NatGeo's Doomsday Preppers
About a year ago, we were approached by a producer for this show, and did a video submission. I guess we were too normal and rational, because we never heard back... THANK GOODNESS!
When they had the pilot last fall, it was obvious that they were trying to show preppers as extremists and paranoids. Well, so far, this season has continued that premise. Several of the people they've shown have been fairly well known in the survival media business, and I'm afraid they've hurt their credibility, not so much with those who already knew about them, but with the "straights" who are new to the idea and tuned in to get some ideas and learn, but were presented with Jersey Shore with guns. Two that come to mind are David Sarti and Christopher Nyerges.
Sarti under the name, DSarti1, has been a prolific YouTuber with a huge following. I've seen a few of his clips, but never really cared for him myself. I always thought he was pretty goofy. His appearance of Doomsday Preppers just built upon that to make him look downright nuts, searching his property at night in his overalls carrying an M14. As nutty as the show made him look, it seems he has gone and actually gotten the state of Tennessee to think he is mentally incompetant and they took away his guns. That is a whole 'nuther story as they say. If you want to know more, look him up on You Tube. Suffice it to say, I don't believe his 15 minutes of fame helped in that matter.
Christopher Nyerges is a long time recognized expert in the field of wild edibles. I remember reading his articles in American Survival Guide back in the early 90s. The show made him out to be the next best thing to homeless, hanging out by the creek, eating weeds.
A couple of specific criticisms about the show overall... after each segment, they come back with their "expert's" suggestions for the person. Who is their "expert?" Is it someone we all know? Is it someone with a credible history or experience in this lifestyle? I think it would add more to their credibility and make the show more useful if they at least gave the ID and background on the "expert." Second, each person says, "I'm prepping for the shifting of the poles," or "We're prepping for an EMP attack." No one says that they are prepping for disasters big and small, and that everything they do is to make their lives better whether things go bad or not. I'm sure they all really do say that, but the editing is done to make them look like narrowly focused kooks.
My suggestion is to watch Doomsday Preppers if you have nothing better to do, you will probably pick up a helpful hint or two from each show. What I don't think we need to do is to encourage our non-prepper friends to watch. To the neophyte or novice, this show is guaranteed to either get them started in the wrong direction or scare them off of the idea completely.
I wrote a short post on who the "experts" are!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.prepperwebsite.com/doomsday-prepper-experts-revealed
Thanks for sharing the scoop!
ReplyDeletePrepping is fairly new to me (less than a year). What it comes down to for me, is just remembering what my grandfather did. Growing up in the depressing and WW1, his family had to do more with less. They paid cash for items, and having a gardening was common sense. I am not so much trying to be a prepper, but just tring to regain what my grandfather did.
ReplyDeleteJ.B. - thanks for the interest. Our grandparents would shake their heads at what we call prepping. To them it was just plain old everyday living. I really wish I had learned more of those old skills when I had the chance.
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