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In reply to the discussion: I found a gun nut porno magazine at work today (pic heavy)... [View all]LongTomH
(8,636 posts)If I may step outside the usual DU food fight for a minute: This could be seen as a darker, right wing answer to The Whole Earth Catalog; I say 'darker' because I don't remember the Whole Earth Catalog mentioning an apocalyptic collapse.
The era in which I first started seeing survivalist publications on the stands and mention of preparation for a societal collapse was during the Reagan Administration: the era of SDI/Star Wars and Red Dawn (the original). There was a cable program, run by a conservative commentator offering 'investment advice.' (Buy gold / buy silver). He also advised people to buy a year's supply of food; specially freeze-dried and packed in gold-plated cans (I'm not kidding; the cans had a very thin electro-plated layer of gold on the interior to prevent corrosion!). I believe this was a common phenomenon during the 80s; there was talk about whether it was ethical to shoot your neighbors to keep them from stealing your freeze-dried food supply.
I don't recall seeing survivalist publications during the Clinton years; maybe I wasn't looking or maybe the survivalist movement just went underground.