Reading some threads (not all by any means) there seem to be folks who are preparing for The End and the Total Collapse, whereupon they will improve their lot considerably by virtue of their vast amounts of canned tomatoes and AR-15s. In the new order, they will rise to the top. The sooner that happens, the quicker they will improve their status...

One can think of all kinds of problems with that scenario, but there are many degrees and shades of "prepping," and in this thread I think we are discussing mostly the most extreme varieties of preparedness. Nothing at all wrong with paranoid people prepping - after all, they just might be right.

But I wouldn't bet on it.