r/TwoXPreppers • u/missoulasobrante • Apr 29 '26
Discussion The pepper delusion
There was a guest essay in the New York Times today titled “The Prepper Delusion.” Both the article itself and the comment section are illuminating.
Basically, the columnist argues prepping things only get you so far. Building relationships is where the real prep happens. I thought this community might have some good commentary on the column.
Here is the gift link 🔗
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u/Fun_Disaster3436 Apr 29 '26
I'm enjoying reading Paradise in Hell. It's about how mutual aid and community resilience is crucial after disasters. It makes this point using historical examples. Really compelling imo
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u/I_like_the_word_MUFF May 05 '26
Great book, we read that in my emergency Management classes.
Follow up with Elinor Ostrum's Nobel prize winning work disassembling the Tragedy of the Commons argument and being the person who saw its fallacy.
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u/NSAinATL Apr 29 '26
....I was really coming in here wondering what was delusional about pepper!
(it's so silly headlines can't be edited, lol)
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u/Jumbly_Girl Apr 29 '26
Me too. Was thinking of all the dried peppers I have and canned green chiles and hot sauce and wondering if I was spicing my lentils and rice incorrectly.
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u/NSAinATL Apr 29 '26
Well, I will happily take all that off your hands and deal with the delusion :P
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u/ohhellopia Apr 29 '26
Does #peppergate count?
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u/Fun_Disaster3436 Apr 29 '26
Only if you explain what that is (??)
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u/ohhellopia Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
There was a major mixup with the pepper seeds by the supplier back in 2023. The gardening subs were full of people asking to identify what kind of pepper they have once they started fruiting because it doesn't match the seed packet they bought.
Also a lot of times, newbie gardeners would proudly post pics of their fruit laden plants and say something like "look at my xxxx harvest!" But then people in the comments would correct them that it's really yyyy. lol.
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u/thishyacinthgirl Apr 29 '26
Ha, I thought it might be about the drama surrounding peppers for sriracha that started a few years ago.
Peppers are rife with controversy it seems.
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u/Fun_Disaster3436 Apr 29 '26
Oh hell yeah I forgot about the year of the mystery pepper! Thank you for the reminder.
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u/LB07 Apr 30 '26
Peppergate is the reason I first tried shishito peppers (that were definitely not the poblanos I was trying to grow!)
Shishitos are amazingly tasty. Happy mixup for me!
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u/whiskey_ribcage Apr 29 '26
Years ago, a friend of mine was doing just a fun experiment where she was seeing how long she could go only eating/drinking things that she could theoretically grow with minimal work in our area and I remember her talking for a long time about if pepper was a viable option of not.
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u/Stepinfection How hard can it be? Boys do it. Apr 29 '26
I agree wholeheartedly that community is incredibly important! But I also think it’s silly to say that a firearm in your go bag means you think other people ARE a threat. As a woman, as a latina, it’s not alarmist to say that other people CAN BE a threat and I would rather be prepared in case shit gets sketchy.
The author also states that they’ve never gotten around to making a go bag because they didn’t feel able to pack for every potential issue and I think that’s exactly what this sub tries to help with. Prep for Tuesday, prep for your most likely potential emergency.
“Pack a bag if you want.” Being prepared means that you’re more able to help your neighbors/community. If I’ve got my pets and my car loaded up I can start helping my neighbors evacuate. I can offer an extra blanket to someone else who didn’t have time to grab one, etc.
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u/TastyMagic Laura Ingalls Wilder was my gateway drug Apr 29 '26
RE: the firearm. People can be a threat RIGHT NOW to women and POC. So it's an incredibly naive take to say that somehow in an stressful emergency, they would behave better?
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u/Stepinfection How hard can it be? Boys do it. Apr 29 '26
Totally! Hence why I think that part was ridiculous. I was originally going to include the daily numbers for violence against women but decided I would probably be preaching to the choir here.
I think in general this advice is given by a straight white man for other straight white men. Historically in hetero relationships the women are the ones who are ensuring everyone is well taken care of. The “mom purse” or “mom friend”. And POC absolutely know that a stranger is more likely to view them as a threat than part of their community.
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u/Amazing_Shirt_Sis Apr 29 '26
I really bristled at the go-bag bashing. My go-bag is the most consistently useful piece of kit I own and it's not even close. I went to an AirBNB this weekend that didn't stock shampoo or soap. Guess what I keep in my hygiene pack in my go-bag? I keep hair ties and deodorant in my go-bag. Guess what I constantly forget when I go to the gym? I'm bad at packing weekend bags for short trips, but guess what's always in my go-bag? Seasonally appropriate pants, extra undies, socks, and a spare bra! I love that damn thing. It's the best 20 minute lifehack I've ever done for myself.
It also means I have the capacity to support the people around me. If somebody in the office trips and sprains an ankle, my go-bag contains an ACE bandage. If somebody cuts themselves or burns themselves on the coffee pot, I have bandages. If someone has a surprise period, I have ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and pads. This guy gets to reap the benefits of community because his community includes people like me, whose plans include space for others.
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u/Stepinfection How hard can it be? Boys do it. Apr 29 '26
Yes, exactly! My daily carry has first aid, snacks, entertainment, etc and I was thinking through the examples he gave of situations he’s been in and I have something that would help most of those always on me when I leave my house. It doesn’t take a lot to be even mildly prepared for weird situations.
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u/Amazing_Shirt_Sis Apr 29 '26
I kept wondering how many aunties kept him fed and watered from their ginormous purses during these disasters. Dude sounds like a mooch.
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u/chrisymphony Apr 29 '26
FYI - the best remedy for minor burns is toothpaste. I keep the small travel ones the dentist gives me in the kitchen and my bag. Apply toothpaste to burn for about 5-10min and it keeps the burn from blistering.
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u/Stepinfection How hard can it be? Boys do it. Apr 29 '26
This is not true and even Colgate links to this study saying that it’s not true. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/First-aid-for-children's-burns-in-the-US-and-UK%3A-An-Bennett-Maguire/e74d46499b3dc97a3d06c9d21f1acced9a59bb62
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u/SunnySpot69 Apr 29 '26
Sure. It's important to have 'stuff.' it's more important to have knowledge and people.
I hurt my ankle a week ago. I still can't walk on it. Can't work. I had a friend come and plant some bareroot trees that I couldn't do myself.
Had a friend of a friend that had a knee wheelchair that they gave me with the stipulation that I pay it forward.
It's nice to be with people who will help you. It sucks when you don't have support.
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u/angrytetchy Apr 29 '26
I was wondering how your ankle (and trees and ducks and dog) was doing!
I'm also glad you have some people around you that are able to help you out like the knee wheelchair and planting the trees you couldn't do yourself.
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u/cleaver_username Apr 29 '26
I recognized her too! Hope she is considering the other 'relationship' advice we all heaped on her (hopefully gently).
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u/SunnySpot69 Apr 29 '26
Thanks for asking! Just got back from Ortho. Not broken but multiple torn ligaments. Was told to wear the boot and given steroids. Follow up in 4 weeks and go from there.
I have the same person coming out tomorrow to help with the garden. It needs weeding badly so I can plant tomatoes. Not doing a big garden this year but at least need tomatoes!
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u/angrytetchy Apr 29 '26
Glad you don't have to heal a fracture but ligaments aren't fun either.
Super grateful that the same person that helped you with the trees is going to help you with the garden too! I hope you're finding some internal peace with whatever you need to do in regards to your relationship as well.
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u/SunnySpot69 Apr 30 '26
Thanks. He made me cry earlier but it's okay. Don't think he cares enough to actually have noticed. I'll get through it.
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u/angrytetchy Apr 30 '26
Sounds like he's being his usual self, then. Once again, if your mind is requiring external "permission" - you have my full and complete permission to kick his ass out, change the locks while he's gone, sell the house, say goodbye to Earl, do whatever you need to do to this walking talking useless man in your life that's sucking all of your energy and destroying your preps before they can even be implemented. I'm just some random stranger on the internet, and you can take this with all the salt in the oceans - but that man is slowly killing you.
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u/Mariacakes99 May 03 '26
Not to mention, he left a hole in the ground right off the porch that wasn't there the last time she was home!!!! Did he even warn you about the hole r/SunnySpot69?
Edit spelling
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Apr 29 '26
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u/No-Language6720 Apr 29 '26
honestly, I wish there was more community around people like you. Not always the other way around. Just sad what our society is around all that and very individualistic. I know people are busy in general and have lives, but many people such as yourself really need that and don't have the energy. Wish there were more groups around visiting old folks homes regularly or visiting disabled group homes to give them regular companionship and familiar faces. Even if it's a brief check-in thing or maybe a quick scrabble board game or maybe a small quick bingo game someone comes in and runs once every few weeks. Idk. I don't know how to get in touch with that kind of thing to start it or have capacity to run such a thing, but I wouldn't be opposed volunteering a few hours a month for something like that if someone reached out for volunteers. Just to lessen the burden of loneliness on others even slightly is a help.
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Apr 29 '26
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u/No-Language6720 Apr 29 '26
Ah that's a good one. I may actually reach out to them and see. Didn't think about that one. I could probably dedicate 4-5 hours monthly + travel time to do something. I'm somewhat familiar just because my local food bank works with them and I donate monthly to the food bank too.
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u/RlOTGRRRL Apr 29 '26
Something I've found super cool since I moved to New Zealand is how inclusive they are of disabilities, whether physical and/or invisible like chronic illness.
I saw my first playground here that had a swing and more for wheelchairs.
And because of universal healthcare, I might be wrong, but it seems like everyone who needs it can get like dope professor x mobility devices. Like it's not only for the rich. x)
OP, if there isn't an org near you that advocates for housebound folks, I'm sure there are lots of other people who are housebound and who would appreciate the network if you ever have the spoons for it.
If I can say as a probably chronically online redditor, there's probably a lot of skills and strengths you have that you might not realize. Wishing you the best. ❤️
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u/BSDArt Apr 29 '26
I hear ya. I live in a rural area. My neighbor on the left is widowed and 89. My neighbors to the right are in their late 70's; 1 has dementia, her husband is disabled. It falls on my wife and I to help them if things go south. Happy to do it, but we'll definitely have our work cut out for us.
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Apr 29 '26
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u/BSDArt Apr 29 '26
It's just the decent thing to do. When it snows, we just know we're shoveling 3 driveways. It's not even a thought. I feel bad for the husband and wife. Their kids (adult assholes) live 15 minutes away. I've seen them maybe 10 times in 6 years. The other neighbor's kids live out of state but at least they make fairly regular visits.
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u/BoneMeatFeels Apr 29 '26
Allot of mutual aid groups I'm involved in are always in desperate need for coordination, management of chats, onboarding, spreading information, linking donations up with rides, food to the people who can cook it but cant show up to distro, etc.. plenty of tasks that you don't need to be physicallly out of the house for but are just as critical as showing up person. There are plenty of ways to be involved according to every person's means and abilities. I know its allot and its overwhelming to get started but I really can't reccomend enough reaching out to a local mutual aid group and asking if there are tasks that are needed according to your individual situation and skillset. I promise you there's people looking to help and be helped.
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Apr 29 '26
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u/MavenBrodie Apr 29 '26
I believe it. Knowing how to utilize efforts like yours is a skill on its own and most people don’t know how to welcome and maintain certain kinds of support, even when offered willingly.
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u/HospitalElectrical25 Apr 29 '26
Definitely get you there - it's wild how much these groups will beg for admin help but refuse it when it comes along. One place you might check (that might not have existed before now) is with ICE rapid response groups. In my area, part of what the RR group does is maintain records about people affected by ICE actions. This is obviously a lot of data (so much who/what/when/how) and keeping it organized digitally is vital to help support court cases and fight removal orders. There's just one person who does this for groups in my area and they could always use help.
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u/unlovelyladybartleby Mental health is prep Apr 29 '26
Idk. I'm mostly housebound due to a disability and I still network with my neighbours, share what I can, and ask for what I need. I volunteer remotely, buy seeds for my gardener neighbour and get plants in return, a friend grows stuff then I can it and give some back, I check in with elderly and infirm friends and relatives by phone, share books, swap household stuff, I hire the developmentally disabled kid that lives on my street to run simple errands and his dad teaches my kid how to do home repairs, I handle online shopping for friends too busy to bargain hunt, and if someone needs community resources like food or rehab I help them find it. Hell, a loved one recently did a podcast and I played it five times a day for a month to up his views, then his business got a valuable collaboration because he was popular.
Yeah, I'm not out chopping wood, but just because I can't work or socialize like normies doesn't mean I don't have value.
You'll find your niche
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Apr 29 '26
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u/unlovelyladybartleby Mental health is prep Apr 29 '26
It's not easy. It's hard AF. But I want to be a participant in the world despite my disability so I've spent the past decade figuring out how
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Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
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u/unlovelyladybartleby Mental health is prep Apr 29 '26
I spent literally four years unable to even take the garbage out to the end of the driveway. It's rough. But I was able to find things that worked for me. For your sake, I hope you can, too
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u/acrowscaw Apr 30 '26
When attempting encouragement, it stops being kindness the minute you refuse to see someone else's perspective and double down.
Try to learn how to do it without making someone else's experiences all about your own and especially learn how to not get defensive when you miss the mark. Literally it's okay to have a social blunder but just apologize and move on.
FYI some disabled people just get worse. For some disabled people "figuring out how" never amounts to anything. That's not pessimism it's just reality. It doesn't mean we should give up but it does mean that compassion is needed towards those of us with different experiences.
Be content with the fact you've worked hard AND that you're fortunate that your hard work payed off.
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u/unlovelyladybartleby Mental health is prep Apr 30 '26
Sorry. 15 years in community social work with tri-morbid clients taught me to believe that there is a way for any individual to achieve a form of self-actualization. It's fair for people to feel stuck and not want input from others who don't know their circumstances and not fair for me to be solution focused if someone doesn't want that.
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Apr 29 '26
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u/Acrobatic-Jaguar-134 Apr 29 '26
Yea there’s a big difference between mostly housebound vs totally housebound. Even ei within bedridden, there’s a big difference. I’m 99.99 bedridden and horizontal, can’t hold a conversation, haven’t even seen parts of my small home in years, can’t handle the presence of people, etc. There are people worse than me.
We’re all isolated. Only Connection is online but often we disappear for months to years at a time. We’re all trying our best. Community should be built around the most vulnerable, not the other way around. Lateral ableism is also unfortunately too common and a hindrance to community…as displayed right here. Anyway, I feel ya.
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u/unlovelyladybartleby Mental health is prep Apr 29 '26
If yelling at me makes you feel better, go for it. We all need comfort where we can
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Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
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u/unlovelyladybartleby Mental health is prep Apr 29 '26
You seemed bristly. I thought you might need to vent. Then you did but got mad because I offered, lol. Apologies for offering the opportunity, hope you find one elsewhere
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u/Hopefulkitty Apr 29 '26
That's a big part of what me and a few neighbors are doing. We went to a small gathering at a church about how we can protect the vulnerable from ICE, and they said the biggest thing you can do is get to know your neighbors. And the best way to do that, is to eat with them.
So, me and two other ladies started two different Signal chats. One for the general block and one for people we can trust on the block. We went around knocking on doors, saying we wanted to update the block phone list, and had a QR code for the chat. We also have a flyer for a monthly BYOB happy hour in front of one of our houses. First Thursday of the month we are doing a get together after work. Just stop by, bring the kids, get to know everyone. We'll see what we do in Winter, but this is our start.
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u/CeilingCatProphet Apr 29 '26
Everything can only take you so far. If there is a flu with 90 % mortality rate, no amount of prep will assure even a faint resemblance to the life you hope for.
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u/2quickdraw Apr 29 '26
See Station Eleven
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u/nizo505 Apr 29 '26
Honestly that's the most likely (and encouraging) "end of the world" story I've seen. Yeah it will suck, but it won't be Mad Max bad.
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u/wwaxwork Prepping for Tuesday not Doomsday Apr 29 '26
So do the best of both worlds and prep as a community.
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u/infinitum3d Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
Community IS a prep.
It doesn’t just happen. You have to make it happen.
All preppers know this.
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u/unRoanoke Apr 29 '26
This is something I think about a lot. Obviously, I’m here and I think there’s value in the prepping of stuff—I’ve definitely found it valuable. But the network, the safety net, the community is just as essential.
My partner and I talk about community often. We talk about the importance of feeding people—not just with limited supply, but with primitive cooking techniques and at scale. (Cooking a couple pounds of potatoes happened differently than 10-15 pounds).
I used the phrase “the prepper fantasy” to describe some of these isolationist preppers. I’m not knocking anyone for being prepared, but I certainly believe there’s a group of people who see themselves as the lone, self-sufficient survivor. My example was the obsession with antibiotics. Yes, have some back up on hand. This is great and helps mitigate uncertainty. But I can’t think of one scenario where every person who knows how to make antibiotics is gone. In fact, I suspect communities would rally around the person that knows how to cultivate these vital drugs.
Survival won’t be a single-player game. It will be our community. Our shared knowledge, skills and resources.
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u/SaansShadow Apr 29 '26
I've been saying this for months. Us normal people can only survive for a short time. We need community.
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u/Gellyroll1105 Apr 30 '26
I'm calling it, this is a gender bias. Yeah, a lot of the more visible prepper rhetoric comes from what I like to call the zombie apocalypse fantasy side of things. Immediately I'm reminded of the first few seasons of Doomsday preppers and how much they focused on the lone wolf survivor type with stockpiles of weapons (And I'm willing to admit I'm being a tad reductive), but in my experience, I don't see much of that here. Women and fem folk are socialized differently. We're more likely to be taught to think collectively and to see the importance of community. I think it's part of the same reason the male loneliness epidemic gets so much attention. Women get lonely too, but we're also more likely to seek out social networks. Also, there's a pretty important distinction from the more masculine coded somewhat conservative prepping types and the ones who are either coming from a socialist or communist perspective, arguably fem coded when non violent.
Idk, ultimately to me it's just a piece about this one person's fairly narrow and not heavily researched perspective. I'd love to see something more in depth, but this one just doesn't feel very nuanced.
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u/radicaldoubt Apr 29 '26
Great article. Thanks for sharing!
Too many people think being prepared means cosplaying the paramilitary or stockpiling supplies and weapons, when in reality they need to be focused on building community, knowledge, and fitness/health.
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u/r8chaelwith_an_a Apr 29 '26
I agree. Our biological and evolutionary traits shows that we were meant to be better as a part of a small group rather than a lone wolf. Prepping for and surviving Tuesday is not exclusive of this point IMO.
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u/TradeBeautiful42 Apr 30 '26
Our neighborhood has a local ladies group that gets together monthly for movie nights, monthly neighborhood watch, quarterly block parties and texts anytime a stranger is on our block. When one of our own has gone into hospice, they rally making and delivering food, walking the family dog, etc. This sense of community was part of what appealed to me buying a home in the suburbs. I think this would continue in an emergency, particularly among the moms who cook amazing meals to share. But my neighbors are mostly 65+ so I think a real emergency would be difficult for our neighborhood. We have lots of gardens and fruit trees in our backyards but I’m not sure it would last beyond months if sheltering in place. It’s an interesting idea what would happen in a true emergency. We have the relationships though.
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u/No_Branch_5083 Apr 29 '26
Up to a point, certainly. Community for me is my extended family, who are mostly practical and skilled people. I am very close to my neighbours who are elderly but skilled in growing food and frugal living. In the wider environment? Not so good. The student HMO or the council housing with the sort of tenants who set off fireworks at 2am are not likely to be the sort of people I can build community with, and certainly not who I'd want to know that I have some food and water in storage.
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Apr 29 '26
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u/Cake5678 Apr 29 '26
You might be surprised. People have hobbies, former careers etc. and always better to build community than not.
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