Move Over, Right-Wing Boomer Survivalists. Stylish Millennial Libs Are the New Preppers

here are so, so, so, so many scenarios for the apocalypse. Natural disasters: fires, floods, tornadoes. And man-made: biochemical accidents, wars, mass shootings. The stereotype of a prepper—borne of the Cold War paranoia of the '50s and '60s—is a rifle-clutching, far-right Deliverance type, wild-eyed and making for the exit, mapping the quickest route to the closest bunker. And the boomer preppers are still out there. But a younger generation of preppers is growing, with and among us all.

On forums like the r/preppers subreddit, posters compare their plans for surviving when SHTF (shit hits the fan)—and their questions about firearms stockpiling and storage only serve to reinforce the individualistic, politically conservative stereotype of survival prep. In fact, "preppers" is a bit of a misnomer: Many of the posts lean more toward survivalism, the more militaristic goal of being able to live independently off the land indefinitely, while the related "prepper" aims to equip themselves and make it through to the other side. There's often an every-man-for-himself, grizzled undertone to the survivalist community, and in fact, Kurt Saxon, who is widely credited with coining the term "survivalist," claimed to be a member of the American Nazi Party.