What exactly is a prepper?

It’s anyone who anticipates a calamity resulting in some degree of social collapse, and makes plans—or prepares—to survive independently. Behind that definition lies a gamut that runs from suburbanites with “bugout bags” to survivalists with basements full of firearms, Spam, and canned beans to tech moguls investing in underground bunkers with spa suites. They’re driven by fears of weather catastrophes, nuclear strikes, civil war, mass disease, the coming of Biblical end-times, and anything else that might force citizens to fend for themselves. John Ramey, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and founder of The Prepared—a “rational” website that offers guidance on such matters as bugout bag essentials (first aid kits, lifeboat rations) and the best body armor and survi

See Full Page