Beware of programmed behaviors that will put you in danger during a crisis

[Atash Hagmahani]

Many behaviors are "programmed"; most people mimic the behaviors that they have seen modeled for them.

This is not a bad thing per se, except when they are the WRONG behaviors. Here is a short list of concepts and ideas that cause trouble in a crisis:

Mimicry of behaviors modelled on television, in movies, and in books. Getting into a scenario that you have seen played out on television will trigger FALSE "FUTURE" MEMORIES of how the problem was resolved, that you will try to play out, but you will almost certainly be UNSUCCESSFUL doing so, because television and movie scripts are based on paid PR (public relations) requirements, and not on real-life accuracy. This is true even of scripts that advertise their hiring of "expert" consultants--which more often than not is itself a confidence-building scheme! Do not kid yourself that you "know" the difference between fiction and real life, and that you are resistant to such programming--the vast majority of people are NOT (take it from someone who actually has a rare brain architecture that causes him not to respond "correctly" to role modeling, who has always stood out as a loose nail waiting to get hammered!). A good example of this would be the jaw-droppingly unrealistic model of "self-sufficiency" many people learned from reading "Little House" books by Laura Ingel-Wilder. The first person, autobiographical nature of these books makes people lose track of the fact that first of all it's fiction, and second, Ms. Wilder's memory was not only inherently inaccurate, but also biased by self-identity and pet concepts; she wrote what she wanted to believe instead of what actually happened. Even worse is "The Swiss Family Robinson", which contains hysterically funny, inaccurate descriptions of flora and fauna on an island somewhere near New Guinea, that mysteriously contains useful domesticated animals like donkeys, and Sago Palms filled with ready-to-eat Sago you just have to scoop out! But no descriptions of family members dying of tropical diseases after getting scratched or dying of heat stroke--such as are real risks in the tropics.

Desperation to try to get situation back to a "normal", familiar state. This is probably the major killer, and it plays out in so many ways, such as wandering around in the cold and dark trying to find non-existent "help", and thereby dying of hypothermia, instead of sensibly seeking shelter,  or running a generator with inadequate ventilation and snuffing out all life in the house (because you couldn't accept a power outage and just go to bed), or getting lost and then getting MORE lost due to impatience for a resolution. Accept the situation at hand and deal with it, instead of pretending that you deserve better and the universe jolly well better comply.

Belief that danger is a place rather than a situation. This is a typical thought pattern of the vast majority of Americans; it is largely based on the concept of suburbia.  On a regular basis, many people die in California from running the wrong way and getting trapped during wildfires. They believe themselves to be safe once they get into their cars and are thus mobile, and yet their charred remains are found in the burned out hulks. What typically happens during a crisis is that those who panic when they were NOT in imminent danger at home, end up being refugees and quite often casualties. Don't run unless you are in imminent danger, and have your escape route and your destination planned.

Projecting the status quo into contexts in which it does not make any sense. This one is so ubiquitous and so deeply-entrenched I have no idea how to deal with it. Most people can not conceive of life without grocery stores, banks, police, etc. If they can get past the basics they still have difficulty connecting all the dots...their planning fails to take into consideration what happens when they run out of ammunition for, say, hunting (well, then, you starve...), or what happens when nobody cares that you were the VP of a bank that is now defunct (dramatic reversal of fortunes...). A typical case are all the people who think they are fleeing to safer environments, but seeking cheap land they end up in deep rural areas without any arable land, where they will starve to death in a real crisis. Another scenario I typically see is those who confuse sanctuary with a vacation spot. They flock to lovely places without enough natural resources or production nearby, as if Hubbert's Peak were a good excuse for a permanent vacation.

The previous is related to woefully inadequate planning. People will plan for a single variable--say they've got a gun and some ammo--maybe even some food--and nothing else. It's a little like the chap who thought he would survive a nuclear war and then his bomb shelter was destroyed in routine brush fire.

[opsec]

A working knowledge of primitive living skills and the equipment you need to employ them can insulate you against much of the above mentioned problems.

[oldsoldier]

 Good Post Atash, and Opsec. Sometimes I get a chuckle out of people who have no plans for an emergency, no where they are going (specifically) if they decide to leave. If I had a dollar for everyone I've heard say " If things go south I'm heading for______________." But haven't planned exactly where, how they plan to get there, what they'll do if they arrive.  IMHO prepperation is mostly non-existant with many people. I actually done a survey with friends, family and had them poll their friends and in-laws. It may come as a suprise ( maybe not) to many of you that over 70% of people usually have less than 1/2 tank of fuel in their vehicle at any given time. Not going very far in a SUV with 1/4 tank of gas. Not to mention emergency supplies limited to a bottle of water, and a package of peanut butter crackers. Add the sheep mindset of "Don't worry be happy the government will take care of everything"

 Maybe someone smarter than me can set-up a poll here to see how forum members are ready just in case how much fuel they have in their vehicle/ back up fuel?

[Eddie]

People will plan for a single variable--say they've got a gun and some ammo--maybe even some food--and nothing else.

For some people that's all they can do. I probably fit in this category but Im not the least bit scared, Im probably more concerned about people like yourself who have kids and such to take care of and the stress that goes with it. Having a little more of something will prolong death to a degree, but lets face it. Everyone should expect to die at some point one way or another. That's why I will keep the last bullet for myself.     

[Ryder]

I plan on using my skills and assets to help other people stay alive and perhaps form a better world. I am old enough that I can pass from this world fairly easily but the world will go on and if people are here I would like them to learn from the past and perhaps form a better world.  I won't save many people but maybe a couple of families with children could benifit from my knowledge and stash of storage food and water.

[Eddie]

Crap!!! Someone's in danger already from programmed behaviors.

and perhaps form a better world

Ryder, maybe you can elaborate on how you plan on going about this, I do think a positive mental attitude is beneficial at all times.

[Dame]

Modeling generosity.  Not a lot of that going around lately.

[Atash Hagmahani]

That's why I will keep the last bullet for myself.     

Suicide implies lack of options. People usually have more options than they realize. When you are really and truly out of options, suicide is usually superfluous at that point. The only situation I can see where it's probably the best option is a situation known as "malingering". That's where you are dying slooooooowly, typically due to overly-aggressive medical care. That will become a luxury in the near future, and to avoid it, just pull the plug or if necessary put the patient on a morphine drip.

Good to see you back, Eddie. 

[Lady Lilya]

Atash, I think that for a lot of people, the knowledge that they have reserved a bullet for themselves makes them feel somewhat in control of the time and place and method of their deaths.  That can remove a lot of the fear, and cause them to make decisions in a more rational way. 

[Ryder]

I think my opinions are influenced by living in a sparsley populated part of this country.There are simply a lot more options when you live within walking distance of uninhabited forests and rivers. I am also influenced by being involved with suicide attempts on a personal level. Working and volunteering in the mental health field I have seen and interacted with people who have attemted and have been sucsessfull at suicide. Even the worst of peak oil, grid down emp/ solar storm, super flu, zombie invasion, lack of super sized slurpys at the local mini mart are all situations that would be tough but humans are tougher. As atash mentioned medicaly I would choose to end my life if all I had to look forward to was more pain and then dying anyway but if things fall apart there will be plenty of dying going without someone having to choose.

[Beeherder]

Hi Ryder,

I have a similar metaphor of control of the end though have know folks who lost family to suicide by gun and there is one hellava mess left behind in the case i am familiar with. Seems that kind of suicide was more about escape than threat. The boogey man of the moment is not what to fear, only unending pain with no chance of recovery. Then the morphine drip seems best if available, this is just mho.

I suspect that since both you and i share a similar less than urban environment we would indeed seek solace and survival in small community in isolated area. Maybe in small groups willing to cooperate there can be some prosperity no matter the economic threat and heck its easier to form a band and play music if there are a few more than just one family. Wonder how much torture it would be to learn how to make a pleasant sound at this stage of my life because music is one of the most wonderful things humans have ever produced. So let the band play on ...

[Eddie]

Suicide implies lack of options.

Absolutely...its my last resort for sure. But I can think of other scenarios that could come about other then "malingering" like being cornered by some people who want you dead and your going to die anyways.

Good to see you back, Eddie.

I was at a party at Joan Collins' house last week, it lasted longer then I expected. In fact I had to put some of my survival techniques that I learned here on your forum into practice just to make it out of her house in one piece. Between the cat fight in the dining room with Jennifer Anniston and some other lady(didn't recognize her) and the front door, the wind blew, the shit flew, I couldn't see for an hour or two. So yes....IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK. 

Atash, I think that for a lot of people, the knowledge that they have reserved a bullet for themselves makes them feel somewhat in control of the time and place and method of their deaths.

Absolutely.

[Eddie]

I thought of another reason why one might want to save the last bullet for themselves. If things get as bad as they were in Nazi Germany, the Gestapo often put the fear in the people by getting them to extract info by means of torture before they were executed.

Jesus once said that the greatest gift a person can make is to sacrifice himself in behalf of his friends. Of course this takes love and and a measurable amount of faith.

This type of passed on programmed behavior I like.

[opsec]

I'll second that one Eddie.

[Atash Hagmahani]

If things get as bad as they were in Nazi Germany, the Gestapo often put the fear in the people by getting them to extract info by means of torture before they were executed.

War propaganda, Bud. I've heard a lot of stories about Nazi torture, but oddly never any specific information that would lend it credibility. A specific Nazi interrogator invented non-coercive interrogation techniques that actually work (they involve a certain amount of acting, deception, and emotional manipulation  ). I know quite a bit about this because I've studied them extensively.

The person who sold me the information is not a particularly nice or ethical guy himself; he was basically brainwashing prisoners for propagandistic purposes to suit the needs of his superiors.

BTW, while the Nazis did not use torture to extract information, the Allies did use torture to extract confessions. One very famous case was that of Raoul Wallenberg, who was apparently tortured before his execution by firing squad. I doubt he confessed to anything, or had any idea why he was arrested. One of those Kafkaesque situations. The official story you might have heard instead...how he might still be alive, or that the state department was trying to obtain his release...was an elaborate deception, that was exposed during the collapse of the erstwhile soviet union.

Torture is not useful to extract strategic information; people will say whatever they think you want to hear, regardless of whether it is actually true or not. That is not to say that prisoners of war are never tortured; actually it is quite common, and it is probably the most common done by whichever side is the more morally pretentious. But the purpose is to extract confessions precisely to make the moral pretensions appear plausible. That's how they got Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to "confess" to crimes it is impossible for him to have committed, in order to create the moral pretext for the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and subsequent atrocities that have been committed.

My father-in-law was tortured by the Commies in an attempt to try to get him to confess to being a foreign agent. Not only wasn't he, but it would have been impossible for him to do so had he even had the intent, which he didn't. Instead, he foolishly joined the Communist movement before realizing how astonishingly corrupt they were.

Unfortunately for him, one of his in-laws was so afraid of being tortured, she proactively told them whatever they wanted to hear. Implicated all her friends and relatives. (It took many years for the rest of her family to get over that, but interestingly eventually they stopped shunning her. I suppose forgiveness is part of the healing process).

You don't even necessarily have to worry about betraying your comrades while being tortured. At that point, the system is often so corrupt that they just go through the motions, then make stuff up and claim that you confessed to it. That's what happened to a buddy of mine who was tortured in Turkey. He was just passing through on his way to Vienna, but it was a bad time to be a Persian (Kurd, Armenian, Greek...) in Turkey. There was no conspiracy going on; the pension (flophouse, basically) where he was staying was just a popular place for Persians to stay because the owner could speak their language; the guests didn't even know each other. The paranoid secret police raided the place, and arrested everybody there.

They tortured him pointlessly, and handed him a confession written in Turkish. He asked for a translation. They refused. To this day he has no idea what he "confessed" to.

I was at a party at Joan Collins' house last week

Great. I'd love to hear the details. We'll have to take it offline, and I'll tell you some of my own.