*Experts* and Preppers

Patrice Lewis over at Rural Revolution posted a link to this article: Doomsday Preppers Are Socially Selfish .
Read it...pay attention to what this *trained professional in the field of emergency management* has to say about preppers in general and the Doomsday Preppers specifically.

A few quotes, emphasis is mine:
"And guess what!  You can get your very own Prepper score!  The survey asks how much food and water you have stored away, AND whether you have a renewable food or water supply. Do you have a bunker, can you generate your own electricity, how many firearms do you own, do you have items for bartering – they recommend silver as the more tradable commodity. (Based on their criteria, I could only survive 1-2 weeks on my own with no outside help – and without helping anyone else.)"
So a TRAINED PROFESSIONAL only has 1 to 2 weeks of food and water stored?
The mind boggles.
She goes on:
"You might wonder why someone like me, who has been in the business of encouraging disaster preparedness for a very long time, is so critical of people who are doing just that. It’s because they are being socially selfish – preparing themselves and the hell with everyone else.  Instead of spending time and energy making changes that would benefit the larger community, in their very narrow focus of loyalty they are more concerned about themselves."

What!? Did she even WATCH the show? The majority of the preppers profiled involve friends, family, neighbors and many even strive to educate the general public on the benefits of preparedness!
Kellene Bishop, the preparedness *foodie* runs her own website, makes videos, gives self defense classes for women, firearm training for women and teaches classes (in her locality) on food storage and cooking with food storage.
Other preppers profiled have youtube channels, blogs, websites, books, etc.
Not good enough, apparently, for this *trained professional*.
So what does SHE do?
Her little blurb of a resume:
I am an emergency management 'practitioner' on a university campus. I want to say that right up front so as not to confuse this blog with the 'academic' side of higher education that Jayne Abraham will be blogging about. She'll tell you all about how to get an emergency management education; I'll tell you about practicing emergency management on campus. I think what I do is a lot more fun. (sorry, Jayne!)

Higher education campuses are a hotbed of activity these days. No longer are they just cloistered halls of academia!

The number of campus emergency managers is exploding - many of them are arriving with a "formal" education instead of years in field response. Higher education campuses are the venues that embrace new ideas and technology. This is where social networking evolved and changes almost daily. This is where students pass around the H1N1 influenza virus playing 'beer pong'.

Getting my stats out of the way: I have been in emergency management for almost 20 years with local government, a national lab and for the past four years with the University of California at Davis. Not too much field response experience, but I do have a lot of letters after my name (MS, CEM, CBCP). I have publications, training, conference workshops, offices and all that on my resume. If you are really, really, truly interested, let me know and I'll send it to you.

Meanwhile - I have lots and lots of opinions that I am more than willing to share. This should be fun. :-) 
So....she hasn't actually had to manage an emergency, she just knows how to by virtue of her education.
R-i-g-h-t............
That's like all those people that have never had kids telling parents how to best raise their children!

Look, I know two people that are *experts* in Emergency Management and have educations comparable or exceeding the person that wrote that article.
One has about a months worth of food and water, no bug out bags, lives in area ripe for social breakdown and chaos and near military targets in a non-sustainable home. A two day power outage sends this person to the nearest hotel with power and room service. This person coordinates emergency management response on a FEDERAL level. They get to disaster areas AFTER a disaster has occurred.

The other was a prepper BEFORE getting degrees in emergency management. They have a gun and ammo collection that puts any other prepper (including the ones seen on t.v.) to shame. They have several bug out bags, cached in different locations and always, but ALWAYS has one with them. If the power goes out, they can live for months, if not YEARS without it. This person also has combat experience, self-defense training and is an avid hunter. They own a *bug out location* in a remote area and have equipped it with everything they will need for a minimum of 5 years. This person does emergency management planning for cities, counties, hospitals, universities and localities in disaster prone areas as a private consultant. They have lived through many of the major disasters in the US in the past 10 years (including Katrina).

Which expert do you think has been of most benefit to their clients/employer(s)?
The one working the federal level decides who gets what AFTER the hurricane, the flood, the blizzard, the earthquake, etc.They decide (sometimes weeks or months later) who gets the funds, donations, medical supplies, housing (emergency or otherwise) allocated to their particular agency.
The one on local level teaches the people in those localities what to do BEFORE a disaster strikes, what to do DURING the event and what to do IMMEDIATELY afterward to preserve human life and protect property.

There is NO substitute for experience, is there?

Back to the original article...
I do not think I have ever met a prepper that was not willing to share their knowledge and/or expertise and experience with someone else. Consider all those folks that violated the first rule of OPSEC to share their knowledge and techniques on Doomsday Preppers!
I, personally, want the general public more aware. I want everyone to have preps and be as self-sufficient as possible.
The more people that are prepared means fewer people suffering, fewer people dying, fewer people getting desperate and stealing, etc.
I share here on my blog, but I also try to educate my friends, family and neighbors.
I feel sad for the lady that wrote the article. She really has No Clue.