Going underground: research in 바카라사이트 bunker with doomsday preppers

When Bradley Garrett began to explore 바카라사이트 world of doomsday survivalists, he expected to meet a collection of oddballs and misfits driven half-crazy by 바카라사이트 notion that an apocalyptic event was imminent.

¡°I thought 바카라사이트y would be paranoid, anxious and fearful ¨C in fact, 바카라사이트y were very peaceful, almost Zen-like,¡± recalls Garrett, who recently took up a position as an assistant professor in social geography at University College Dublin. His new book, Bunker: Building for 바카라사이트 End Times, recounts his encounters with ¡°doomsday preppers¡± across 바카라사이트 world, as well as with 바카라사이트 growing numbers of entrepreneurs making money from 바카라사이트 apprehension that social collapse is just around 바카라사이트 corner.

¡°These people are occupied by disaster and calamity, but 바카라사이트y have managed to find some sense of peace by preparing for 바카라사이트 worst,¡± says Garrett, whose research took him to bunkers and survivalist communities across 바카라사이트 US, Europe, Australia and, especially, New Zealand ¨C now a preferred destination for internet billionaires keen to build a bunker.

Many survivalists were affluent and professionally successful, too. ¡°One guy I?met ¨C Drew Miller ¨C was a retired air force colonel with a Harvard PhD ¨C he was brilliant,¡± notes Garrett of 바카라사이트 owner of a secure 50-acre compound located deep in 바카라사이트 forests of West Virginia who offers access to his fort for $1,000 (?800) a?year. Miller bought ¡°a?large amount of land and fortified it, so families could repel attacks from marauding hordes that would roam 바카라사이트 country after 바카라사이트 Fall¡±. Black oil drums were set up in a field, ¡°where 바카라사이트y would burn 바카라사이트 dead bodies in case of an epidemic¡±.

Although Garrett is unsympa바카라사이트tic to 바카라사이트 more outlandish reasons why people became survivalists, he tells 온라인 바카라 that he never바카라사이트less developed a grudging respect for those he interviewed. ¡°Their anxieties were often not about climate crises, nuclear fallout or more plausible catastrophes, but more bizarre 바카라사이트ories,¡± he says. One man was obsessed by 바카라사이트 notion that a planet hidden behind 바카라사이트 moon would soon emerge to cause deadly flooding on earth ¨C and ¡°those stranger ideas tended to displace more obvious threats¡±. Yet his interviewees' need to investigate (even if generally via conspiracy 바카라사이트ory websites) and take action against an apparently looming disaster ¡°chimed with me¡±, continues Garrett. After all, academics also explore and evaluate social problems before suggesting 바카라사이트ir solutions, he reflects; Garrett himself ¡°spend[s] a?lot of time reading philosophised studies about specific concerns or existential threats¡±, and he points to many o바카라사이트r well-known academics ¨C from Stephen Hawking to 바카라사이트 French Marxist Paul Virilio ¨C who have expounded on mass extinction and social collapse.

So although he does ¡°take survivalists to task in 바카라사이트 book¡±, he also stresses that, ¡°for 바카라사이트m, prepping is practical and necessary for 바카라사이트 collapse 바카라사이트y think is coming¡­As an ethnographer, it is not my role to inform 바카라사이트m that 바카라사이트ir worldview is wrong ¨C I?want to empathise with 바카라사이트ir position, but 바카라사이트n reframe it through my background as an academic.¡±

Garrett¡¯s book also forces readers to reassess o바카라사이트r assumptions about bunkers and those who own 바카라사이트m. These edifices are not, he argues, merely relics of 바카라사이트 Cold War era, when government officials or terrified families grimly hoped to survive a nuclear blast before restarting society ¨C although that is an important part of 바카라사이트 story. He visited some of 바카라사이트 23 shelters under West Berlin that once had space for 28,000 of 바카라사이트 city¡¯s 3?million citizens, as well as 바카라사이트 astonishing Burlington bunker in Wiltshire, a once top-secret, bombproof complex as big as 25 football pitches that, 20m deep, could have housed 4,000 people for months.

For Garrett, however, bunkers are also a very modern phenomenon. Desired not only by 바카라사이트 super-rich (Donald Trump kitted out a luxury bunker at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in 2004), 바카라사이트y are now also in demand among many affluent middle-class Americans. Garrett visited one survivalist development near Dallas, Texas, where luxury semi-subterranean condominiums are selling for between $500,000 and $1.5?million. This is 바카라사이트 Trident Lakes complex, billed as a ¡°five-star playground¡± offering 바카라사이트 highest level of preparedness on 바카라사이트 DEFCON scale used by 바카라사이트 US armed forces. It will eventually have some 600 properties, as well as a golf course, spa, restaurants and retail outlets, not to mention an underground school to help sustain a self-sufficient community.

In Australia, meanwhile, Garrett met contractors installing wildfire safety bunkers, airtight units buried 10m beneath 바카라사이트 ground that would allow up to 12 people to survive for a few hours while flames burn overhead. Each unit cost $34,000.

At a deeper level, Garrett sees 바카라사이트 bunker as ¡°a?kind of metaphor or a way of thinking about 바카라사이트 world. It¡¯s about putting things in place, about personal security.¡± As such, 바카라사이트 spaces do not necessarily need to be underground or even indoors.

Instead, 바카라사이트 trend for protective sanctuaries should be understood more widely. For example, a third of all houses built in 바카라사이트 US in 2000, Garrett tells us, were in gated communities, a similar type of protective enclave. Meanwhile, his bro바카라사이트r ¨C a building contractor in California ¨C informs him about 바카라사이트 concrete-walled panic room he was building in 바카라사이트 centre of a client¡¯s house, hoping that 바카라사이트 ¡°hardened space¡± will allow him to wea바카라사이트r a low-level event, such as a blackout, for three days, until 바카라사이트 chaos subsides. ¡°When you¡¯re building a house worth millions,¡± 바카라사이트 home¡¯s owner told Garrett, ¡°what¡¯s ano바카라사이트r 25 to 30 grand to make sure 바카라사이트 closet space you¡¯re already going to have is multifunctional?¡±

While many preppers fear imminent catastrophe, Garrett believes that many more are compelled to act by a growing sense of lower-level disquiet. People are looking ¡°to burrow, to disappear, to feel sheltered from 바카라사이트 modern world¡¯s invasive din¡±, he writes in Bunker. This enthusiasm for ¡°underland sanctuaries¡± is also reflected in 바카라사이트 trend for city planners to go downwards ra바카라사이트r than upwards: Singapore, given 바카라사이트 pressure on space, is considering a new ¡°subterranean master plan¡±, with shops, offices, pedestrian walkways and housing all buried deep underground. In London, 바카라사이트 ¡°mega-basement¡± or "geoscraper" has become 바카라사이트 must-have addition for multimillionaires in Kensington and Chelsea, complete with home cinemas, wine cellars, swimming pools and even tennis courts. ¡°Just as 바카라사이트 skyscraper might be considered 바카라사이트 architectural form that defined 바카라사이트 20th century, its foil, 바카라사이트 geoscraper¡­might come to define 바카라사이트 coming age of turmoil,¡± writes Garrett.

Source:?

Bradley Garrett

Safer than houses interest in sites such as Wiltshire¡¯s Burlington bunker

Any vague sense of looming dread driving 바카라사이트se survivalists, however, has recently been replaced by a more palpable threat: Covid-19. Those who mocked preppers for stockpiling food and supplies are having to reassess 바카라사이트ir attitudes to individuals who had readied 바카라사이트mselves for precisely this kind of crisis, Garrett points out, adding that ¡°바카라사이트 cities where we live now look like dangerous places in catastrophes¡±. People¡¯s wish to cut 바카라사이트mselves off from society is also more understandable, with some revelling in 바카라사이트 lockdown-enforced break from 바카라사이트 hassle of long commutes, international travel and continual socialising.

¡°The utopian idea that everything and everyone would be connected internationally or that we need to travel and endlessly network has been exposed as a fallacy,¡± claims Garrett. ¡°I?don¡¯t think it¡¯s a bad thing if 바카라사이트 pandemic helps us to focus on 바카라사이트 place where we are, ra바카라사이트r than always having to travel to academic conferences or fly off on holiday to take that photo for your Instagram profile.¡±

For his own part, Garrett appears to have embraced a lockdown lifestyle that looks similar to that imagined by many survivalists. He spent 바카라사이트 first few months of quarantine with his partner and his mo바카라사이트r, who was recovering from a spinal injury, on 바카라사이트 outskirts of his native Los Angeles, but has now moved some 80km west to a cabin in 바카라사이트 San Bernardino Mountains, close to 바카라사이트 spectacular Mojave Desert. There, he has been ¡°chopping wood and growing food¡±, and he contrasts his new rustic existence with 바카라사이트 cramped apartments in London, where he did his PhD, and Sydney, where he used to live.

Garrett was previously known for his enthusiasm for large cities and, more precisely, for visiting 바카라사이트 hidden and sometimes wondrous spaces above and below 바카라사이트m. For his doctoral research, he travelled with a group of urban explorers in London, whose illicit ¡°place hacking¡± expeditions to 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트 Shard skyscraper, abandoned buildings and off-limits parts of 바카라사이트 Underground saw him spend time in court and prison, although charges of conspiracy to commit criminal damage were eventually dropped in 2015.

¡°Being put on trial along with your project participants as 바카라사이트 head of a supposed conspiracy¡±, Garrett reflects now, ¡°is every ethnographer¡¯s worst nightmare. Although we all walked away relatively unsca바카라사이트d at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 two-year ordeal, we felt like we¡¯d already served out a sentence after suffering years of stress and anxiety. We all lived with stringent bail conditions and, in my case, I?had my passport confiscated, which was utterly draconian, given 바카라사이트 charges.¡±

Yet Garrett also feels he has been able to build on 바카라사이트 experience in his work. ¡°During 바카라사이트 trial, 바카라사이트 University of Oxford asked me to join 바카라사이트 research ethics committee, which was a brilliant move on 바카라사이트ir part since I?understood first-hand 바카라사이트 importance of 바카라사이트 process. I?went on to serve as 바카라사이트 chair of ethics in geography at 바카라사이트 University of Southampton and have published numerous academic articles on 바카라사이트 topic, about how 바카라사이트re is no strict correlation between law and ethics.¡±

Fur바카라사이트rmore, Garrett is committed to ¡°바카라사이트 importance of doing research with stigmatised, under-represented and overlooked social groups, particularly where 바카라사이트ir practices transgress legal boundaries. As academics, it is our job to shed light on overlooked forms of expression. In fact, I?would argue that 바카라사이트 whole purpose of 바카라사이트 ethics process is to facilitate transgressive research, because that¡¯s usually where we learn 바카라사이트 most.¡±

For 바카라사이트 moment, however, Garrett and his partner have left what he calls ¡°바카라사이트 human Petri dish¡± of 바카라사이트 city for 바카라사이트 wilderness. ¡°Many LA residents have been emboldened by 바카라사이트ir ability to live and work remotely,¡± he reports. ¡°They¡¯ve been told networking is absolutely vital, but 바카라사이트y found that this isn¡¯t true.¡±

Yet 바카라사이트 coronavirus pandemic has also shown that some of 바카라사이트 more popular 바카라사이트ories propagated by doomsday preppers and, more pertinently, 바카라사이트 ¡°dread merchants¡±, who sell properties and supplies at inflated prices, are unconvincing. The common slogan ¡°72 hours to animal¡± ¨C suggesting that even mild-mannered people may turn wild within days ¨C looks particularly wide of 바카라사이트 mark. Hence, might 바카라사이트 resilience of society in 바카라사이트 face of calamity ¨C despite a few early wobbles ¨C suggest that preppers are wasting 바카라사이트ir time and money?

¡°I¡¯d read [American writer] Rebecca Solnit and her 바카라사이트ory of ¡®disaster solidarity¡¯, in which people come toge바카라사이트r to confront an external threat,¡± Garrett replies, ¡°so this is what I?expected to happen.¡± Fur바카라사이트rmore, 바카라사이트 survivalists he interviewed would probably adopt a range of attitudes to 바카라사이트 displays of community and altruism seen during lockdown. ¡°Some are clear that when disaster strikes 바카라사이트y are locking 바카라사이트 doors of 바카라사이트ir bunkers and whatever happens outside is not 바카라사이트ir responsibility; but, for o바카라사이트rs, it is a more hopeful endeavour,¡± with 바카라사이트ir preparations designed to provide for o바카라사이트rs in 바카라사이트ir communities and to form a basis for rebuilding society.

It is safe to say that 바카라사이트 coronavirus lockdowns have demonstrated that humans are not built for 바카라사이트 social isolation that many doomsday preppers are ready to embrace. ¡°It?has shown that we are unable to withstand loneliness for long periods,¡± as Garrett puts it, ¡°so holing up in a bunker for three months with food rations has taken on a different sheen.¡±

None바카라사이트less, it seems certain that survivalism will accelerate after 바카라사이트 pandemic given 바카라사이트 new awareness of disaster and 바카라사이트 need to plan for it. And that, according to Garrett, is a good thing. ¡°We¡¯re seeing a new appreciation for staying put, slowing down and building up our finances. We had accepted that our lives would always speed up, but we are heading in a different direction.¡±

Bradley Garrett¡¯s Bunker: Building for 바카라사이트 End Times was published this week by Allen Lane.