When I see how people portray collapse, I often give my head a shake. Most of it is shear fantasy. An opportunity to play army man in the woods or the sudden freedom to not be restricted by government and do what you want. Maybe the opportunity to start again and build a sustainable homestead free from the now starved off masses. People will look to books like Rawles "Patriots" as a framework even though Rawles himself considers the book highly unlikely fiction. Lately, though, we have had some decent input as to what collapse actually looks like. Selco shared his experience of being blockaded in the Bosnian genocide. Dmitry Orlov shared what post collapse Russia was like. FerFAL gave us his experience in Argentina after the Banking Holiday. Ild like to add to that list.

One of my main influences for what collapse looks like is Jamaica. When I visited there, I had no idea that Jamaica had a collapse. I worked it out by what I was seeing and people explained it to me afterwards. Eventually someone sent me the documentary " Life and Debt" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMMYEGPsD9c about the devastating effects of the IMF on the Jamaican economy. Today I am watching "Trench Town" which is what brought the subject back up for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iakVCvPzcvI#action=share

Now, my experience of Jamaica was not the usual Tourist experience. We weren't staying at resorts. We were staying in the homes of people that lived there and even received tours by community leaders. We started in Kingston and that was an eye opener, long before we were taken into Trench Town. I didn't realise the privilege we
had of the people that brought us their and basically kept us stupid Canadians from getting killed. Our guide was a negotiator between the gangs. My first inkling of the connection to collapse came at the first place we stayed. This was basically a West Vancouver home looking down on Kingston...But the neglect was clear. This was once a wealthy home. Something had happened to make it not so. The pool had been empty for years. It was somewhat fortified. Garbage was burnt in messy piles on the side of the house. The Feral dogs drove me nuts with there constant barking. I pulled the story together from there. I don't want to tell the story of my short visit. Just my thoughts on collapse.

Most people picture a collapse as, every thing stops, run to your BOL and start a new adventure of life in the waist land. The bad news is that the government will probably not disappear, nor the cops, nor the people...and probably not the entire economy. I tell people, prepare for a greatly reduced living standard. Prepare to never have a Job again. Parts of the status quo will continue. You might just not be part of it. I tell people, collapse usually starts the day when you go to work and the boss hands you a cheque and a handshake and informs you, its over. This is the much more complex prepper problem to begin figuring out. The people in Trench Town are pretty much stuck. No Jobs. No Services. No safety. In your planning, you will want to ask yourself things like, Can I survive without a job?, Do I want to be stuck in an area that suddenly becomes a slum. Should I reposition myself now wile I have a job. If I shoot some kid raiding my garden, Will that kids relatives' kill my children in reprisal? How can I keep people out of my small yard. etc. This view of prepping is depressing but I want to get it out their so people can begin to wrap their heads around it. More than other places I have travelled, I find that the Jamaican people are very similar, in personality and temperament, to Canadians. I feel a deep affinity to them because of it. I think their response to the crisis will be very similar to ours and why we should look to them as an example of how collapse may look in Canada...Only we will be colder...and thus more desperate.

Its been a few years since that trip. I didn't just come up with this as a random thought. It had stayed with me and I am a richer person for the insights I learned.