Prepping

Preppers – and their art of prepping – have taken on an air of normality and respectability in the face of the social and economic disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, argued a piece in the Mirror newspaper on the 30^th of October 2021.

Who’s paranoid now!

The story mentions the origins of prepping – basically, preparing for any natural or manmade disaster or crisis – in the United States. The stereotype of that particular breed of prepper, though, was likely to have been a redneck American, armed to the teeth, ready to fend off all-comers, and often “dismissed as paranoid extremists”.

To British eyes, this unsavoury caricature probably stemmed from the habit of early American preppers to stand quite so vehemently and steadfast to their Second Amendment right to bear arms.

The interpretation of the Second Amendment varies in some details from one state to another but typically allows any adult to carry a gun – indeed, almost a third of all Americans say they own a gun, which they claim as a means of “personal protection”.

That legal freedom obviously puts a big distance between the nature of prepping in the US and in the UK. And those differences are just as stark when it comes to carrying a knife. In many states, there is no limit at all on the length of blade that can be carried – provided there is no attempt at concealing it as a weapon.

In the UK, on the other hand, it is illegal to carry a knife in public “without good reason” unless it is a folding type (like a Swiss army or pocket knife) with a blade less than 3 inches long.

The perils

The heightened concern in the United States for personal safety may have a lot to do with the different, pioneering, history of the country when compared with the UK.

But what makes the UK approach to prepping probably seem more modest and relaxed than preppers’ counterparts in the UK is down to differences in the perils faced when disaster or crisis strikes in either country.

In the United States, for instance, there are regular threats to life and property from such devastating events as hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and volcanoes. In the UK, by contrast, an emergency is likely to be called in the wake of widespread flooding or especially heavy falls of snow. In both countries, of course, terrorist attacks spark panic and considerably heightened states of alarm.

Shared experiences

Whereas the stereotype of the North American prepper might still be that gun-toting “paranoid extremist” it contrasts with the comparatively mild-mannered British response that sees squabble over the last roll of toilet paper at Tesco’s.

But the pandemic has probably brought a sense of shared experiences on both sides of the Atlantic.

In a world dominated by coronavirus, personal safety is guaranteed more by measures of self-isolation than any level of armaments. Prepping is assumes an importance because it enables people to prepare in ways that are likely to matter – ways that ensure the basic necessities of life, such as food, water, shelter, and warmth.