Last night was another great PrepperTalk chat and I was able to get in and mix it up with all the great folks on Twitter. A lot of my good friends were there including the star of the show SurvivorJane and some great stalwart preppers like iSurvivalist FreedomPreppers Gandalfied and StoneBryson.
The topic of last night’s Tweet Chat was “Precious Metals” and their value or necessity for prepping. The topic of this post however is something that was mentioned during the chat; World Without Rule of Law (WWROL)
During the discussion on whether precious metals would be of value I mentioned that in a post SHTF world the people with supplies (the seller) will set their price points and the buyer would simply have to live with that price or move on. This was argued by several people as being incorrect as in their opinion the seller and the buyer in essence “agree” on a price or the item is never sold. This might be true in a situation where there are a limited supply of buyers, but that isn’t likely. Also, we can look at history and allow it to guide us as well. To simplify this just do a brief search on “Price Gouging” and you will see what I mean. In a post SHTF situation you can bet that sellers will get everything they possibly can for everything they sell.
It was during this part of the discussion, when I was being peppered with reasons that sellers would not do this, that someone mentioned (paraphrasing) that “seller’s lives would be in jeopardy in a WWROL” and alluded to the idea that this would drive fairness in the market price of goods. Put as bluntly as possible, sellers should understand that in a post SHTF situation they will possibly be killed because “hey, it’s post SHTF WWROL now!”
The Rambo Syndrome
There seem to be a lot of preppers out there that believe if the SHTF tomorrow they would quickly move into this life of living off the land and shooting anyone that poses a threat to them. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are a few people out there that would do this rather quickly, but the vast majority of people, including preppers, would not. There are multitudes of reasons WHY they wouldn’t, but I will focus on a few primary reasons.
Killing Isn’t Easy or Automatic
As a Military Police officer in the US Army I was (more than once) placed in the unenviable position of placing a human being in the sights of a loaded weapon. In at least two of these instances I was well within my rights to pull the trigger and end the subject’s life. My reasons for not doing so are personal and won’t be discussed here, but the emotion and sheer magnitude of the situation was not exclusive to myself. I have spoken to many other people, military and civilian, that have been in the same situation and did NOT pull the trigger. Funny thing, none of them were scared to do it. It just isn’t that damn easy.
I know many people reading this will be saying to themselves “I could do it, no questions asked”. These people have probably never been in the position to know what they would or would not do. Defending your life and the lives of your family is one thing, shooting another human being for their food or money is probably a bit harder. If you truly feel that you could do this without a care, well, you should get some help.
Not An Original Idea
I get the impression that a lot of the people that throw out the “rambo” comments sometimes feel as though this statement is shocking or new, that no one else has ever thought about it. The person that mentioned it last night does NOT fall into this category, and I don’t believe he was trying to “talk tough” as much as make a point, but this is something I see quite often. To this I would just say that anyone smart enough to have thought ahead and gathered the supplies or locked them down after SHTF is probably not stupid enough to wander around selling his goods without some form of security. Most likely that security is going to be much better prepared than the SHTF Rambo.
WWROL = Misnomer
So the term “World Without Rule of Law” was coined a few years back as the likely outcome after a SHTF event. Movies like Mad Max, The Road and Book of Eli as well as just about every other Zombie Apocalypse movie and television shows like Survivors and The Walking Dead have all contributed to the belief that after a societal collapse caused by just about anything, there would be no rules. While this is quite likely to be true in the immediate aftermath of a major event resulting in collapse, the period of time in actual WWROL would be quite short for most people and can be alleviated almost entirely with proper plan and prep strategies.
Even in most of the above mentioned examples the world was not in WWROL. In the Book of Eli there was law, it was corrupt and self-serving, but it was law. Survivors showcases a small group of government employees trying to rebuild and The Walking Dead is absolutely FULL of laws and rules!
Human civilization has been around for several thousand years now. In that period we have had “Rule of Law” since well before the time of Christ. Records as far back as the ancient Egyptians, 4500 years ago, show that they were a society of rules and laws. Do we really think we will fall that far as a species? Do we really think that our accrued knowledge of nearly 5000 years will just vanish? I highly doubt it.
Conclusion
If an event occurs, such as global EMP, global pandemic, global thermonuclear war or anything else that can significantly alter the state of life on this planet then we very well may see a period of time where WWROL is widespread. Small communities with tight relationships that have smart people prepping for these issues will most likely escape a lot of the trouble. Individuals that have prepared will fare well also. The major WWROL issues will be in large cities and on open roads.
Before long human nature will take over and communities will begin expanding their reach and working together. In doing so they will establish commerce which will require security and governance. This is how the World of Law comes back to the areas that have lost it. I have faith in our species as a whole. I believe that troubling times are on the horizon and many, possibly even myself, will not make it through. That being said I am preparing myself and my family as though we will make it, and with our plans the transition will be eased slightly and made more comfortable for the kids.
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