grand pooba

GRAND POOBA


A few of the comments on the American Redoubt article were a bit harsh in their judgment of Rawles, Patron Saint Of American Survivalists. A funny one, he shall lead the legions of AR toting Yuppies to victory. A vicious one almost sounded like Rawles owed them money or borrowed the family dog ( don’t ask ) for the weekend and never returned it. Folks, here at the Bison Compound, we are rude, crude, socially unacceptable, bitter, petty and judgmental, but the one thing that we strive for is giving the devil his due. Rawles is merely a successful businessman. I don’t mean to detract from his accomplishments survivalist wise. I’ve said many times that following the Rawles plan is highly impractical for almost all of us, but it does smack on being nearly the perfect plan. And Rawles has done it without any help. He didn’t marry into money, or get an inheritance, but built up a safe refuge for his family one cup of sweat at a time. The man I can admire, which takes a lot to admit since he was both an officer and an MI puke. I just disagree with certain elements of his teachings.

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Rawles isn’t trying to gather an army of darkness to swallow the pagan hordes into the benign shadow of his righteousness. He has just developed a business plan that follows his accomplishments. You can’t praise me or Creekmore for “living the life”, which really isn’t much more than living in a tin box on junk land, without acknowledging how great Rawles has done to practice what he preaches. I might disagree with his media whoreing, but that is just me and a reflection of my personality. He isn’t doing anything that Howard Ruff or Kurt Saxon didn’t do, playing by the medias rules to get publicity to sell their product. I’d even go so far as to say he is more hardcore than Ruff, and certainly more practical than Saxon ( Saxon is a god to me, the grandfather of frugal survivalism, but still a bit of a fruit loop ). Rawles strives to keep his stronger opinions to himself which might make for a bland product at times, but does keep that unwieldy ship of fools afloat. Imagine the backstabbing and infighting of thirty thousand different brands of idiots if he encouraged anyone.

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We really shouldn’t fall for our own hype. When an outsider who has no idea of what we are all about, who passes sentence on ideas that are only superficially understood ( hint, hint, like Greer ), that is bad enough. But when we perpetuate the stereotypes ourselves, which only adds fuel to others fire they are trying to build under us, we are not doing ourselves any favors. The Great And Wise And All Powerful Grand Pooba Of All He Surveys is one of those myths we need to not encourage. Of course, survival fiction is full of them such as the benign father figure of Lucifer’s Hammer ( the senator on the ranch ), the battle god but merciful leader in Dies The Fire, from the same book the deluded medieval evil baron wannabe of the Portland bad guys, the hockey mask dude in The Road Warrior ( the only good movie of the trilogy-the first was a “out of control crime wave of the 70’s” flick, the third an implausible cartoon [ where does the pig food come from-camel back?- to generate the methane? ] ), etc. But fiction is all about defeating an antagonist with a happy ending. Life doesn’t need a great and all powerful enemy to be normal, and happy endings are rare.

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There will of course be every conceivable type of leadership after the collapse. Dictatorships, military governments, some fools will try a genuine democracy. Perhaps a lucky few will have a defensible position blessed with resources that allow a libertarian community. No one knows for sure which will be successful, we can only guess from history. My bet would be on a board of directors type of arrangement being the second most attempted ( after warlords of criminal gangs ). Successful? Who knows. But since no one knows how to survive in an oil free society, we are all feeling around blind ( we know how in general, we just don’t know how in a mined, polluted, resource scarce world left us ). By having a band or group trying to lead, you not only defend against your own ignorance of many things, you can’t be the sole target of discontent. For instance, I joke about leading the masses of admirers in Bisonia, but I’m sure I would make a poor manager. I focus on what should be rather than how things are. I would need others around me to soften the hard edges ( all women in veils! All children to the fields! Into the breech you cowardly dogs, to the greater glory of Bisonia! ), while I would remind them how far away from the cold hard reality they are. One hopes the middle ground turned out to be the best solution.

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Yes, becoming the Grand Pooba is a pleasant fantasy. But it is just another one of those “sitting around the country store stoves solving the worlds problems” ways to pass the time. It is unrealistic to think any of us could do a good job leading and make good decisions most of the time. And predicting others will lead against us assumes natural selection won’t kick in. Incompetent leadership is possible, but only after a kingdom is established and secure. Before that, when leadership is being created, bad leadership is violently purged. The consent of the masses is always needed, even in a dictatorship ( outside looking in you can miss this point. Germans embraced Hitler as the alternative was continued starvation and hyperinflation and mass unemployment. Iraqis tolerated the man who kept the religious factions from continual warfare, allowing a peace to the masses- above all the prime directive is to earn ones daily bread and feed the family ). Leaders don’t emerge from a vacuum, they are allowed to rule. The one who provides the peace and stability will be that ruler. Simple cost/benefit ratio is that even an extreme government is tolerated as long as the alternative is worse.

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There will be Grand Pooba’s, but there will also be other forms of rule. The process of Darwinist selection will be brutal, but don’t fear the eventual outcome. The masses will get the type of leader they need in the end. Governments thrive always and forever as a benefit, a free lunch, a better alternative. Hell, even “the lesser of evils” is preferable all of the time. Forget civics class propaganda. The perfect form of rule doesn’t happen. The kind we need does. And we are usually happy for it. But it isn’t always or by default a one man rule of oppression.

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