Posts Tagged wto
The mindset of radical survivalist
The 1970s and the 1980s were interesting times for survivalist. The threat of nuclear war with Russia was a clear and present danger. Russia was in Afghanistan getting its butt kicked by a bunch of nomads. Duck and cover public service announcements were broadcast on TV. Soldier of Fortune magazine and American Survival Guide was the reading material of the day. But it was in the 1990s and beyond when things really got “interesting.”
The 1980s
When I was in high school (1982 – 1986), the dad of one of my friends seemed a little “radical” to say the least. If not radical, maybe just very, very paranoid. This was before I had very much knowledge or experience in stuff like the New World Order (NWO) and conspiracy theories.
This happened about 23 years ago, but I am going to try and tell the story the best that my memory serves me.
The father of my buddy had busted holes in the walls of the house, then stuck a rifle into the hole. He said if the feds ever come to get him, he wanted a firearm within reach. So there was a gun in the wall of every room. Even while sitting on the toilet there was a firearm within reach.
The dad stayed armed just about all the time with a Colt 1911 45 ACP. There were a couple of times where the dad was seen in town with the pistol. One time he was at a local grocery store when a clerk saw the pistol in his pocket – the clerk called the police. When the police approached the man, the son asked the officer if they could talk in private. The son told the police that his dad was a little “off” – and he was. The police officer was nice enough not to arrest the man, but made him leave the store.
Then there was the stories of the FBI watching his house, bugging his telephone, following him,,,,,,.
My buddies dad ran a small home based business and repaired small engines, such as lawn mowers and boat motors. I think this had something to do with making below a certain amount so he did not have to pay income taxes.
The family lived a very frugal lifestyle, ate a lot of cheap food (such as peanut butter), wore clothes that had holes in them, did not go to town very often. If memory serves me right, most of their food was out of store bought cans. This was so when the power was cut off very little food would spoil. I remember the family eating a lot of peanut butter and honey.
One story the dad told me went something like this – years ago he was away from home working on a construction job. Instead of renting an apartment or hotel room, he slept under his car. There just happened to be a panther living in the area. So the dad started putting food out for that panther and slowly tamed it.
About 3 years ago – 2005, 2006 or 2007 – I saw the dad at a local grocery store. He looked kinda rough and gave the appearance of being homeless. His hair was in a tangled mess, his clothes were dirty looking and he had a strange, almost lost look in his eyes. He is not homeless as I know where he lives and I see his car parked there on a regular basis. I did not speak to him, maybe I should have, maybe I am glad I didn’t.
I just can not imagine being so paranoid, as to believe that the government is watching everything that I do. It seemed that my buddies dad was obsessed that the FBI (or someone else) was watching every move he made.