The Survivalist Pledge:

To help all that can be helped,
To defend all that can be defended,
To save all that can be saved,
To free all that seek freedom,
To stay alive as long as I can and stay free as long as I live.

The public in general and the mass communications media in particular have a great deal of difficulty understanding the survivalist philosophy. Even many survivalists have some difficulty explaining their actions and positions. Survivalists who support gun ownership and the use of weapons for self-defense are branded as being "pro violence." Survivalists who advocate nuclear war preparedness are often accused of being "pro war." We survivalists often find ourselves in direct conflict with groups that advocate wonderful-sounding popular ideas such as world peace, public safety, etc., etc. But survivalists want peace and safety as much as anyone else, so what's the difference between survivalists and those who oppose survivalist ideas? The answer lies in the difference between what is "nice" and what is "good." It must be understood that "nice" and "good" are not the same. What is nice does not necessarily lead to good and what is good does not necessarily come about through doing nice things. Let's look at just a few examples:

The nice philosophy says let's all get rid of our guns, then the streets will be safer. But of course we know that it has been proven over and over that this nice idea results in helpless citizens facing emboldened (and still armed) criminals and opens the door to would-be dictators--all of which is obviously bad. The nice philosophy says to try and supply food to all the hungry, illiterate masses. This leads to a growing population of starving, illiterate masses--and a dwindling food supply. Which is very bad. The nice philosophy advocates world nuclear disarmament—which removes the main inhibition for a conventional world war. A nice person would do the nice thing and reason with an armed intruder while a good person (survivalist) would do the good thing and use a weapon to stop (by subduing, wounding, or killing) the intruder before he did harm to INNOCENT people.

The primary error made by the nice advocates is that they seem to assume that everyone will be nice. Their ideas might work if everyone was nice. But, unfortunately, there really are bad guys all over the world from street punks in the allies to power-hungry dictators in the halls of many states. The historic reality is that there are and will always be people who will take advantage of nice actions and nice people to achieve very bad and often violent ends. The nice advocates have chosen a simple and emotionally easy position which is easy to defend and explain while survivalists, the good advocates, find ourselves taking the hard road, making the tough choices, and enduring criticism born of ignorance.

The essential difference and source of conflict can be stated as follows: The survivalist seeks to achieve good (e.g.., life and freedom) through actions that are not always perceived as being nice (e.g.., arms, shelters, etc.) whereas the anti-survivalist wants to do nice things (e.g.., disarmament, etc.) that can often lead to bad results (e.g., crime, war, dictatorship, etc.). Understanding this basic philosophical difference is important if we are going to effectively explain our positions and gain support for our activities.

Footnote from China: The events last summer in China bring my point into sharp focus. It was nice that the students were peacefully demonstrating for freedom, but unfortunately the communist dictators were not "nice" and slaughtered the students. It would have been "good" for the students to have had arms with which to defend themselves. When one sees demonstrated over and over again the total disregard for the lives and liberties of the people an all powerful state can have, it is hard to believe that anyone could question the importance and intention of the second amendment. It is a sad situation that, at this time when the people of the world are fighting for more freedom, many Americans seem so willing to give away freedoms they have.

 

Please Read The Website Disclaimer!
Copyright 1986-2009, The Survival & Self-Reliance Studies Institute (SSRsi), All Rights Reserved
Site conceptualized, designed, created & maintained by MEG Raven
Snail Mail: SSRsi, PO Box 2572 Dillon, CO. 80435-2572