Thank for your clearly worded comment. I will try to pay attention “Closely”. It’s difficult for me because I am “White” and I like to help others especially in Snow Storms, so maybe I am a stupid Trumpist Survivalist? (Actually I like to think of myself as an anarcho-existentialist worshipping at the temple of boB). I like to respond to individual parts of grand sweeping smear campaigns because when you participate in dialetics you just propagate dialectics and only the Hegelian Marxists win. I find it helps me with my “desperate” attempts to blame others for my insignificant shortcomings and my own inability to face the facts of life as issued by writers in stentorian tones.

I will attempt to not “argue” here by only asing questions and using the words “could” or “maybe”. Here goes:

Matt are you the agent or PR flack for the writer of this piece? Maybe you are an interpreter? Maybe you have no clue what the writer meant, anymore than I do? The scope and breadth of the piece and the damning tone covered a lot of ground so yes maybe my comment seemed a tad trite?

Here is a bit of what I said: “Could you define “we’re”? Is this the “Royal” we?” This question was in direct response to the writers statement: “Honestly, we’re so sick of this suburban survivalist bullshit.” I really want to know who the writer thinks they represent and how many folks actually feel that way? Yes I read about the 15,000 twits that responded, I got that, but the tone of the piece implied a fait aucompli for a transition to a New World Order that finds a persons desire to be prepared for the breakdown of society as to be fodder for their cannons of what is the new “right” after the great reset? See how I use “?”? I am truly not sure. Am I to assume that the survivalists behaviour is, by the general consensus, incorrect, pathetic, or generally bad for the human race? Was the writer’s piece comedy? Yes, based on comedy is how it started but soon followed some pretty powerful statements about can openers…

Please “absorb” this direct quote from the writer: “Suburban survivalists are completely incompetent.” (How does the writer know, by reading a twit? I have travelled throughout the world and one thing I know about suburban folks is that they are far from clueless. Just like folks from NYC are far from clueless. Matter of fact 8 folks from NYC just moved across the street from me in suburbia, where I am currently staying after the Covid Crisis broke out last year while I was visiting a suburban relative. Those folks are fleeing the City to survive. Are they survivalists? Those folks need some help with the snow removal but they sure as shit don’t need help fixing their cars.) I helped them with my survivalist snow shovel that I have been waiting for years to get to use.

“Jean-Michel Connard has gained at least 15,000 followers since he started tweeting about his brother a few days ago. The reason is simple. (It’s hilarious.” Yes I agree… Some folks are hilarious.) Is the writer attempting to paint an entire “group” of people with the brush of a single brother? It would appear.

“It turns out that lots of us have finally had it with these militia wannabes.” (Switching gears now from funny surivalists to militia? Very different. Could it be that the article becomes a bit divergent here? There are lots of wannabes out there right now as the world descends into kaos… We weren’t trained as kids how to fight off a globalist cabal of gangsters). “They spend their time and energy daydreaming about what it’d be like to take charge during some kind of societal breakdown. It never occurs to them that they’re not qualified, at all.” (on the contrary dear writer, every survivalist I ever met knows exactly how unqualified they are and I don’t know any that daydream about taking over anything. They don’t think there will be anything to take over for a while but yes we are talking about one brother and a few of his douchey friends play acting… I get it, but your piece goes far afield from that.).

“During a real emergency, they just get in the way.” (Just not my experience. Had my life saved twice by good old surburban types who had some survival skills or at lest some extra stuff that helped us.)

“The truth about suburban survivalists is that most of them can’t go a week without a sports bar or a gym. They act like they don’t need society, but they’re the ones who need it more than anyone. The minute their dreams come true, and they get a chance to show everyone just how tough and prepared they are, they fall apart.” (That could be your experience but I guess your life is different. I am willing to accept that. We did call some folks weekend warriors when I was a kid and they were generally helpless but the same could be said for some of your team no? Just kidding I know you really don’t belong to “us”.).

“They start blaming their problems on us.” Who is “Us” exactly?

In the end all name calling is a form of division. All division leads to violence. Is any group of humans free of that behavior? No.

Lastly I don’t have any problems worth noting, not compared to most of the humans on earth. I don’t blame woke elites or millennials or even Proud Boys or Democrats or Trumpists for any manmade problems in the World because none of those humans, no matter what their behavior is, is actually responsible for what is going on on Earth right now. Are they complicit? Hell yes. Have some of them sold out? Hell yes. Do some of them know WHO they sold out too? Only a very tiny few know but the rest just think they are doing the right thing… just like you when you came to the defense of the writer here that you believe in, or agree with.

Make believe? Sure whatever you say. In the Matrix all things are possible. I’ll make believe you are correct and that I am incorrect even though I know balls to bones we are both puppets on strings. Thanks Matt, for the wonderful opportunity to have something to write about. philip