Sunday, December 27, 2009

Book Review-The Modern Survival Retreat by, Ragnar Benson

Here is a good book my brother lent me. I just started to read it. I have been mostly skipping from interesting chapters. So far I like it. The Author has a realistic approach to survivalist needs. His mindset seems to deal with problems as a mater of fact need. He is good at outlining examples to clarify why a need is a need and the realistic situations that create such need(s) ; as apposed to an anti government wacko spewing so called extremist drivel. Not that I have any thing against anti government wackos. Its just that I think its a good idea for survivalist to demonstrate by association, we are merely realistic, not crazy. Ragnar Benson certainly seams to be a realistic person of practical ideas.
Here is an excerpt:

You will be demonized
Always, if compromised retreat situations stalemate past few days, public relations experts will be sent in whose only job is to put their own spin on things by demonizing the retreaters. Retreaters will be labeled as bad, even evil people simply because they refuse to submit to "their government".
Whenever it goes that far, every retreat shelter, no matter how simple or humble, will be described as a hardened "bunker" or "compound". Randy Weaver's crude plywood shack was referred to as a bunker over and over again by the Marshal's Service, ATF, and FBI. The Branch Davidian's church and living quarters were collectively known as "the compound" from the very beginning. Unfortunately, journalists usually cooperate by swallowing the fiction whole. They report the official line without doing much independent inquiry, even if it's obviously a breezy slab-side shack out there in front of them.
Other examples of this phenomenon abound. A multimillionaire once started construction on a new home along the shores of Lake Michigan in the state of Michigan. Unlike many of of the social class, he was often seen in public. Dinner guests visited his home regularly. Still, popular envy with which every successful person must contend ran roughshod through his community.
The man collected old, noteworthy, limited-edition Bibles as a hobby. His Bible collection, accumulated over many years, may have been worth millions of dollars. Because the collection was priceless and mostly irreplaceable, he specified that a secure climate-controlled display are be built in to the basement of his new home.
Once turned over to architects, however, this room evolved into a reinforced cement, vault - like structure. Somehow the media latched onto the room as being an intense threat to local, state, and national authority. An immediate assumption was made that, because the fellow liked old Bibles, he must be some kind of antisocial religious nut. For several days hes was actively equated with David Koresh. Local citizens intoned darkly that he was a menace to their community.
Soon, headlines in Chicago and Detroit newspapers screamed about the eccentric rebellious millionaire who threatened local citizens because he was building this formidable structure on Lake Michigan. TV news joined the feeding frenzy, running frequent updates regarding the "bunker." Many of us who saw events unfolding expected to see federal agents riding up on the construction site in armored vehicles with guns blazing. As a precaution, the fellow sent his wife and kids out of the country.
For a time it looked as though federal marshals intended to swoop in and confiscate the man's private property. Eventually, however, the story lost its frenzied energy and the media turned to other sensational issues.
Moral? It's another proof that those of us who decide to retreat, even if it's not really a retreat, are going to be labeled as bad or even evil the wrong people find out what we are doing. We are dealing with people who, having no valid arguments and few hard facts, must resort to branding and demonetization.
It gets worse. Retreated with small children at the retreat may be labeled as hard core child molesters or perverts. They will be accused in most vicious terms of holding their own children as hostages. Officials will also paint the retreat as being a hotbed for all kinds of illegal activity, from gun running to drug dealing. Any past legal indiscretions will be trotted out as examples of the vile character of the occupants. All compromised retreats will be painted as habitual lawbreakers even if the worst item on record is a parking ticket.
Government agents will always scream "illegal drugs" at the first sign they are facing retreats who do not immediately throe up their hands and surrender. By doing so, they throw up their hands and surrender. By doing so, they allow cooperating judges to set aside the Posse Comitatus Act and sanction sending in military troops with their heavy equipment. (That's why there were tanks, armored personnel carriers, and helicopters at Waco.) It does not matter if subsequent inquiry demonstrates that the most potent drugs present were bottles of aspirin.

(retyped so, typos  are most likely mine)

Paladin Press. Boulder Colorado
WWW.paladin-press.com

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