[Resolution]

SHTF = Shit hits the fan

Okay, there's a survivalist element that believes in the possibility of a catastrophic societal collapse. Where society, rules, and utilities shut down.

If society began to fall to pieces around you. What would you, as an INFJ, do? Would you survive as basic services and food distribution fell into chaos?

I'm curious to see... what would your plans of survival be?

 

[zwanglos]

...maybe?...

 

[Resolution]

...maybe?...

Well nothing's certain in life except uncertainty :laughing:

But how would you react to a situation like SHTF?

 

[GreenCoyote]

like I have brought up before in my end of the world thread I would find a giant animal to ride on.
first.
as cars will have obviously stopped working.

honestly. with big things I pretty much have a lot of confidence. if I don't or I am feeling sad it is because I am withholding pertinent information from someone close to me. sometimes I tell the wrong things to the wrong people but typically I have learned to tell the people who it is all associated with. and not necessarily the people objects but the people ideas.
this is not making sense. lol.

often my fear is advice for others.

but I honestly react pretty well in most stressful situations because I am pre-prepared for all of them
when I do get into a tough one I sorta just wait it out. it does scare me though and I tend to freeze up.
so honestly... I would be the first to die.

I become immobile when stressed.

 

[vel]

so this is where all that first shooter practice finally becomes worth something huh

Probably travel back to be with my family and figure out something together with them. We already left a place once where society was collapsing, not in a omg-zombies-are-taking-over hollywood style but where there was no food selling in stores and there were people killing each other dividing power and wealth and well our government was undergoing some heavy restructuring. I think this is just a state that some portion of the world exists in at any given point in time.

 

[Navis Amoris]

I would take my friends and family and focus on our own survival first. Then I would find shelter and try to figure out a way to supply us with food. After that I would find some other trustworthy groups who have proven they have the skills to survive and start a clan with them, thereby reconstructing society on a small scale.

 

[penchant]

[...] reconstructing society on a small scale.

Says it all for me. That's the direction I would go... And at times I feel like I'm waiting for it to happen. I imagine I would feel very comfortable in such a context. Not happy all the time of course, but it would bring back the importance of close relationships between people, which is totally lost in our society today...

Just to clarify: I'm not thinking about just family, and not necessarily just people I know either... It's more about building strong local communties, I guess...

 

[Resolution]

Says it all for me. That's the direction I would go... And at times I feel like I'm waiting for it to happen. I imagine I would feel very comfortable in such a context. Not happy all the time of course, but it would bring back the importance of close relationships between people, which is totally lost in our society today...

Just to clarify: I'm not thinking about just family, and not necessarily just people I know either... It's more about building strong local communties, I guess...

Figured I'd weigh in... I was wondering how many fellow INFJ's pondered an event like SHTF.

Five close friends and I are going to camp in a state park next summer with limited supplies for a month. We figure if there is any Katrina-like event, we should be prepared to learn how to live 100% off-grid.

 

[penchant]

Figured I'd weigh in... I was wondering how many fellow INFJ's pondered an event like SHTF.

I guess at least some of us have a strong feeling that this thing called modern society might not last very long in it's present form...

Hmm... Could be interesting with a poll on that...

 

[GreenCoyote]

I have pondered the hitting of the shit on fan at one time or another.

of course. typically the shit hits the fan, spins off and lands somewhere else or remains suspended in mid-air and we (druing the suspenison) will have no shit.

 

[Filigeedreamer]

I'd consult my SAS Survival Guide and The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Extreme Edition, possibly World War Z Survival Guide, if we are talking zombies.

Pack my tool bag, swiss army knife, matches, batteries, torch, candles, first aid box, non perishable foods and drink and other basic survival equipment...arm myself with a gun. Head to the nearest large scale book shop, and while everyone else is stealing food and TVs, take things on old farming techniques and making clothes and fabrics with only basic materials, books on health and first aid, purifying water and digging wells, building and operating generators...you know, stuff that will be vital to rebuilding society. Any sci-fi about a similar situation...and some board games and playing cards.

Head to grandmothers farm with family and friends, fortify. Have cup of tea, and listen as my grandmother relives the black outs from the war, and makes us sing to keep up our spirits.

Start writing about how it all feel apart for decedents, and wait for things to calm down a little before attempting to resurrect some celebence of society from it's tattered and broken remains.

Apart from the fear, terror, forced extended contact with relatives, and back breaking labour...fun times.

 

[penchant]

Apart from the fear, terror, forced extended contact with relatives, and back breaking labour...fun times.

That's not something I think I would ever dare to say to the people I have around me... :laughing: But I agree with you 100%...

 

[Null]

my family is nothing but drug addicts, and the ones who aren't, are beyond socially awkward. so screw them i'm not protecting a single one except my younger cousin if I need to, but he has a gang affiliated brother so I wouldn't be too worried he'd be safe

grab one of the guns in my house and text a list of people to find out situations. I mean it depends what kind of shit hits the fan, if there's riots in the street with people running away for some reason then I'm getting to a high up place to figure out what's going on. I know where to find the hard kids if there's fighting. Maybe it's something like bombs in the streets and 20 story buildings falling over, if it's that then shit I'm stealing someones dirt bike or motor scooter - it'll get through traffic faster, next stop the beach.

That's all the more tragic situations I guess so the lesser stuff wouldn't be so bad.

 

[penchant]

Admittedly, it's a small sample, but have any of you noticed the differences in the answers from Americans vs. non-Americans in this thread? (Vel as the expection, but you seem to have other experiences as well...)

 

[Filigeedreamer]

Admittedly, it's a small sample, but have any of you noticed the differences in the answers from Americans vs. non-Americans in this thread? (Vel as the expection, but you seem to have other experiences as well...)

You mean where I'm British, and included tea drinking as an intergral part on my survival plan?

I mean tea is very importaint, it fixs everything. Wife leaves you? have a cup of tea, got sacked? have a cup of tea, end of the world? have a cup of tea...actually, make it two. It's vital for getting any sort of building, plumming or electrical work done. Workmen need tea to function. Imagine trying to rebuild a civilsation and not having this basic fuel.

Without the tea, how would we Brits cope?

 

[Resolution]

Admittedly, it's a small sample, but have any of you noticed the differences in the answers from Americans vs. non-Americans in this thread? (Vel as the expection, but you seem to have other experiences as well...)

Well my 4 buddies (Paintballing buddies, and close friends who are all very well-acquainted with with wilderness survival) and I already have a bug-out plan, a planned back-road route, a state park we've chosen as being ideal.

We also have the know-how to set up a charcoal Flynn water purification systems for unlimited water, as well as a few caged fish-traps, metal wire for snares, and 2 out of the 5 of us are liscenced hunters. We have no idea how to garden, but we chose a location close enough to a rural town so we could trade for means of growing.

A few points of concerns... me and my friends are used to it just being the five of us, but we agreed that in a SHTF situation, we'd bring family and friends (we're talking upwards of 40 people here). We have absolutely no plan whatsoever for organizing a system of leadership, or providing for so many people unsuited for off-grid survival.

As a history major who dabbles in anthropology... wondering about potential tribal governance and self-sufficient societies is so fascinating XD

 

[Filigeedreamer]

A few points of concerns... me and my friends are used to it just being the five of us, but we agreed that in a SHTF situation, we'd bring family and friends (we're talking upwards of 40 people here). We have absolutely no plan whatsoever for organizing a system of leadership, or providing for so many people unsuited for off-grid survival.

As a history major who dabbles in anthropology... wondering about potential tribal governance and self-sufficient societies is so fascinating XD

Ever read Lord of the Flies?

I'd read that, and do the oposite of what those kids do.

In all seriouseness reading sci-fi is good for this sort of thing as someone has already thought out the key things in SHTF scenarios. Such as leadership issues.

Day of the Triffids is frightening because it's just so belivable. The social groups that form and the reactions of people...it just rings true.

 

[penchant]

You mean where I'm British, and included tea drinking as an intergral part on my survival plan?

I mean tea is very importaint, it fixs everything. Wife leaves you? have a cup of tea, got sacked? have a cup of tea, end of the world? have a cup of tea...actually, make it two. It's vital for getting any sort of building, plumming or electrical work done. Workmen need tea to function. Imagine trying to rebuild a civilsation and not having this basic fuel.

Without the tea, how would we Brits cope?

haha, I'm all for the 'cuppa' strategy! lol

I'm probably going very strong on the stereotypes here, but I'm thinking of something that your second post mentioning Lord of the Flies also hints at. In my view many people that i hear talk about these kind of things tend to emphasize the "survival" aspect and good hunting skills, relying on being armed for security, stocking up on supplies and so on. While I fully agree that a lot of (though not all) of these more "macho" aspects are important, what seems to me to be missing is many times the realisations of long term consequences of a collapse of our present society.

Given something like Katrina or any other local emergency, it is a matter of short term survival and often about leaving the place. If a sunstorm in 2012 or 2013 would shut the entire global electricity grid down, or the worlds financial markets were to collapse, we would be facing severe global shortages of most things we are accustomed to for a long time, possible forcing people to start living off the land again, and without such things as dirt cheap fertilizers and oil.

In such a scenario, good hunting skills won't be enough for survival b/c of the huge amounts of land needed to support human life. Local agriculture, local trade and local manufacturing would be the key, and local governance to keep things running. Now what skills will be needed then, seems to me a much more pressing question.

Granted other scenarios are of course possible, any skill might be useful, but no man is an island, not even an INFJ...

 

[Resolution]

In such a scenario, good hunting skills won't be enough for survival b/c of the huge amounts of land needed to support human life. Local agriculture, local trade and local manufacturing would be the key, and local governance to keep things running. Now what skills will be needed then, seems to me a much more pressing question.

Granted other scenarios are of course possible, any skill might be useful, but no man is an island, not even an INFJ...

Even Survivorman has a lot of trouble living off the land for a week and he's one of the best.

Survival would rely upon either seizing enough supplies to survive the first major starvation period... or hide a small community and get makeshift agriculture running post-haste. Hunting might be a good supplementary skill, but certainly in of itself, not enough. I do plan on trying my hand at making some Dandelion stew... just like my starving Irish forefathers used to make ^_^

If food distribution, the economy, and the electrical grid shut down... the grocery stores would be empty in at most a week... it'd be safe to assume a very large death rate and some of the worst of human nature. But in such a scenario, right behind starvation, the second biggest threat is humans.

 

[Werewolfen]

I've got a 3 month supply of food that I've had for over a year that I ordered from efoodsdirect plus a 76 seed variety of heirloom garden seeds that will continually produce seed harvest after harvest in an air tight container. Guns,ammo, reloading equipment, plus living 25 miles away from the nearest major metro city. One of the pluses to living in my house is I have a fireplace with a flat stove top that I can cook stuff on with plenty of trees around me. I have a well for water.

I see herds of Mule Deer and Elk come onto the property where I live every evening, I would only hunt them if starvation was near. People who live in heavily populated urban sprawls will have it rough.

I've read about how the people struggled during the 1930s , most people were self-reliant , had great rural living skills, and STILL suffered and many died. Most people only have a week's worth of food on hand at any given time and shortly after a collapse there would be chaos.

New Orleans during Katrina was a beta -test no doubt about it, when all the supplies were being post-poned , gun confiscations happened, people were turned back that tried to walk out on the bridges, and people died. Don't think that FEMA would save you during or after a collapse, they went in and purposely cut communication lines during Katrina,Aaron Broussard told his police chief to arrest any FEMA personnel caught near communication lines.

Everyone would be wise to own a shortwave radio to pick up news from other countries, I've got a Kaito KA1103 shortwave radio. I can pick up stations all over Europe , the Middle East, and Asia.

Another thing is transportation collapse , no more gasoline or diesel except for the Govt. agencies. What would you do? There is something called Gasification where an engine can be converted over to run on burning wood. It's primitive and a vehicle will be slower but it will GO. There are slews of Gasification car and truck videos all over youtube.

YouTube - Car actually runs on garbage