The Company you Keep
Dr. John Woods 07.07.20
During WWII there were all kinds of sayings and posters warning citizens to be careful of associations with unknown people or talking too freely about personal business or jobs they held. Nothing has changed in that regard. For preppers and survivalists, your business is your business and best kept to yourself or close known and trusted contacts.
From the Redford movie The Company You Keep the lesson to be learned was how to manage a list of known contacts, how you communicate with them, and what information you exchange. In the movie a number of the members of the old dissident group the Weathermen had all dispersed to their hidden lives around the country once their terrorist activities ceased.
Once one member turned himself in to authorities, the character played by Redford began a search for an old associate in relation to a shootout murder during a bank robbery. She eventually turned herself in, exonerated him to return to his daughter. That was not the story for preppers. The trail left active by all the members of that gang along with the chain of connections was the story.
As they said during WWII “loose lips sink ships” remains true even at the micro level of your own personal prepping efforts. If you are actively involved in prepping at any stage or a full blown survivalist, be careful who you share that information with at all times. Just the hint of an interest in such things at a neighborhood cook out could label you as something you are not or draw attention to your efforts.
It may seem a sad state of affairs, but in this day and age “Never Trust Nobody” as the local DJ says on the radio every day here. Try to cloak your efforts to even your closest friends and family at least until you know for certain what their beliefs are on such things. Frankly, a lot of preppers get verbally harassed or maligned by people who don’t know what prepping is all about. Avoid being falsely labeled as “crazy” or worse.
Preppers should periodically review their inner circle of friends or contacts through activities in which you are involved. Just be careful what you share, how much prep you have done, how many guns you own, how much food and supplies you have stocked, and such. Just because people are watching or listening to you is no reason to be paranoid. Or is it?
