Survivalist terminology

Survivalists tend toward using military acronyms such as OPSEC and SOP, and terminology common to the gun culture, but they also frequently use acronyms and terms that are fairly unique to their own lexicon. A few of these cross over with those used by Peak Oil adherents. Some key survivalist terms and acronyms include:

Alpha Strategy: The practice of storing extra consumable items, as a hedge against inflation, and for use in barter and charity. Coined by John Pugsley[45][46]
Ballistic Wampum: Ammunition stored for barter purposes. Coined by Jeff Cooper.[47][48]
BOB: Bug-out bag.[49][50]
BOL: Bug-out location.[51][52]
BOV: Bug-out vehicle.[53][54]
Contrapreneur: Someone who foolishly invests in a declining market. Coined by James Wesley Rawles.[55]
Doomer: A Peak Oil adherent who believes in a Malthusian-scale societal collapse.[56][57]
Goblin: A criminal miscreant. Coined (in the survivalist context) by Jeff Cooper.[58][59]
Golden Horde: The "anticipated large mixed horde of refugees and looters that will pour out of the metropolitan regions WTSHTF." Coined (in the survivalist context) by James Wesley Rawles.[60][61]
G.O.O.D.: Get Out of Dodge (City). Fleeing urban areas in the event of a disaster. Acronym coined by James Wesley Rawles.[62][63]
G.O.O.D. Kit: Get Out of Dodge Kit. Synonymous with Bug-Out Bag (BOB).[64][65]
Pollyanna or Polly: Someone who is in denial about the disruption that might be caused by the advent of a large scale disaster.[66][67]
SHTF: Shit hits the fan. Sometimes rendered as "Schumer hits the fan".[68][unreliable source?] A term used generically by survivalists to describe disaster situations.[69][70]
TEOTWAWKI The End of the World as We Know It. Acronym coined by Mike Medintz.[71][72]
WTSHTF: When the shit hits the fan. Sometimes rendered as "When the Schumer hits the fan".[73]A term used generically by survivalists to describe disaster situations.[74][75]

[edit] Perceived extremism
In the popular culture, survivalism has often been associated with paramilitary activities. Some survivalists do take active defensive preparations that have military roots and that involve firearms, and this is sometimes emphasized by the mass media, often for the sake of sensationalism.

Kurt Saxon is one proponent of this approach to survivalism. Saxon's writings on survival tend toward Social Darwinism and Eugenics, with survivalism defined by Saxon as "Looking out for #1" and a need to be sufficiently armed to defend one's refuge and belongings from hungry people who might demand that others share them if society breaks down.

The potential for Societal collapse is often cited as motivation for being well-armed. Thus, some non-militaristic survivalists often have developed an unintended militaristic image. Nevertheless, its prominence in popular depictions results in the term "survivalism" being sometimes used interchangeably with right-wing reactionary paramilitary activities. In particular, the mainstream media tends to loosely label many militants and miscellaneous extremists as "survivalists", whether or not they are actively preparing to survive, and regardless of having any formal survival training, or any firm affiliation with survivalist groups.

[edit] Government preparedness efforts and training
Some governments have encouraged citizens to prepare for emergency situations, including a situation which would result in breakdown of the infrastructure. The government of Switzerland with its long-standing militia system, mandatory construction of fallout shelters in all newly-constructed multi-unit housing, and its network of reduit fortresses is one of the best prepared. An earlier civil defense effort in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s fell into disrepair by the 1970s. These included the designation of structures as official fallout shelters, and duck and cover drills in schools. A booklet released by the office of the Executive Office of the President of the United States shortly after the start of the cold war called Survival Under Atomic Attack depicts the nature of the early civil defense initiatives.

The U.S. government civil defense program was minimal during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, despite efforts by a few including Christian writer Gary North to lobby the government to resume civil defense efforts and build fallout shelters. Gary North co-wrote a book, Fighting Chance to advocate for the return of the civil defense program. A renewal of U.S. government interest in preparedness and training did not happen until after the September 11th attacks and Hurricane Katrina. This renewed interest is typified by Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) organizations.

Official government preparedness training has often been ridiculed or discounted by those in the survivalist movement. This goes in particular for the 1950s/1960s era duck and cover drills. One main tenet of the survivalist movement has been that people should prepare on their own or with like-minded people, not rely on the government to take care of them in emergencies.

[edit] Survivalism worldwide
Individual survivalist preparedness and survivalist groups and forums—both formal and informal—are popular worldwide, most visibly in Australia,[76][77] Belgium, Canada,[78] France, Germany[79] (often organized under the guise of "adventuresport" clubs)[80], New Zealand[81], Norway[82], Russia[83], Sweden[84][85], the United Kingdom[86] and the United States.[87]

[edit] Other groups related to survivalism
Adherents of the back-to-the-land movement, which has been sporadically popular in the United States, especially in the 1930s inspired by Helen and Scott Nearing, and more recently in the 1970s, as exemplified by The Mother Earth News magazine, share many of the same interests in self-sufficiency and preparedness with survivalists. They differ from most survivalists in that they have a greater interest in ecology, and sometimes the counterculture, than most survivalists do. The Mother Earth News was, as a result, widely read by survivalists as well as back-to-the-landers during that magazine's early years, and there was some overlap between the two movements.