Gene told a fib <g> You must remember the first round of
survivalist. Ah,
bomb shelters and stocking up in the 50s?
Nah. In the early fifties my family did not even consider such stuff.
Bomb, or fallout, shelters and ducking under one's desk was something
city folk did. We Wisconsin farm boys were having way too much fun to
take such nonsense seriously. We had more food than we could eat and
who would want to bomb poor Wisconsin subsistence farms?
I enlisted in the Army in 1954 and spent most of the next three years
defending the free world Monday thru Friday and defending the economy
of Yokohama bars and brothels Saturday thru Sunday. When I emerged
into the California world in 1957 my attention was on Beatniks,
bohemianism and babes, which is to say, deep research on the
differences between Japanese and American girls. Focus and persistence.
In 1974, Danville resident, Howard Ruff, scared hell out of people and
made lots of money with the publication of his book, Famine and
Survival, which occurred during high inflation and in the wake of a so-
called oil crisis, which most affected me by having to push the
Porsche through long gas lines and then later paying serious money to
have the fuel injection system cleaned of the crap from the bottom of
the gas station tanks. Ruff then really cleaned up by publishing a
newsletter, Ruff Times. He gave us gist and grist for great
conversation. My fellow Realtors and I drank beer and talked long
about gold, guns and getting through to the other side. I bought a .45
and qualified for a concealed-carry permit.
The origin of the word "survivalist" is claimed by Kurt Saxon, another
colorful fearleader who made money publishing newsletters--today the
favored format is a blog, after first publishing a sensationalist
book. Saxon was actually one of the first fearleaders to write about
the homestead life as a way to be prepared for disaster. Yes,
colorful; at one point he is said to have suggested to a Congressional
committee that certain malcontents would best be handled with machine
guns.
The history of the survivalist mindset from The Great Depression to
today is the story of fearleaders who profit by responding to the
strongest of all human characteristics--fear. I see it here, but never
by those with the homesteader mindset.