WillyKat
Diamond Member
I'm only seeing this post now, several months after you initially posted. Of course you are right.
Like many other ...ists, it's a term that packs a lot of meaning for quite a few people. A negative one for most, a positive one for a few. I wonder if there's any one definition anyone can agree on. Does it mean wilderness survival expert, gun nut planning to overthrow the government, someone that lives off the grid? Or one of the fifty other definitions?
I was once accused of being a survivalist. When she said that, she meant nut job or gun nut or ... something. She based her opinion on the fact that I like to go backpacking into the wilderness, alone. And because I go alone, I put a lot of effort into planning, preparation, and knowing my wilderness survival skills. (There is in some respects greater danger than going with others. Though in reality, going alone requires a great deal more preparation, planning, and care than going with others. Hence who's to say which is more dangerous, a guy alone that has prepared and planned or a group of 20 that hasn't?) But I digress.
So for her, knowledge of wilderness survival skills because I go alone to the sticks, where I do a great deal of healing from PTSD, makes me a nut job. I didn't engage in arguing with her, which is exactly what she wanted. Hell, I think she lives for that. I did mutter under my breath "but my knife has only a 3.5" blade!"
So here's another definition of survivalist: PTSD sufferer. The more I think about preppers and "survivalists" the more I wonder if PTSD doesn't play a large role in it. I think about the hypervigilance, the overcompensation for weakness in one area with strength in another, the overpowering desire to have control over one's life. Some overlapping themes to be sure.
Like Rambo, or like anyone with PTSD, the media and a lot of ordinary citizens wants to label us to make it easier to set us aside, to not have to deal with us, to not be troubled with such a mess, and to get back to their favorite television show.
Thanks for posting.
Like many other ...ists, it's a term that packs a lot of meaning for quite a few people. A negative one for most, a positive one for a few. I wonder if there's any one definition anyone can agree on. Does it mean wilderness survival expert, gun nut planning to overthrow the government, someone that lives off the grid? Or one of the fifty other definitions?
I was once accused of being a survivalist. When she said that, she meant nut job or gun nut or ... something. She based her opinion on the fact that I like to go backpacking into the wilderness, alone. And because I go alone, I put a lot of effort into planning, preparation, and knowing my wilderness survival skills. (There is in some respects greater danger than going with others. Though in reality, going alone requires a great deal more preparation, planning, and care than going with others. Hence who's to say which is more dangerous, a guy alone that has prepared and planned or a group of 20 that hasn't?) But I digress.
So for her, knowledge of wilderness survival skills because I go alone to the sticks, where I do a great deal of healing from PTSD, makes me a nut job. I didn't engage in arguing with her, which is exactly what she wanted. Hell, I think she lives for that. I did mutter under my breath "but my knife has only a 3.5" blade!"
So here's another definition of survivalist: PTSD sufferer. The more I think about preppers and "survivalists" the more I wonder if PTSD doesn't play a large role in it. I think about the hypervigilance, the overcompensation for weakness in one area with strength in another, the overpowering desire to have control over one's life. Some overlapping themes to be sure.
Like Rambo, or like anyone with PTSD, the media and a lot of ordinary citizens wants to label us to make it easier to set us aside, to not have to deal with us, to not be troubled with such a mess, and to get back to their favorite television show.
Thanks for posting.
