"Were they real world survivalists or folks from Government ABC agencies looking to discover if you own a match case?"

Match cases! I have lots and lots of match cases, none of them registered. When match cases are outlawed, only outlaws will have match cases.....

The very rational goal of prepping does combine at times with a fairly anti-social attitude. I suppose it depends upon individual perceptions of potential emergencies.

Personally, I have experienced many more situations where G'vment helped greatly in emergencies than otherwise.