If we don't know our neighbors in a 100 yards that's a decline for me, because as you said that we didn't trust our neighbors because we even didn't know them.

Long time ago when somebody needs a ketchup or salt or lawnmower or something, you can easily knock and borrows / ask some ketchup. Now it's like buy your own ketchup or how much you're willing to pay.

People in individuals can be weak, feeble, easily ignored, when in groups or masses can transform into an aggressive-destructive individuals. No chain of commands, just letting their vandalistic emotions getting the better part of them. In some cases they are just so focused on obtaining an item in all cost without logical calculation or responsibility, where pushing and assaulting is just a must for them. The greed may also because of the nature of life-long daily competition which makes people want to have more while giving them a kind of satisfaction to see other fails or weep when unable to obtain the item. It's like looting but they pay ey?

To some aspect yes there are some declines, but other aspects such as techs, openness we're good to go.

How about the aspect of prepping? How far back do you have to go to reach that point where you would never have considered you would become a prepper? Or should I say months? I know, it all depends on how we define the term of prepping. I mean to the point that you are counting your food supplies as if your life might depend upon the choices made, not just extra food supplies you bought on sale.

What was the catalyst, that final thing which lit the lamp in your mind's eye and whispered to you that maybe you should prepare, just in case? I ask only to determine if there was a major factor that awakened a nation or is this "prepper" state of mind the result from an accumulation of doubt placed there by years of false propaganda to justify military buildup.

When I look back, having understood the mindset of the Cold War prevented me from reacting to such as the Oklahoma bombing until 9/11 occurred. And it wasn't even the atrocious act as such that set the alarm bells ringing.... it was realizing that the US had so much power over all of North America that they could demand us to ground every aircraft even in Canada. This control really made me truly pay attention! And now that I was paying such attention, it was seeing molten metal fall from windows on high. Being a welder, I know it would take alot of welders with cutting torches to make that much liquid metal... or Thermite! As an MP, we took an EOD (explosive ordinance device) course and thus I started looking and finally noticing all the obvious coverup from the onset of this event.

And once you start down the road of asking "Why", you can then see that many such things were always there but no one took the time to notice before. The irony is that this places us all into a situation much like the plot in the Matrix. You could swallow the Blue pill and go about your daily routine as always, but if you chose the Red pill, you would dedicate much thought just to seeing where the rabbit hole led. You then can see the layers upon layers of lies which show us that all was not well with the world we live in.

So what was the deciding factor that made others here decide to prepare?

Well, I've been prepping for a long time. Only in those days the name wasn't prepping but survival training. My old man taught me to be prepared for anything, even if in a condition where we lost everything or got nothing. Few years ago also got a bombing twice (in different place, different year) near a place where I got a meeting appointment and several more events that almost cost me my life. I think those things made me even more prepper minded.

For the cover-up thingy, I'm still divided because there are so many factors involved. And like an old saying: 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't'.
There's also this hypothetical question: If the truth will kill you, will you say it? When you know if you live long enough you can save a whole lot more?
I recognize the importance of deception only when it brings certain value. The thing I hope not to see is a panic-vandalistic-anarchistic society, because it will become a dog-eet-dog situation where even a whole bunch of well equipped enforcers will not be able to stop.

To awaken others to prepare, I believe is by make our prepping activity appealing to others. People loves hockey right? However, sometimes some people don't like it until they see it first hand. So we're not considered as doomsday nutcase. And I still can't think of a general event that sparks people to be more prepped other than global scale anything that the universe can throw at us.

Btw, nice ~ you got training on thermites, the most I've done is building blunderbuss from tin cans and ducktapes.

That blunderbuss sounds scary... 😆

What about the aspect of playing these violent video games? I too am guilty of this as I enjoyed playing First Person Shooter games online(even though I'm on satellite connection = lag issues). I don't see the attraction of shooting zombies though as they just run in hordes and that repetition soon gets tiring.

But I instead enjoyed games like America's Army where they made guns shoot like they should and your team worked together to hold a position. Now this game was even written by the US Army with the intent of getting their own soldiers to volunteer more of their spare time to the concept of war. They later released it to the general public but you could always tell when a registered US soldier came in to play by the tags shown on their name. The graphics were less quality than other games but the gameplay is more realistic. The maps are few and those who play each are dedicated to perfecting that maps defenses. The game is free online. Makes me often wonder why?

We spend too much of our lives these days immersed in distraction. From TV, to Facebook, to forums and games. I never see kids out playing street hockey anymore as those who are not doing the high tech stuff here are out riding $10,000 snow machines. Where we used to have multiple hockey teams, we now barely have one of each. Is this good?

We have more Bi-Polar people who are prescribed medication when you wonder if they might just need to mingle instead...is this what we used to call cabin fever before they came up with this new name? Seems we have alot of health issues these days and more folks requiring drugs for every kind of ache that our forefathers never mentioned. We proclaim that we now live longer while we admit stress levels have hit new highs. Hard not to notice the ones who have lived long did so from healthy living and exercise, not from drugs and vegetating.

It was easy to see how my sons started gaining weight as soon as they moved to the city. Their diet went from homemade burgers to McDonalds crap overnight. While they could barely pay the rent, they still managed to to buy hundreds of dollars worth of cell phone apps and games. So really the demand to keep up with their friends created much of the stress they presently faced at that time.

And it was this "buy now/pay later" concept started this ball rolling. I used to laugh that Harley's were the only transportation in existence that kept their value over the years and even increased sometimes. This all ended though too as marketing schemes finally showed folks they could now qualify for a loan today and pay tomorrow. Soon the market was flooded with used Harleys. It wasn't long before many discovered they couldn't afford such toys and thus Harley finallyt joined the ranks of depreciating values too. And with this fashion trend, the yuppies that bought into this scheme destroyed the brotherhood which bikers had maintained up to this point. No longer were we the few who shared a common interest. We were now outnumbered by weekend riders with thick wallets! Hand made parts were snubbed by pre-fabbed custom bikes ridden by guys who barely knew how to check their own oil. The rider was now measured by the year of his ride instead of the years he'd been riding!

This is the new world of mass marketing and good things seem to die when confronted by the Walmart concept. Quantity has replaced quality. Many items that used to last many years now break shortly after warranty runs out. But since we can pay tomorrow, we run out and replace that item with another low quality item that has one more button then your last one did.... for this you are happy! 🙄

Social Decline??
Have we not been down this road before?
Greeks , Phoenicians, Romans, Celts, Vikings, First Nations???
All empires fall, all monetary systems seem to fail.
I have not been a prepper, and I guess I don't classify myself as one now. I have lived and can live off the land if need be. Is that prepping, I guess not really, in the truest sense.
I can say now that I'm older that my outlook on life around me really has not changed, but the generations have. My Grandkids could not sleep outside without a panic attack, yet their parents were taught by me to survive off the land even when they didn't like it. (Eat the trout we caught or go hungry). I know bad parenting. Don't get me wrong I like a good restaurant meal and the daily convenient things I have but if the need arises, back to the basics is simple and not as hard as people would think.
But what of these things we observe and the influences they have on us? Marketing? If you want to know the truth about anything I say follow the money. Greed and conviction seem to be very strong motivators today. Do you need half of what you have in your home now?
Society will lead us in many directions and the generation before me thought we were nuts, and we think our kids are nuts. Change is continual but the basics never change, a home, cave, cabin, lean too, what ever you have, food, warmth, companionship, when you boil it all down, you are on your own with whomever you wish to be with.
Is that two cents worth again?
RATTS

Did someone give you 2 cents for that knowledge? 😕 😆

Are you not the fellow that showed me the America's Army game too? 😀 I too like a good distraction and gave many hours to shooting folks on screen. We even formed a clan where we strategized how to distract while assaulting and even devised ways to lay traps while defending. But in the concept of such gaming, many are willing to throw away their players life because you get a new one at the end of the round. Easy to be a hero is such conditions....

Yet I came across a soldier today who testifies that his own side is killing the wounded for their organs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh17ZKWqoV4
Is this real? I don't know. But in this day and age I don't doubt such things as much anymore as greed seems to make men do anything. You can tell that the young fella is confused and yet still hates the rebels, so it doesn't make the best propaganda film for the opposition. And he professes much that others have said about poor conditions while fighting for their country. It definitely shows though that there is no honour in war.

Yet many today profess that they don't really care if war breaks out with Russia as they seem to presume we will defeat them without much effort. When these same folks are then told that Russia too has allies and they would likely come to their aid as otherwise they'd have to face NATO alone after Russia falls. And then mention that these allies, China and India, (along with many smaller nations) make up more than 1/2 the worlds population. That detail always annoys them. Yet it is often those who know nothing of war that seem to promote war the most.

Well, kids nowadays.
Mommaaaaa, buy meh dat tooiyyy, or elseee I wi kippp syouttinngggg...... Buyyy me dattt toiyyy yuuuu oldd *beeeep*

I just hear that kind of crappy rant a week ago. It is likely a paradox where nowadays their intelligence can be considered increasing sharply (thanks to better nutrition plus early and continuous education), their attitudes somehow too often less-intelligence 😆 Well, not every kids though.

😯 You play online using sat-phone? Dang Knuckles, ain't those things expensive? I used to have satphones when working in forest and sea, but last time I used it for an MMORPG it was so laggy. Haven't got the chance playing AA, on the contrary I enjoy zombie bashing from L4D. For the distraction, yes all things with displays somehow hypnotized them ~ even the smaller ones like tamagotchis.

This bipolar thingy is also quite confusing. Do you think it got something to do with what we consume? Water or food?

I myself always divide my actions into 3 sections to assess an outcome of an action (Do, Do Nothing, Not Doing), (Run, Do Nothing, Stay), (Accept, Do Nothing, Decline), (Fight, Do Nothing, Run), (Friendly, Ignorant, Hostile) and so on. I do this to become more analytical before performing an action because sometimes what we see or hear is not the truth and what we do even if it is correct and procedural can cause a chain of events that causing more problems than the initial problem.

Buy now pay later gives an advantage to people who can afford to pay but it is kind of a trap mechanism if it was used by person with no purchasing power.
Come to think of it older stuffs mostly more sturdy. However sturdy products cost the company future if its a home-consumer product. So they likely stop the support, not produce their spareparts and then create a campaign of trade your old thingy with the new ones. There's often a joke about trading the spouse with the merchandiser during trade-in sale events 😆

Empire and currency does fall because of greed. The inability to understand wealth as a means but rather as an end has caused people to become less cohesive. To become rich is a noble undertaking, but when you use richness to become richer by squeezing the last cents of others that are less fortunate, that's when the time starts ticking towards retribution. Ignoring the importance of an army because thinking its to expensive to maintain them is also signs of I don't know how to say this foolishness.

Also there's an issue of the following reality:
Gives them bread, they becomes happy. Gives them kalash and nikky, they becomes trigger happy.

Btw Knucles, the blunderbuss is quite scarily stupid since it can be used in blank condition as thundercracker, or rigged to become primitive shotguns, home-made mortars, or even *ED. I don't want to elaborate too much about it since miss-assembly can cause mess-up like losing thumbs, but the system is truly efficient relying on triggering certain home based chemical fumes resulting to so so so many shots, can even reach hundreds before it tears apart but not continuous since its a one shot then reloads mechanism.

Both Ratts and myself were MP's in the 70's. The EOD course we took was designed by military engineers who formed some of the first bombs squads in North America during the FLQ crisis. These guys would take turns designing a bomb and then the others would have to disarm it. They teach MP's so if we have to perform searches for EOD's, we know what to look for. They had many crazy designs and they were controlled by lights going off to show you if you triggered the device...a fun course really.

And no, I'm not on sat phone. We have satellite download and phoneline upload in this area for internet service. That's how they do it when they don't want to run lines for low population areas. There are no there options here. Cell service is intermittent too as this is the Canadian Shield(rocky terrain) and the towers may reach each other but there are lots of dead zones. Break down and walk maybe 10 miles at most to have reception...so dress warm. 😆

I like your analytical approach to situations. It is saying aloud that which the mind processes to better remove doubt from the equation. Many get stuck on indecision in times of crisis and your approach might help some better understand that there are always only a few options for every move. Instead they determine to try and run with a scenario and appear frozen to others in the meantime. Seems it was the MP trade again that taught me it's better sometimes to be swinging as your thinking than standing there just thinking... 😎

The following holds a lot of truth about it in my eyes:

"The Social System itself is considered the root cause, with Human Behavior and its resulting effects - corruption, pollution, wars, waste, exploitation and hence distortion of values and psychology - seen as symptoms of this fundamental root source.

Modern psychological and sociological study has found that human actions are susceptible to environmental influence. What is rewarded by the culture tends to be perpetuated. For example, it is commonly considered a "moral" issue when a corporation engages in deliberate pollution to save money. Many outcry that the corporation's people must be "corrupt" who would allow for such a thing. The flaw, however, is in the assumption. If we exist in a system that allows us to "save money" and hence be more "economically efficient" by being exploitation, abusive or indifferent, why should we not expect it to occur, especially in a system based on competition where advantage is always sought?

In other words, "corruption" is being reinforced. Therefore the solution is not more "laws" to try and stop this behavior. The solution is to create a social system that doesn't reinforce or reward such behavior at all. Laws are mere "patches" that work against the internal logic of the system as it stands."
- http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/faq

I have heard mention of the zeitgeist concept in the past. Seems they are more Socialist in their perspective as that which you point out is the obvious flaws to our democratic society. Seems I never understood the logic behind the comments that Russian's made in our youth that we were "Capitalistic Pigs" 😆 Seems that capitalism indeed walks hand in hand with our democratic society as it appears that everything then has a price tag attached.

I'm sure that we can find flaws in every society as Putin's wealth too is also renowned. But it isn't that democracy is failing us today as much as the present leaders are replacing it's standards with those of a Fascist society. We are losing our ability to disagree with our government. And these regulations being imposed are being fed to us with the reasoning that it is a pill to make us better!

The following holds a lot of truth about it in my eyes:

" If we exist in a system that allows us to "save money" and hence be more "economically efficient" by being exploitation, abusive or indifferent, why should we not expect it to occur, especially in a system based on competition where advantage is always sought?

In other words, "corruption" is being reinforced. The solution is to create a social system that doesn't reinforce or reward such behavior at all.

I shortened the above comment to maybe help others to better consider what was being pointed out. This is indeed the core of our decline! We live in a society where the almighty dollar drives our every decision. I presented a graph earlier showing the division of wealth, where it too explains that we work hard so the those 1%-5% of the world's richest benefit most as they hold much of the countries assets hostage. Here is another such video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJoHYr57Ccs

They own the mines and mineral rights, oil and insurance companies. They set the amounts we are to pay and the scale shows just how unjust these amounts must be for them to have amassed such wealth. They get there by controlling those who control us....from the legislators and politicians, all the way down to those who incarcerate individuals who can't pay their bills.

So what are the chances of a billionaire being honestly voted in to control a country known for corruption such as Ukraine? Do you honestly believe he amassed his fortune just selling chocolate? Yet the majority of the population of Ukraine somehow agree to this... at least according to the media. Seems the Prime Minister of that same country just so happens to be a past president of the World Bank ... and now they vote to allow in an ex CIA analyst to their parliament for disbursement of US funding. Meanwhile the gas company who has the drilling rights for Ukraine is led by US Vice-President Joe Biden's son. So I know that this following discussion bears no proof but..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWRdbGTfPEI

So it seems our system is indeed flawed. If it were indeed functioning properly, this imbalance couldn't have occurred. Yet the US is even willing to go to war for such crap as this! This reward for corruption aspect is set by these top 1% persons and their present vast wealth supports it's continued sustainability. It seems that we have to start at the top to therefore fix what is at the bottom...