Preparedness Community: Individualism vs. Collectivism

by Todd Walker

Too big to fail globalists want us to believe their titillating noble lies. Their mouthpiece, the Main Stream Media (MSM), denies the Newspeak coming from elite lips and to disguise  what their hands are doing. To reduce thought and critical thinking, truth is labeled ‘conspiracy theories.’ You’re a whack-job if you believe alternative news sources.

Elitists hate individuals. To them, we’re a pebble in their jack boots.

MSM is not their only promoter. Public schools are shills for the Collective. It matters not whether the school is populated by offspring of mostly conservative, liberal, or fence sitters. Every government-run school in America is a decoy for State enslavement – for the good of the group.

For those unfamiliar with the term collectivism, it is the complete opposite of individualism. Many times my students yell the answer of the math problem, 4 – 10 = 6. The answer given is the complete opposite of the correct answer, (- 6). Leaving out the negative sign seems like such a trivial matter. I point out the ‘simple’ error more times than I care to admit. The two numbers are on opposite ends of the number line.

“The answer is correct, except for that little sign,” Mr. Walker.

The importance of building resilient communities for not only survival, but to thrive in the coming days, can not be overemphasized. Neighboring Matters was an article I wrote about the importance of community in dealing with unknown unknowns. Today, some of the unknowns are turning into knowns. Confiscation in Cyprus ring any bells?

We’re social animals and thrive in community. What we don’t do well is live in the societal super-organism called the Collective. In this living, breathing entity, the individual merely survives by sacrificing his/her own self-interest for the “good of the group” – unless you’re at the top of the elitist pyramid.

“Collectivism often sounds humane because it stresses the importance of human needs. In reality, it is little more than a rationalization for sacrificing you and me to the desires of others.” — Jarret B. Wollstein

Individualism and Community

First, let’s explore building community based on individualism. By community, I’m referring to building mutual assistance and aid based on voluntary association without force, coercion, or treat of violence.

What makes you happy?

In a community of individuals (anti-collectivists), one is able to exercise his natural right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. A moral individual wishing to pursue her happiness will find it necessary to cooperate with other like-minded individuals, not just in trading goods and services, but sharing knowledge, and developing genuine relationships as well.

The aim of building community should be to increase our quality of life. In a true free-market, these pursuits (life, liberty, and happiness) would be more easily attained.

Individuals make up a community, obviously. We’ve all witnessed how individuals come together during a crisis to serve (voluntarily) to help others in their community. Remember the devastation of Hurricane Katrina? The communities that rebounded quickly took matters into their own hands. They weren’t coerced into giving charity. They saw a need and made a decision to help neighbors.

The recovery time of any natural or manmade disaster takes longer when collectivist thinking dominates a community or society. Charity to your neighbor becomes a duty – enforced by the State. Give until it hurts or until the-powers-that-be say stop. Violating my rights in no way motivates me to give. I’ll gladly and willingly help others out of love for my fellow man and mutual benefit. However, coerce me and I resist.

No amount of guilt, force, or pressure applied by the Collective can be matched by the power of individuals motivated to pursue their own self-interest.

Individuals in the Collective are like oil and water. They don’t mix.

Collectivism and Controllers

Look no further for a shining example of that living super-organism called the Collective than our public schools. Students are trained to snitch on individuals who don’t play by the rules. Schools are a reflection of our nanny state encouraging “see something, say something”. The Powers of Fairness rule schools. Individualism is ferreted out and dealt with brutally for the good of the group. Parents chained to their office cubicles see no way out of their compassionate cage and allow the hostage taking to continue.

It’s only fair, right?

There seems to be no escape.

Ask yourself this question: Who benefits from those dependent on the Collective?

From an evolutionary point of view, bad ideas should die out. The Collective not only controls the bad idea factory, they have the State in their pocket to enforce their insanity. As the bad idea of collectivism becomes worse, it manifests destruction, an unproductive class, theft, vice, and pure evil. The Controller’s matrix punishes producers and rewards dependence. Before long, your proper position in the food chain is established.

Exposing the self-sufficiency myth

There’s a myth (or dream) floating around the prepper community about being completely self-reliant and self-sufficient. I’ve been guilty of falling for and even promoting the myth. Is it really achievable or just selling snake oil? With so many odds against us, I sometimes feel like I’m constantly selling some secret elixir out the back of a wagon.

The main obstacle to self-sufficiency is not money, resources, land, or skills. The biggest hurdle is the Collective.

That pesky Collective keeps us dependent on their matrix. I’ve got to keep my health insurance, pay for shelter, food, and other needs – rinse and repeat. Stop paying rent (property taxes) on what you may call ‘free and clear’ land or house, and the Controllers send in goons to take what you once called home. Fiat greenbacks are required to pay tribute. Bartering in this situation won’t work.

Is there a better way to earn your freedom and escape the Collective cage? Freedom and liberty trump control and forced servitude. I’ve tried to wrap my mind around living off the land, hiding in caves, or some other Hollywood Doomsday lifestyle. It’s not for me, DRG, or our loved ones. If you think you’d enjoy that lifestyle, more power to you. I enjoy things that satisfy me personally and connect me to my true nature – without extravagance. This forces me to rethink my preparedness paradigm.

Redefining preparedness 

1. Get your mind right. Ditch the spin doctors. Whatever label you have pasted to your forehead, spinning your version of truth doesn’t apply to everyone. We’re individuals. Not groups crammed into the Collective. Absent regulatory control, the free market will expose fraud and bad ideas. The Medical Industrial Complex, Industrial Food Machine, mass media, and whoever you voted for are cogs in the collective wheel.
2. Adopt a depression lifestyle. This one involves distinguishing between the needs and wants. Take pleasure in withholding produce from the Collective. They need me more than I need them. Play their game better than they do. Do it all legally and above-board. Shrug.
3. Bloom where you’re planted. If you’re not already living in a sparsely populated western state, and don’t have the resources to relocate, or better yet, don’t want to relocate to what experts call the safe haven states, what’s a prepared family or individual to do? Bloom right where you are. No doubt the number of potential roving gangs of looters drops in less populated regions, but if every follower of this brand of prepping acted on this advice, wouldn’t these states quickly grow in population? Yes, but they’d all have the right mindset. Don’t be so sure of that. Follow your gut.
4. Down size. Learn to love less. Houses, cars, gadgets, etc. Decide what’s a priority in meeting needs, not wants. Tangibles and quality equipment and tools and things that hold value over time are stuff to go after. When the balloon goes up, you’ll be glad you collected stuff smartly.
5. Take advantage of living in our modern world with our modern conveniences. Use technology to resurrect lost skills – and make them better. Alternative energy (passive solar, hydro, and even wood gasification) will be a key element to bouncing back from chaos. Every family needs at least one geek. Khan Academy is an example of a ‘geek’ who has bypassed traditional brick and mortar classrooms to teach effectively online. The same strategy can be applied to starve the Collective and build resilience. Geek on!
6. Resilient health. Health is wasted on youth – among other things. After our personal SHTF experience, we don’t take our health for granted. Be proactive about what you put into your body. This one act alone can reprogram your health. You’ll also need proper amounts of sleep, exercise, sunshine, play, and down time. The last thing you want is to be dependent on the medical/pharma system to keep your ticking. This is one more step in pulling the plug on the Collective.

Not everyone is going to grab the flag and lead the charge. But once one person storms the hill, they won’t be alone. Many will follow. If you haven’t begun building a group or community, it’s not too late. It’ll take some time, but it can happen, one individual at a time.

If you found this helpful, consider helping get the word out by sharing it with your social network, family, and friends. We certainly appreciate all the support we get from you!

Also, please follow me on Twitter for updates on our journey: @SurvivalSherpa

How Government Schools Destroy Self-Reliance

by Todd Walker

I taught a kid one year that would get upset and start smashing his head against the institutional green walls. I was once guilty of this as well, figuratively. Banging your head against government walls will only give you a head ache and doesn’t even chip the paint. Schools in America are wildly successful in their mission. Before you stop reading, hear me out please. I base my statement on the founding principles of public (government) education. The truth, which slumbering Americans fail to realize, is that our system of forced schooling fosters dependence on the state. The confusion is intentional. Victims students are disoriented from their pre-schooled lives on their first day of schooling. Little Johnny is forced to give up interest led learning and replace it with the corrupting concept that learning only takes place by experts teaching him and 30 of his fellow captives. Some resist and hold true to their nature. We label and drug these non-conformists.

An Act of War

In 1983 the National Commission on Excellence in Education wrote:

“If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves.”

Reforming the system is impossible. It performs perfectly. The circling school drain sucks self-reliance and individualism down the sewer line.

Here’s how…

Tag and Track

There is no expectation of privacy in a surveillance state school. A Texas school district tracks its students every movement with microchips. Security cameras already blanket every move of students and faculty in the school house. Why track the herd with RFID chips? Follow the money. Attendance is tied to federal and state dollars to fatten the district coffers. Now government snoops can know whether your child is home playing hooky, boarding the bus, sitting on the toilet, or at that doctor’s appointment. Sadly, so can any pedophile or tech-savvy predator with a RFID reader. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. All in the name of keeping our children safe and secure.

At least they’re not implanting them … yet. Wouldn’t it be easier to just implant this device under Johnny’s skin? Don’t think for a minute that the-powers-that-be (collectivist control freaks) haven’t already contemplated it. Wearily similar to laboratory animals or livestock, students are conditioned for compliance. Made to be useful, but to whom?

The herd is conditioned to wear straightjackets built to restrict individuals for the good of the group. What if your son or granddaughter isn’t interested in algebra? Doesn’t matter. The collective knows what’s best for your children…and will force feed it to them – in 50 minute segments – on hard seats – while telling them how much they’ll need this in later life. If they’ve been taught the basics of how to read, write, and multiply, they can figure out how to cross that algebra bridge if they ever have to in real life. It’s not that difficult. The State just makes it look hard so only licensed teachers are qualified to dispense knowledge. This is only one dirty little secret in the educrat’s toolbox of lies. You have no choice but to play alone.

With a little digging you’ll also discover these myths promoted as fact…

• Passing a grade level equals education
• Life is supposed to be fair
• Learning can only takes place with State licensed teachers (arrogant monopoly)
• A diploma equals competence
• The government is here to help you
• Schools perform unconstitutional search and seizures to keep your children ‘safe’ (simple conditioning exercises for the real world)
• The pharmaceutical industry wants you healthy (mercury flu vaccines anyone?)
• Eating from the USDA Food Pyramid makes you strong, healthy, and fit
• You’re considered drug free in school if you’re popping ‘approved’ mood altering pills
• Reality TV and professional wrestling are real…and Elvis is alive!
• Individualism marks you as mentally ill
• The individual must be sacrificed for the good of the collective
• Thought I’d throw this one in for free since it’s election time… You vote matters

Resistance is futile. One contumacious student is feeling the Texas heat. “Andrea Hernandez, a sophomore at John Jay, said educators have ignored her pleas to respect her privacy and told her she cannot participate in school elections if she refuses to comply with the tracking program. Hernandez said in an interview with Salon that subjecting herself to constant monitoring through an RFID chip is like being branded with the ‘mark of the beast.'”

Shut up and take the mark! Quit criticizing our scheme. This is the fate of any individual in the collective’s grip.

Collective Sameness vs. Self-Reliant Individuals

Over two million families have made a logical choice to de-school their children. A few families are reading the handwriting on the institutional wall of forced educational tyranny. Our ancestors forged this country without compulsory pubic education. Somewhere on our amazing journey Americans gave our responsibility of educating our offspring to the statist gulags.

Taking responsibility for one’s learning or life is deemed irresponsible. I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve heard fellow teachers, with scowled faces and rolled eyes, disparage parents who yank their students from the grip of institutional schooling to teach at home. At best, they’ll become a greeter at Wally world or ride on the back of a trash truck is the usual tone of their comments. On the other hand, I’ve also heard a few enlightened coworkers declare that their children will never attend public school. They’ve experienced the mind-numbing, creativity-killing, one-size-fits-all school setting first hand.

I work along side with some the best teachers around. I see the hard work, extra hours, and dedication in their attempts to educate. Many burn out and either leave teaching or just go through the motions to preserve some semblance of sanity. Like so many in our society, most teachers have mistakenly assumed it’s our job to educate children. The system isn’t set up to educate. It’s set up to take individuals through a meat grinder to produce homogenized humans useful to the ruling elites. As Nikita Khrushchev said,

“Comrades! We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all.”

Mr. Khrushchev, along with every other totalitarian dictator, placed a high value on indoctrinating young minds to create the cult of compliance.

That’s why individualism and self-reliance must be crushed for the collective to thrive. Resistance is futile!

Zero Tolerance Zone

Nanny state schools give us a glimpse into the mind of our elite rulers. Ideas are dangerous. Act on this ‘silly’ ideas of self-defense, self-ownership, healthy living, free speech, and liberty and the boot of tyranny soon stomps on your neck. Schools are no weapon zones (AKA – Victim Zones). School administrators across America must be told to never use common sense by TPTB (The Powers That Be). How else could one explain the enforcement of Zero Tolerance rules?

• A Tennessee elementary school boy was punished for waving a gun at his lunch table. No, not a real gun, wait for it…a deadly pizza gun! Administrators can’t have boys being boys. They’ve got to be melted and poured into the compliant mold. For his crime, he spent the next five days eating alone at the silent lunch table. If he chews another piece of dough into the shape of a gun and starts brandishing the pizza, he’ll get suspended. Whee, I know the parents and fellow students feel safe now!
• When did lunchroom ladies turn into the Food Gestapo? Recently, a 7th grader in California, wishing to eat something other than GMO laden lunches, brought a bottle of tea to drink with his home prepared lunch. One of the brown-shirts spotted it and alerted her superiors. They descended on the child and confiscated the contraband. The FDA label stated that the kombucha contains .5% alcohol and this violates the school Drug and Alcohol Policy. WHAT!? My fermenting homemade sauerkraut probably contains more alcohol than this stuff. Even the FDA says that it’s not an alcoholic beverage and is easily purchased by minors. Ignorance knows no bounds!
• Middle schoolers arrested for protesting dress code.
• Dropped cake leads to broken wrist and arrest of high school student and mother.

If a multitude is to be subjected to a plan, it must be militarized. If individuals are allowed a free choice, the plan is thrown into confusion. Bureaucracy, under an absolute ruler, or rulers, is necessary. – Dean Inge

The schooling scheme designed by intellectual elitist shapes individuals to be dependent on powerful others for all their wants and needs. Showing up to school is all that’s needed. With enough time and pressure, even the most self-reliant student is molded into passive objects.

Public schooling is so good, we’ve made it mandatory. Now, get on that yellow bus and be a good student (a useful consumer of collectivism).

What’s the solution? I don’t fool myself into thinking I have a solution for millions of individuals and their own self-interests. Don’t let politicians and bureaucrats fool you either. Families should do their own research, think for themselves, and come up with their own method of educating their children – and preparing for the uncertain future. Ask what’s best for you, the individual. Do you want your children to have critical thinking skills, voluntary associations, creativity, self-reliance, and self-ownership? These and much more are available to you if you search.

Class dismissed!

Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance,

Todd

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