As Prepper’s Are We In Too Deep?

With all of the recent news about Ebola and how it seems like every time I turn on the television or log onto the Internet there is something new about this crisis. This makes me wonder, as prepper’s are we in too deep?

Because I have a podcast, this website, and the Academy I am constantly researching anything that has to do with preparedness. Because of this I have to ask myself if all of this information is actually making me more paranoid than I need to be? I think the answer might be yes and no.

It’s getting harder and harder these days to distinguish between fact and fiction. With all of the new websites these days, both mainstream and alternative media, it’s impossible to take just one article at face value.

Take this article for example about a Texas town being quarantined because the Ebola virus has become airborne. This article does nothing but promote fear. If someone were to take this at face value and start spreading it around the internet as fact (like it has) it distracts us from what our main focus should be.

Now with this article it was pretty easy to find out the truth, but a lot of the time that is not the case. Sometimes an article has just enough truth and conjecture to make it seem believable. Another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes our own fears can weigh into this as well.

By now, most of you already know the dangers of Ebola and how to prepare for it, this makes articles like this even more enticing. We know that right now this virus is not airborne, but if it does mutate and becomes airborne, we could be facing catastrophic consequences.

The people who write articles like this, or  the mainstream media has updates every five minutes about some “breaking news” are doing it for one reason… Ratings and readers.

These people want you to read their articles and watch their programs on television, they don’t care about the effect it has on us. As a matter of fact, they want us to be consumed with it and continue watching or reading.

As prepper’s we need to be aware of these tactics. If we are serious about becoming prepared, we can’t afford to be led down the rabbit hole by following this information. As prepper’s we need to take it a step further and verify this information, otherwise we are no better than the sheeple who are getting spoon-fed by the mainstream media and following along blindly throughout their lives.

I’m not saying we need to shut off the news or ignore these issues altogether, I’m just saying maybe going on an “information diet” is not a bad idea.

Here are some of the things I do to make sure what I’m reading is actually fact, make sure that I’m not getting led in one direction and taking me completely off course.

Don’t take the bait

Because it is so easy to create a website (like I wrote in this article about how to spot a fake prepper website), and because people would rather create news than report it these days, we get inundated with a lot of misinformation.

It can be pretty hard to tell the difference between a real website and one of these websites that look real. The website I linked to above is called the national report, at first glance this website looks like a credible source of information. But when you start to look at the other stories they posted, and even the authors bios at the end of the article, you can tell that this is just another news generating machine is not concerned about reporting the facts.

There are a lot of ways that people do this that we as readers don’t even pay attention to. Because there is so much information available on the Internet, and so many different channels on the television, these people know they need to catch our attention right away.

Think about it, there is so much information on the Internet we usually just read a headline, and if that headline doesn’t catch our interest we pass it by. Or take a television program for example, just recently I watched a commercial for the local news that said

“Ebola coming to Colorado?” “Find out more at 9”

Of course this peeked my interest, but when I watched at 9 there was nothing about Ebola in Colorado, it was a story about flight attendants being upset about having to travel with possibly infected people.

There’s No Such Thing as Bipartisan

Everyone leans one way or another, and therefore there is no such thing as bipartisanship in my opinion. Personally I lean a little left socially, and way right fiscally. When a politician says they are being bipartisan it raises a big red flag for me. In order for them to further their agenda, they need to appear to have everyone’s interest in mind, so they throw in this word any chance they get.

This goes for the media as well, you have Fox News on the left, CNN on the right and the Today Show that tries to give the impression of being bipartisan. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In this article from info wars for example, they explain how Americans see the mainstream media as extremely liberal.

To me this could just goes to show how out of touch the establishment is, and that if people just woke up and voiced their opinions, everything could be changes fairly easily.

The point of all of this is whenever you are watching something or reading something, always consider the source. All of these corporations are run by some very rich man that think because they have more money than you and I, their opinions matter more. Have a look at the info graphic at the end of this post from Business Insider.

Misdirection & False Flags

A false flag event is defined as a covert military or paramilitary operations designed to deceive in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by entities, groups or nations other than those who actually planned and executed them.

False Flag Events don’t necessarily need to be military or paramilitary, events like these include 9/11 and the Boston bombing (depending on what you believe.) The government and anyone in power who has an agenda will use misdirection to distract us from certain issues.

This is just my opinion, but with midterm elections right around the corner and Democrats facing a losing battle in some states, the border issue seems to have been swept under the rug. Bipartisan issues like ISIS and Ebola have been more prevalent lately.

Nazi Hermann Goering once said…

“Naturally the common people don’t want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or fascist dictorship, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peace makers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

Whether you believe these are conspiracy theories or conspiracy fact are less important that the fact that we at least acknowledge them and ask ourselves “are we being led?” “Are we being strategically guided away from something?”

As Preppers Are We In Too Deep?

The whole point of this article was asking myself as prepper’s are we into deep? And I think the answer is yes, but I think we have to be. I think as prepper’s it might be a little tougher now than it has ever been. Not only does it seems like there are more issues we need to be concerned about, but there are more avenues for people to take advantage of these fears.

This is why we need to make sure that what we’re reading and watching is based in truth and not just promoting fear. We also need to understand that because we are always looking at the worst-case scenario, we are inclined to believe it. We can’t afford to get lead in one direction and completely miss something that could change your life forever.

If you have any great websites that you trust to get your information let us and the readers know? We’re all in this together.

Dale

SurvivalistPrepper.net