Wilderness survivalist skills will be of limited usefulness. Bear Grylls knows that he has a bed to go home to, that this is not all there will ever be. He knows that the shit he eats is not tainted, and that there is no one out there who wants to rape, or kill and eat him. Fighting-skills are only useful if you still have energy enough to fight, and the other people aren’t better fed, more numerous, or healthier than you are. All of the things on this list are more evident in society now than than they were 20 years ago, which may mean that society is readying itself for collapse. Being able to farm, or build will be useful eventually, once everybody gets over the destruction of the world they have known, the death of their families, and the fact that the burden of carving out a basic society rests on them.
Cynicism
People in bad situations are assholes. Throw a little stress into normal every day life and you start to see the civility, the hypocritical kindness start to fray at the edges, throw a lot in and it all collapses. Your wealthy, educated people will degenerate into looting rapists and murderers. You have to expect this. To survive you have to know that this will, in fact, happen. To thrive you have to want this to happen. You have to be mistrustful and believe that those around you had it coming.
Cowardice
You have to be willing to back down when outnumbered, cower when beneficial, and hide from those stronger than you. You sucker-punch every potential enemy and do your best to keep out of harm’s way. There is no honor in it, you will die in self-loathing, but you will live longer than the rest. In a world of predators, the rat survives by being a rat. Survival has to be your only goal, not the respect of anybody, not even the other rats.
Avarice
Take more than you need. You can store shit all you want now, and maybe it will last for awhile when the shit-pile of civilization starts to go down the drain. Maybe some greedy bastard will steal it from you. The real skills you need can only be learned after the apocalyptic event. That’s survival in the new world, not desperately clinging to things that you acquired in the old one. In the new world the real survivors will be the few who are able to amass excess when surrounded by need, the way Third World dictators are now.
Bullshit artistry
Can you talk simple people into doing what you want? Can you surround yourself with followers even though you have nothing with which to bribe? The man who can make following him sound good will have people to do his bidding. Politicians, preachers, gang-leaders, those people who already have the skills to mislead the not-bright, the will still be able to do it. People wanting the security of numbers will be happy to clique-up and do as the hive-mind commands.
Dealing with death
Hospital-workers, combat veterans, inner-city people, those who have seen it day in and day out for years will have an edge. Those who have lost many family members to a disease, or in a war, as well. Those who have never really been close to death, and losing your granny when you were 6 counts as not being close, will be crippled by grief and the sudden understanding of personal mortality that comes only with loss.
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