and equipment. Take stock. Also, stay as local as possible. The guy you are paying $ to for something isn’t very likely to destroy you as he would be nixing his own income. And vice versa. Just my Op.

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  7. My husband has been dealing with this at work for nearly 20 years, and yes, it has recently gotten noticeably worse. I work the homestead (just shy of 50 acres), and keep trying to make us ever more self-sufficient, while he earns the money to pay off the mortgage. We are brainstorming ways to increase the number of income streams that are not dependent on him having the job he currently has, because the conditions are NOT going to improve. My children, at least, are either already employed in positions where their viewpoints will not get them fired (because the boss is likeminded), or they are going into fields where common sense still exists.

    XaLynn

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  8. Retired, both wife and I are professionals with marketable skills, food storage nearly complete, mortgage paid, learned to be happy with greatly reduced travel and entertainment expenses, own a flip-phone only, spend my energy on garden / orchard, physical regimen keeps me in shape, building a greenhouse, do NOT post any social media that jeopardizes location.
    OH yes - Scripture study is never more important than now
    Blessed !

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  9. Great article, so sad that it has come to this. They (left) have been trying for years and it is slowly getting worse and worse now.
    We saw this coming and are living similar to you, except i am older and times will be tougher living like this as we age. but it is worth it.

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  10. Living in the suburbs of a particular state, I have yet to enter high school, but I do intend to prep when I grow up and have a house of my own. I raise chickens, and we have eight. One is from the former flock and is about seven or eight years of age, but still lays eggs, and the other chickens are around five months, but have yet to lay, due to the breed they are.

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  11. Thank you for this post. Strange that you posted it the same day I was censored on Survival blog. No, I wasn't rude just spoke my mind regarding our pathetic health system in response to someone else's name calling of people who feel like I do.

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  12. A soon to retire College President wrote an email to his faculty stating that there is no room at his institution for anyone not willing to support BLM. He stated that this type of tyrannical racism and white supremacy is not allowed! Funny. I thought the very definition of a tyrant was the abolishment of those who think differently than you. Can't say I think much of the man anymore...

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  13. I agree with your article, but so many people have jobs that are dependent upon city dudes. We have prepped and never had a mortgage, but most people cannot live as we have, and my husband's job depends on his keeping quiet and trying to keep his lip zipped for fear of uttering a "wrong" opinion. While some have done as you have, there are fewer of "us" than "them", and "they" have already come for at least one of my family members through their so-called "cancel culture". Praying and prepping may help us survive better, but teaching our kids and grand-kids the real history of our nation and culture is our only real weapon against this present generation of propagandized commie dolts.

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