> Yet with "Statistically speaking hurricane prepping is much bigger deal in America than survivalism" you imply that 'survivalism' does not include hurricane prepping, so is not the same as the 'prepper culture' from the paper.

There is a distinction in America between prepping for medium to long term service disruptions, and preparing for a hurricane. The later merely involves nailing boards onto your house's windows then driving north for a few hours whereas the formed is commonly dubbed 'survivalism'. I should have been more clear about what I meant by the terminology.

> In that case, isn't the back-to-the-soil movement of the 1960s more similar to pre-WWII farming culture than the prepper culture, despite the lack of interest in weapons in that movement?

I think the back-to-the-soil movement of the 1960s is very similar to pre-WWII farming culture. I think that even in the 1960s statistically speaking wherever there's been farms and middle class in the United States there's been guns. I think that today tons of people who back in the 1960s would have been characterized as "back-to-the-soil" are being roped into the "prepper" category by a media blitz that wishes to discourage the transmission of those pre-WWII values to a new generation of Americans.

I think that all we're seeing here is a back-to-the-land movement by a generation that is growing up in a time where the spectre of 'terrorism' looms large. Also you can see it in the artwork and music, these younger generations were more likely influenced by Kurt Cobain, Henry Rollins, or Biggie Smalls than Carlos Santana or Jimi Hendrix, so naturally they're going to exhibit a little more 'hard core' tendencies when they do go back to the land.

> I appear to have been wrong, as I had no idea at the time that space aliens had been part of TV culture for decades, and it's been decades more without announcement.

Maybe for your generation it was space aliens and this generation has zombies and vampires, go figure. There do seem to be some ominous continuities between the two pop culture phenomenon, but that could just be my imagination.

> Do you have any idea of how may firearms (per capita) are needed for that? Because Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and France are still in the top list of countries in per capita gun ownership. How many more will they need?

Thats the problem with trying to talk about Europe as a whole, there are several important exceptions, most notably the Swiss. You forgot the Czech Republic add them to your list.

> Yes, and Switzerland "The vast majority of men between the ages of 20 and 34 are conscripted into the militia and undergo military training, including weapons training", though they don't keep ammunition at home.

The Swiss have their shit together what more can I say.

> So plenty of Europeans have some experience in the military, at least for some countries.

I certainly didn't meant to imply that they didn't, I hope I didn't offend.

> In the Middle East these troops were frequently tasked with restoring order to urban areas exploding in internecine strife

>Now you're going on a tangent that seems little to do with pre-WWII farming culture.

> What sort of military training, and more importantly special forces operation experience, did your grandmother's family have, and how was it useful for their farm life?

my bad! Let me reiterate the point: In my view there is both a back-to-the-land phenomena and a prepper phenomena going on in the modern United States which are distinct although there is some overlap. The back-to-the-land movement is much much larger than the prepper movement statistically, but you don't get that picture from watching the TV.

The media doesn't want to acknowledge the back-to-the-land movement because it's not seen as good for business, so they try to paint everyone with a pickup truck as a prepper. In computer programming there is a movement towards "remote work". In the 1960s the status symbol for having made it in your career was having your own office secretary and a reserved parking spot, but in the modern era perhaps the new way to know you have arrived is when you are free to work from home... or even from the farm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2AOhWGLAJY