I’ve had a couple of friends ask me if I’m prepping.

Prepping for what?

I see the UK is doing a Be Prepared campaign and Fucking Dan Bongino said something on a podcast. What’s that about?

  • CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Notice the world is rearming with alarming haste? The post WWII calm, the rules based order, just died, due to Russia’s military agression of conquest, China’s weaponization of trade and America’s unmittigated use of both.

    The predictable world marked by moderation in good things and bad, is gone now. When the hits come, you can expect the bullies to take your lunch money. Partnerships with other countries are just one election away from turning on you or changing allegiances. You can’t even count on geopolitical analysis of rational behaviour and self interest. This being exemplified by Russia and the USs self immolation.

    The governments around the world understand the risks, and expect more discontinuity of services. Pandemics, freezer hackings, war, AI, planetary boundaries and climate change and more all mean that our previous quests of efficiency and profitability instead of resilience and sustainability as a goal, make everything hyper fragile.

    When the government says stock up to last a while during disruptions, its because they know they aren’t capable of shielding everyone from everything. They are warning you “we’ll take care of the big stuff, but for the small stuff you’re on your own.”

    • Talaraine@fedia.io
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      2 days ago

      Honestly this should be the tagline if truth and action is really what’s needed from the populace. “We’ll take care of the big stuff, but for the small stuff you’re on your own.” Back in the WWII days people did much more… take a look at victory gardens as an example. We’re very accustomed to getting what we need easily and I don’t think it’s a bad thing to remind people that can change.

      • NABDad@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Shit. November isn’t a great time to start a victory garden where I am.

        I also have trees blocking sunlight for as long as they have leaves.

        I guess it’s mushrooms in the basement for me.

      • Today@lemmy.worldOP
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        2 days ago

        In my family we have an ongoing argument regarding when instant gratification became the norm. I say it’s the ATM. My husband says it’s the car. Obviously things have increased pretty rapidly since either of those.

        • Azal@pawb.social
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          2 days ago

          My dad talks about the air conditioner. He says how people don’t go out on the porch now which leads to talking to neighbors because the temperature inside is nicer. That not talking to neighbors means doing it all on ones own which requires that instant gratification.

          I want to argue but this last summer was definitely a staying inside one.

          • shalafi@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            You have perfectly described Florida after a hurricane. All the neighbors chillin’ together, power comes back, BYE. Just did that two weeks ago.

      • EmilieEasie@fedinsfw.app
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        2 days ago

        Not a brit but when I think about the kinds of sacrifices people used to make and are still making in some places and I try to apply that to, like, my parents, my mind boggles.

        My mom becomes sullen and just so unpleasant if a restaurant takes more than 20 minutes to get her food out, even when she can see they’re very busy. She’s not the kind of boomer that yells at the waitstaff (actually she’s Gen X anyway lol) but she bitches nonstop to everyone waiting with her, which makes it hard for everyone else. It always felt like she was never raised with any expectation to moderate her own feelings about things at all.

        Her ONLY HOBBY is TV, and it’s all she has to look forward to after work. She can’t sleep without her one specific box fan. I feel like rolling blackouts would send her into absolute fits.

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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      2 days ago

      China’s weaponization of trade

      Eh, I don’t think the threat of Chinese trade is that it is being strategic. The problem is that China has set itself up so that it only really needs natural resources to maintain its economy and won’t/can’t open itself up to import other manufactured goods of significant quantity.

      It is incredibly hard for any industrial or service led economy to export enough goods and services to China to make up for the goods that China wants to export.

      • CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        In general yes, but don’t forget China’s witholding critical minerals for example. China wields trade policy like a bludgeon, not a tool. Trade policy of China, between business interests and strategic interests are inseperable.

    • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      LOL with the Russia stuff. In the meantime, how much did the US do? Israel?

      The fact that we’re running out of cheap easy high quality fossil fuels? Nothing? No connection?

      • CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Everything is connected. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is driven primarily for the desire for their resources, primarily their fertile black soils. It’s a globally significant breadbasket that under increasing climate change becomes a strategic asset.

        Don’t assume that a lemmy post will be a complete picture of everything.

      • TheFrirish@tarte.nuage-libre.fr
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        2 days ago

        He wants to attack his perceived ennemies so that they can rearm? What kind of plan is that? Also the US can dismantle itslef without him and that would be still be a net positive for the world.