This is very sad, and preventable.
Reading the article it sounds like this woman unfortunately just spent too much time on social media reading all the doom and gloom of the media and people amplifying it in places like reddit, Twitter and Facebook.
wanted to live in a land disconnected from the world, which she viewed as chaotic and dangerous
she and her teenage son could be happy and safe away from the news, the viruses, the politics of modern-day America
had been “discouraged with the state of the world”
Rebecca Vance’s fears intensified during the pandemic
Consuming too much of this crap has really affected peoples mental health, from Trump, to BLM riots, racism, covid, it’s broken some people who spend too much time on social media.
So much so that they think the only way out is to hide away from society.
Reminder, friends, to take frequent and extensive breaks from social media for your own mental health.
Please, I knew people who were exactly the same back in the 90s, there are always people who go down the paranoia rabbit hole and don’t come back out.
Lot of them were praying for the collapse because that’s when God would raise them above the wicked heathens and sodomites because they’re secretly special but everyone else is too evil to admit it.
The article said the poor kid was homeschooled, which is often a hallmark of religious fundamentalism. Not trusting the world and thinking it’s out to get you is also a hallmark of fundamentalism - but also of mental illness.
She’s from Colorado Springs (massive conservative area) and she became concerned about the world and wanted to live off the grid in 2022 (when Trump lost). The writer of this article sure does beat around the bush and struggles not to say whether she was a right wing nut.
The teenager — whom Jara described as a smart and caring son who had been a “mama’s boy” and had been home-schooled
The only food found at their shelter was a single package of ramen
You can’t lump in blm riots in there, those were protests stoked to violence by police officers, so what you should be saying it’s, corrupt police forces resulting in blm protests
Not reading Twitter has a tangible impact on my anxiety. You can feel it rise when I used it, fell away when I stopped.
I haven’t used Facebook in almost 2 years now and it’s so nice
And remember that despite some unique large scale issues we have today, there were much, MUCH worse times to be alive. “Majority of Americans live a peaceful life and die at 70-80” is not reportable news but still largely true.
Things are far from perfect, there are major issues, but I’d choose to live today than almost the entirety of human existence previously.
There were definitely way more violent times in the US: there were pandemics, there were revolts, there were wars. We live in an amazing time but it takes a bit of grand perspective to realize that all the bad news is easy to see in a matter of minutes. You can have death and destruction delivered right into your home in a matter of milliseconds. It’s much much harder to see all the wonderful things happening in the world
I wish people would realize that humans only got to where we are because we are a COMMUNAL species. We developed complex language and tool usage BECAUSE we work together. Being “off the grid” is usually isolationist and therefore extremely dangerous. We need community in order to develop and manage the resources we need to survive.
Well no, there’s a difference between offgrid and alone and an offgrid commune.
Well, why aren’t we practicing that communal specialty into you know, bettering society from it’s current dumpster fire state? Or is that just too tall of a task?
Humans usually live in peace in groups smaller than 18. Above that, troubles hints. @nieceandtows said 40 &up here … i like (her//his) comment.
theres a reason why banishment was historically a death sentence. It took communities to prosper!
It’s dangerous to go full off the grid, but in reality it’s never complete isolation. In Leave No Trace/My Abandonment (based on a true story) the father relied on disability checks to buy goods and educated his daughter using encyclopedias… In Walden Thorough is living alone in a remote area, but it’s not like he’s completely cut off from the benefits of society and has visitors somewhat regularly. I think there’s a difference between trying to minimize the brunt of society 24/7 vs going full isolation.
I feel for the kid, who got dragged down by the hubris of his mom. It’s troubling that we’ve grown so disconnected from the world we’ve built; we dont feel like we benefit from it at all. We can all sit here and shame this mother for being neglectful and stupid, and yet the feelings she had of a chaotic life with no upside…that’s so fucking common right now.
Its a commonly floated idea among my circles, and by me personally, that we kinda just want to fuck off and build a comfy commune somewhere not too hot, not too cold, just away from cities, and try to be as self-sufficient as possible. Just a small group of friends and family. It’s kinda what I’m saving up for, if I’m honest, because buying a city house is just… Prohibitively expensive for what it is.
Probably easier to survive in a commune of a few dozen than it would be in tents with 3 people. But yeah I think a lot of us have had dreams of fucking off to the wilds to live like a hermit.
I would probably last like 3 days and only if I’m being extremely optimistic.
Into the Wild was a cautionary tail that for some reason people romanticize…
The difference between what I took away when I first read that book and the 2nd or 3rd time I watched the movie was night and day.
I feel bad the kid he had a privileged shit life. But going out into the middle of the Alaskan wilderness to survive with no formal training was punching way above his weight…
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Except he dies alone at the end, so it was definitely a cautionary tale.
This is sort of like saying Don Quixote was about a famous knight saving the world and not a crazy rich guy fighting windmills
Except he dies alone at the end, so it was definitely a cautionary tale.
If the last recent years has taught us anything, it’s that how you present a thing matters a lot more than what the thing is that’s actually being presented. Unfortunately.
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How did they leave a car at a campsite for months and not have any kind of search and rescue triggered?
My buddy got lost on a trail once and had to do an shitty night out in the woods, the next morning there were forest service personnel out looking for him because they spotted his car parked overnight with no camp permit posted.
I thought this was standard practice at every national and state park. An unattended vehicle is seen as a sure sign that someone is in trouble. I guess I’m never going hiking in Colorado, cause if I get in trouble the CO forest personnel are apparently just going to leave me for dead.
From what I’ve read they weren’t in a sanctioned Park, this was more of a back country area tucked away in the woods.
You’re right… National Forest… Not a park
The forest service is still supposed to check for abandoned vehicles overnight, as is the best way to check for lost hikers
They must have made some sort of effort to hide the vehicle, or park it somewhere it wouldn’t be questioned for some time. If the goal is to get away from people, you don’t want your vehicle to cause someone to come looking for you.
Why didn’t they just get back in the car and head back to civilization?
Probably froze overnight while sleeping. Between hypothermia and malnutrition, sometimes people just never wake up.
What a terrible way to go. They sounded less prepared than even Chris McCandless.
I can’t believe I’m recommending reality TV, but Alone is a fairly good representation of being alone in the wilderness with no resources. It is extremely unpleasant.
I feel like too many people do not respect nature. They romanticize it, and that’s a very dangerous thing. They forget that you need actual skills to survive in the wild. This didn’t have to happen.
That has gotten worse with all the “survivalist” shows acting like its easy to survive with just a knife and fig leaf in the wild.
They see a show grab some gear and off they go. Not realizing those shows are often fake and when not, the star has many years of actual experience and training.
Red in tooth and claw…
I’d say they increased their distress, they were naive too. Living off the land is a major commitment and requires skill and knowledge. People in the past still used trade and tribes to survive that way. Even back then they didn’t try to live in something as flimsy as a tent. Also, going 100% solo was a death sentence. Reminds me of Chris McCandless (“Into the Wild”).
Sounds tough. I dont even know how to find and catch wild ramens.
Reminds me of the Netflix series Alone. Only one out of ~12 people make it to 100 days, and they’re all experienced survivalists
Sounds like this wasn’t thought through and was perhaps an emotional decision. True off-grid living takes lots of knowledge and prep. Surviving 100 days is basically conservation of resources to last till the e d. Off grid still requires shelter and resources.
For once though, their motives seem more noble/less crazy than most of the headlines. Heck, a bunch of us are here on Lemmy cause we got fed up with a system and want something better. At least they wanted something better.
I thought about going off grid in a house with a well, solar, and storage batteries. The price looked good.
Even with the house it was too marginal. One anomalous weather event would have been RIP.
I knew a guy who went to Montana to try the “cabin off the grid” life. He said we was drinking before noon after a few weeks and was in danger of becoming an alcoholic out of boredom so he moved back.
I could see that. I think the off the grid thing has been glorified by people who haven’t actually done it.
I mean, Id like to run off into the hills sometimes, but I’d probably run right back due to some combination of boredom, weather, starvation, and running out of alcohol.
Can confirm, live in Montana. Cabins are great…during the summer months. Winter rolls around and you better be prepared to be cut off from everything for a few months. Plus it’s cold as fuck. Last year where I live, we consistently saw -20F and stayed below 0F for weeks at a time. Winter here sucks, but it keeps out the riff raff for the most part ;)
The tent was what got me. A fatal choice. Tragic, but avoidable.
Another article I read stated that the incomplete beginnings of a lean-to or similar shelter were present at the camp, seems like they tried to build something more permanent but ran out of energy to finish it. Which is why you build your shelter first.
Once I watched a season of alone I dropped all illusions about running into the woods to live the naturalist life.
If anyone is thinking “lol I could do that” just watch alone, it is HARD out there in the wilds.
In the show Alone the take away is that fat beats skills. All of the super fit “survival experts” with 5% body fat are being carried out on stretchers in a couple of weeks. The 300lb dude with minimal skills out lasts all of the experts.
The environment just doesn’t have enough fat calories available. Skill won’t change this.
Bullet points of what’s the ass kicker?
All the bullet points, there’s a reason we’ve moved society in the direction we have. Everything from shoes to showers makes life tolerable.
If you can’t at the very least identify what mushrooms you can or can not eat in the forest, you should not go out there to live. I 100% can not, so my dumb ass will never try to go live off grid out in the woods. I can’t find food and I acknowledge that. More folks need to realize their limitations.
For most of us, going to live in “the wild” is as preposterous as us returning to the oceans we crawled out of eons ago. We’ve evolved past that, and are no longer suited for that environment, at least not naturally anyway.
I don’t know, man. There are Amazon tribes who do perfectly well without iPhones. I think what you mean is, we, that is, you and me didn’t get to learn how to survive in those environments naturally and organically, simply because our societies don’t need those skills. But of course we are suited for that environment. We have opposable thumbs!
First rule of the Rocky’s, don’t camp / hike outside in the winter, you will not survive.
Even with a well-stocked cabin, the cold alone will sap your energy and kill you slowly.
Trying to survive it in a tent isn’t mere ignorance, it’s outright stupidity.
I just feel bad for the kid. Mom wanted to get off the grid but Colorado has a history of killing those who try it without a lot of money and infrastructure to support it. Go off the grid in like South Carolina, not Colorado.
…the whole family?
Like, one didn’t die and the rest of them didn’t go “hmm this isn’t a good idea…”???
Looks like it was probably from hypothermia or malnourishment or a bit of both. They could have died the same night, very sad.
Apparently this was during winter. If they got hit by bad weather unprepared, they might not have had any options left once they realized they were fucked.
Believe in many stupid trending ideas and you will end up killing yourself and your family. This is not the first time and it will happen again.
Imagine not giving up when out of food and cold
Imagine not giving up when out of food and cold
Running out of food would bother me more than running out of cold
running out of cold
Lmao
During winter, in bad weather it might take a while to get back to civilization if you are somewhere out there. I mean sure you should always plan for stuff like that and be prepared (and look for help well before running out), but this really wasn’t a well planned thing from the start.
They started out in late summer. In an area with very cold winters. I’m no brainiac, but even to me this seems like poor planning.
Like an episode of Alone, but without the planning, support and logistics.
Dark thought, but maybe that was the plan.
Technically, they’re still off the grid.
