"Why, during the Depression, a guy would knock on your door and ask if he could chop wood, pick oranges, do any ~ind of work in ex-·· change for a meal. Today they'll just try ta come and take it." I asked how many people in the Grants Pass area they would consider "hard-core" Survivalists, defined as having at least a year's supply of food and weapons. I wondered if they would agree.with the fellow who said it was "just a handful of guys."·They didn't. The number, they assured me, was "hundreds.". "..,· When the crunch comes~ a horde· of welfare types will ask you for a handout and "blast your ass off" if you can't defend yourself.. ' Earlier this year it was reported that Oregon Governor Vic Atiyeh was disturbed by reports of Ku Klux Klan activity in southern Oregon. After talking with a few "hard-core" Survivalists, the possibility of some overlap between Survivalists and Klan members seemed quite plausible. According to sources at the American Civil Liberties Union, the Oregon Attorney General's Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, though, there does not seem to be any such overlap. However, as Mike Bahala of the Klanwatch Project in Montgomery, Alabama pointed out to me, there is a philosophical connection in that, like many Survivalists, Klansmen and I Nazis actively envision some sort of Armeggedon..:.._characterisI ... ~~~ ~~~ A Loophole behind vine~ B Tiles lifted on roof. Dark patches are painted on roof as dummy loopholes. C Loophole under shadow of porch. D Loophole'.at ground level behind bush. E Loophole under the eaves. Dummies should be painted all along under the gutter. · F:IGURE 33: Technique ,of fortifying a house. Diagram sh«>ws methods of hiding loopholes to avoid the·necessity for firing through windows. (From Combat in Fort~fied and Built-up Areas. United States Army Field Manual Number 31-50, 10 March 1964.) From Life After Doomsday October 1981 RAIN Page 7 tically including a racial an? religious war. Survivalists and survivalists OK. Back to square one. What's a Survivalist? Clearly, Survivalists are consumers in a fast-growing industry that's making a lot of money by playing on people's fears. Survival, ' Inc., a mail-order outfit'in Carson, California grosses $1 million a year. Survivalist economist Howard Ruff (see access) has made some $20 million from sales of his books, newsletter and freezedried foods. Realtors in supposedly ."safe" areas are having a field day buying and selling expensive "retreat'·' properties (sometimes the same property three or four times in one year) with a 6-10 percent commission at each turn. Certain publishing houses, such as Paladin in Boulder, Colorado are cashing in on a virtual catalogue of survivalist books. Kephart Communications in Alexandria, Virginia even has long-time appropi:iate technologist Karl Hess (see RAIN, VII:2) editing their new Survival Tomorrow, an 8-page monthly that sells for $60/year. Beyond profiteering, Survivalists (with the exception of Hess and a few others who recognize the importance of community) are per- · haps the most vivid expression of the vagaries of the profit system: Survivalists epitomize capitalism. The capitalist ethic of rugged indiVidualism, of "every man for himself," is the foundation of Sufvivalism, casting a pall over a more cooperative, "one for all, all for one" ethic. ' There are Survivalists and there are survivalists. Thousands of people everywhere are preparing themselves to survive hard times, whether induced by nature or by economics; working toward individual and community self-reli~nce. The major difference between "soft-core" and "hard-core" Survivalists may be guns. But between little "s" and big "S" Survivalists there exists a quieter and more·profound difference. Ultimately, what distinguishes you as a Survivalist with a big "S" is not the supplies you have in the basement but how you answer this question: Is nuclear war survivable? How do you answer that? · You can gather maps, documents, statistics, charts-information 'til it comes out your ears. You'll find "experts" like Survivalist Bruce Clayton saying you're apt to survive a nuclear attack whether you want to or not, and "experts" like economist John Ker:i.neth Galbraith saying that surviving a nuclear attack would be a worse nightmare than not surviving it. Perhaps the difference is in how you define "survival." If your definition is in purely biological terms, your answer is likely to be more optimistic than if your definition: is in physical, social, psychological and political terms. Information cannot, in the end, provide the answer-for it's a question of belief. And for many the question is·a religious one. They note that the Scriptures warn of a catastrophic period of tribulation involving famine, earthquakes, economic collapse, and possible nuclear Armaggedon-and that the moment of truth is fast approaching. With confidence in the American way of life at an all-time low and powerlessness at an all-time high, you can hardly. blame people for looking for dir:ection to cushion themselves_from the bumpy ride ahead. Is it any wonder that the sudden growth and interest in the Survivalist "movement" coincides so neatly with the rise of the Moral Majority? The Survivalists (both big "S" and small) I met in Grants Pass are not out to hurt you. If anything they are trying, through their own peculiarform of self-reliance, to combat helplessness. I am convinced that even those who admitted having a cache of weapons are thinking of defense, not aggression. Eccentric, perhaps-or maybe just wiser than the rest of us. Only tim~ will tell. But without exception, the Survivalists I talked to want one thing: to mind their own business and for you to mind yours. The only Survivalists who pose a threat to the rest of us are those who have captured both the market and the media. Unwittingly, perhaps, they have helped shift the discussion away from prevention of nuclear war toward preparation for it.OD
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