Question D

[Jonetta]

The story focuses on the murders of three preppers. What did you learn about the behaviors of these believers that you didn’t know before this book? Is your opinion of them influenced in any way by our current medical crisis? Is this the type of doomsday event they were preparing for (TEOTWAWKI)?

[Robin]

When I thought of preppers, I thought of people who wanted to be totally independent of the infrastructure that we now live with. They would grow their own food, hunt for meat, maybe live in a bunker, have weapons to keep strangers from entering. They would also have a supply of medicine and other items that might need.

It does kind of remind me of today. People are voluntarily quarantining themselves, either because they have been exposed to someone with the virus or because they don't want to be near someone who may have the virus. I can understand that mentality, especially if they are in a high-risk group.

[Anita]

Quite a timely topic. This group would be better able to handle a quarantine that others. I don't think that this is what they have envisioned. Our schools just went out for two weeks. To bad it's raining and cold in So Cal, we could just go to the beach. They even closed Disneyland. Two of my daughters are teachers, so they are off, one daughter is an x-ray tech and she can't miss work.

[Charlene]

Without being too political, I think one's opinion on the question would be how one views the actions that our federal government, more specifically the executive branch, has taken with respect to this new health concern.

I doubt that the preppers separated the federal government into three branches!

[Jonetta]

I’d never heard of preppers before, thinking they were survivalists. My understanding of that group was a desire to live off the grid and not believing they had to answer to our governmental structures, state and federal. However, what I learned about the distinction between survivalists and preppers is that the latter believes that a day of reckoning is coming, a clear difference between the two cultures.

I Googled the term when I started the story, as well as for a list of must haves to prepare for a potential 14-day isolation. The sites that showed up were all for the same prepper sites. I do believe this is one of the kinds of events they’ve predicted and there’s a part of me that understands them at a better level. However, that element where they subordinate women makes them “cultish” and less credible. I don’t completely dismiss them as I might have before this current crisis.

[Sharon]

My parents are children of the depression and served in WWII. They always taught us to be prepared for crisis. They dealt with ration tickets for things like gasoline, sugar, etc. My mother's pantry was stocked so we could survive for six months, if we couldn't get food, etc.

We always considered preppers as survivalists, but survivalists are more extreme in their anti-government views. Reading this book, it sounds like preppers are also anti-government. I'm not sure I agree that they feel women are subordinate in real life. It is more that everyone has a role to stay prepared. Of course, we lived in a big city, maybe in rural areas it is different.

Right now TEOTWAWKI is real. Fortunately I have a good two to three months supply of TP and other necessities that aren't available in the grocery store. In my opinion, you can't expect the government to feed the country. It wasn't possible with the soup kitchens in the depression, and it is less likely today regardless of who is in the executive branch. The only thing the government can do in a crisis, is limit freedom. Hopefully, more people will prepare for the future.

[Jonetta]

Thanks for another perspective, Sharon. Not all groups are wired the same and in this story, the sexism aspect was a part of this one’s code.

There were some anti-government elements but not as extreme as I’m used to reading about survivalists. That might be unique to this group as well.

My Mom was a child of depression and I’m still dealing with the dismantling of her pantry😏

[Sharon]

Jonetta wrote: "Thanks for another perspective, Sharon. Not all groups are wired the same and in this story, the sexism aspect was a part of this one’s code.

There were some anti-government elements but not as e..."

When I was a kid, there was a routine when we put food away. Everything was dated with the purchase date. (We didn't trust any dates on the item.) Every thing new went to the back, the oldest item moved to the kitchen. We did the same for everything in freezer. It took longer to put the groceries away than the actual shopping. :-)

[Jonetta]

All right. Confession time.

I’m an organization freak. That kind of food organization just made me want to go deal with my pantry. Love it!

Got that from Mom.

[Christina T]

I viewed most of the preppers as being more cult like. It seemed like most of the preppers joined in a community which in turn felt like a cult to me. Truman's uncle and the Kilpatricks (to a certain extent) seemed to be the exception. I thought the 3 different "factions" was interesting and I'm glad Elliot included it in the book. It stood to reason that not all preppers would believe the government was evil but lived their lives to make sure if something happened to change the world their families would survive.

[Jonetta]

Christina, I thought that the differences made the story more authentic. It was cult-like but not every practice was monolithic, which fit with the community.

[Ellen]

I learned that they seem to be more interested in preparing for any eventuality and not as aggressive as I think of survivalist being. They would definitely be more prepared for the current pandemic than most.