Current social orders in 2014 are being questioned more and more by an ever-demanding public. Destabilization and support for nationalistic or ideological causes have made headlines throughout the past year. From Syria to Ukraine, even in Scotland and now Hong Kong, dissent is running high and may soon be the norm in a world beleaguered with conflict and struggle. If the hyper-capitalist, modern society one lives in were to suddenly collapse, would the average person know how to survive? Food4Patriots, a survivalist group advocating responsible life-saving practices, provides some insight on self preservation.
A new reality program in the Fall 2014 lineup actually examines this aspect of society-building. “Utopia,” the creative vehicle of Dutch producer John De Mohl Jr., differs greatly from “Survivor” and other survival-based reality programs in that there is no prize given. The emphasis is strictly on contestants’ survivalist methods: gathering food, seeking shelter, creating a new micro-society.
“One of the keys to success for the survival of a new society that develops following a major crisis regardless of whether its 15 people as in Utopia or many more folks such as in societies depicted in The Walking Dead will be how much emergency food and clean drinking water its members have stockpiled prior to the disaster,” Allen Baler of Food4Patriots says.
The subtext of programs like “Utopia” is that impetus for creating a wholly new society may just be around the corner. Constant strife, epidemics, and geopolitical shifts could all spell the end of first world societies largely disaffected by day-to-day survival struggles. If catastrophic societal failure were to occur, there would no longer be any food markets, suppliers, or safety nets to provide our modern day needs. We would once again be hunter-gatherers, or in a contemporary context: scavengers.
“Another key will be how well it handles the distribution of those supplies. If people have to spend every waking moment trying to figure out where their next meal is coming from, there wont be any significant societal development because it will quickly degenerate into dog eat dog,” Food4Patriots says. “On the other hand, if the society’s members are consuming as much good tasting, nutritious and long-lasting food as they need to stay healthy and satiated, they will be freed up to work on the many other important components of forming a new society.”
Without the trappings of modern capitalism and consumer culture to provide us the creature comforts afforded to us since industrialization, i.e. a steady stream of clean, ‘disposable’ clothing, food that requires minimal preparation, and a seemingly endless stream of potable water, we would likely be reduced to our instinctual selves.
Associate clinical professor at Washington State University, Richard Taflinger, discusses these primal self-preservation instincts within humans in his 1996 work, Taking Advantage: The Biological Basis of Human Behavior.
In his discussion on the biological basis for self preservation, Taflinger posits that: “To be successful as a species, the members of that species must have a desire to survive long enough to pass on their genes to offspring. A species with a death-wish dies out rather quickly. Those species that don’t die out have members that have devoted some attention to staying alive long enough to have young. It is from those individuals and therefore species that all living things are descended.”
The case for self-preservation, though a seemingly selfish motivator, is done with the prospect of providing one’s offspring with an ultimately better chance at survival.
Taflinger also says, “The desire to stay alive is an instinctive one, built into the psyche of the organism. The organism will seek those elements of its environment that will enhance its chances for survival. These include food, water, oxygen, and periods of rest to allow the body to repair any wear and tear on the tissues.”
Preparation, ranging from stocking surplus non-perishable food to having a secure “safe-room” in one’s home can be the difference between survival and desperation should established social orders collapse.
Allen Baler of Food4Patriots says, “We cant control the increasingly uncertain future we are facing, and a disaster is certain to throw a number of curve balls at us. But if were as prepared for it as we can be, we can rest easy. That is what peace of mind is not having to worry about the unknown because youre ready for whatever form it might take. “