In the past couple weeks the belief that the food facility fires are part of some deliberate, politically-motivated effort to destroy our food supply has spread faster than, well, wildfire among the right. In the past couple days I’ve seen various people on social media proclaim it’s “eco-terrorism” and I’ve seen several mentions of some iteration of “he who controls the food supply, controls the people,” being bandied about. None of these people can give details of who exactly they believe is responsible for these fires or evidence that supports that conclusion. but they’re convinced there are just too many fires for it to be a coincidence or accidents.
The right-wing crazy spreads as fast as the left-wing Trump derangement spread. I’ve yet to see any real evidence indicating these fires were eco-terrorism or that they are all connected. A whole lot of people on the right believe Biden, Democrats and liberals pushing climate change/green policies will do anything to force Americans to comply with their agenda, so believing these fires are eco-terrorism fits perfectly with their belief that these people on the left are evil. People on the left, who went totally bonkers about Trump being akin to Hitler, were caught up in that delusional belief pattern too.
So, yes, there are plenty of people on the left who want to force Americans to comply with their green agenda and yes, many of these people put their ideological beliefs about climate change above individual rights and our liberties. Some even spout that their policies, which are crushing small businesses and even the American economy, are a small price to pay to move to their vision of green energy. However, I’ve seen no evidence linking these fires or bolstering the conclusion they’re part of some diabolical plot to destroy the food supply.
Where I do see efforts to control people is on social media – trying to control information (the endless spin information war) and efforts to silence numerous people on the right or people who did not accept the “trust the Covid science” put forth by health officials and politicians. However, here again the overreach centered on a four-year effort to silence Trump, but it also spread to include other Republican politicians and mostly people on the right, but there was also a massive effort to kill the Hunter Biden laptop story in October of 2020. Twitter and other social media platforms banned users from reposting the NY Post story on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Distrust permeates between partisans in America, but often even between people who hold differing views on preparedness or what to stock up on. I don’t care what people stock up on, but I will keep preaching about how important it is to try to get out of debt, especially consumer debt. I also believe it’s important to stock up on hope and optimism too. I’m not going to run around calling anyone evil if they disagree with me and I prefer to assume most people are operating in good faith, even the people who I think went down a right-wing rabbit hole on this “they’re trying to destroy our food supply.”
I haven’t seen much in the way of competent strategic planning on the left – even with the Davos crowd. The policies they’re proposing and most of what Dems in America have pushed will definitely lead to worse economic woes, but if you watch how much of a mess the baby formula crisis is and how inept the response, well, it’s hard for me to believe these people are the masterminds of some grand plan to destroy the food supply via arson at food facilities. They might wreck the food supply through their total incompetence and stupid policies that don’t work, but I just don’t see them as strategically plotting arson attacks to destroy the food supply.
All of the trillions spent for COVID hand-outs and other rash spending have put us on the path to massive economic problems, then add in the war in Ukraine, sanctions on Russia, and other assorted weather problems, shortage problems, shipping problems, well, we’re heading into some trying times.
Rather than sit around doom-casting or worrying about everything from what I’m going to do if people come to my door asking for food, to worrying about America collapsing, I’m focusing on what I can do each day to positively affect my life and help my family and people I come into contact with. I’m not wasting one second worrying about what I’m going to say to a family member or friend who made some comment about me stocking up and then comes to ask for help. It’s pretty easy for me to offer help, if I can, but my help comes with telling them they need to pass it on.
True story from my trip to visit my youngest grandchild last month – my daughter thinks my level of stocking up is ridiculous and she assumes life will continue as normal. Until the federal government puts out some bulletin, I doubt she’ll believe me about the precarious economic situation.
In my usual travelling mode, I took some cash with me, to have in case. At my daughter’s house one day, the guy who does the yard at the house where they just moved into, came and mowed. My daughter came in the house and asked my son, who travelled with me, if he had cash to pay the yard guy. My son said he doesn’t carry cash. I asked her how much she needed and I told her I had it, so I gave her the cash. She said, “Who carries cash?” I said, “Everyone should carry some cash.” Perhaps they’ll think about it, but even if they don’t, I’ll help them regardless, because they’re family.
Rather than preach about growing food, I decided to attempt container gardening and it’s working for me, but I also gave 6 people plants and I offered plants to two other people, who didn’t want any. I’ll still be happy to share extra vegetables with those two, because they’re nice neighbors, who would help me out too. I am not investing any energy into getting angry at anyone – even people I totally disagree with or who hold differing political views.
With other things I’ve done to try to be more prepared, like most people, I’m a work in progress and have a lot of gaps – some from deciding what my budget allows and some from I feel totally out of my depth in knowing what’s best for me – like a generator or portable solar power. With talk of rolling black-outs being likely across the country this summer, thinking about this area of preparedness seems more pressing, so I’m trying to do some research.
I have several ways to cook food – butane burner, gas grill, charcoal grill and there’s still some little gas stove thing my husband used in the garage – plus if push comes to shove, I have a fireplace, but I sure don’t want to light that in the summertime in GA. I’ve thought about a sun oven, but the All American sun oven is expensive and I doubt I would use it much. A long time ago I watched a video on how to construct a sun oven cheaply, but I haven’t tried that.
A huge problem for me is organization and figuring out better ways to organize my food pantry, my supplies, tools, craft and sewing stuff and now more gardening stuff has become a priority. What good is buying a lot of stuff to be prepared, if during an emergency I can’t find things quickly or am digging through closets, boxes, plastic totes, and even store bags, hunting down the vital preparedness supplies I bought? Yes, a lack of good organization will neutralize all my good preparedness intentions. Things here sort of float about too long without a designated home and labeled containers are a rare sighting in my closets, although I do label and date every container or bag that goes into my freezers. Organization remains my biggest challenge.
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