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Ferfal, Been watching your interviews with Matt Bracken; there is really nothing else like them on the internet right now. Very timely.
I'm wondering if you can talk more about your experience in Argentina living day-to-day with increased violence; was the transition from "normal" sudden or gradual, when did you know it was different, how did you adjust? I'm finding right now, most people I know think they are going to be walking around with their ARs and plate-carriers all the time. Others don't think the violence (or hunger) will affect them.
I've been reading your blog since 2011 and your descriptions of the type of violence really made an impression on me. I remember one story in particular about a lady at a party stuffing food into her purse talking about how nice all the food was because she was starving. I also bought my first Glock 19 and box of Gold Dot several years ago based on your recommendation. So thanks. Look forward to the next interview.
Hope to hear you tell some stories about how things deteriorated and how you adjusted to daily life with violence. Best,
Pete
Hello Pete, thank you for your email.
First, allow me to apologize to everyone for not keeping up with the website as usual. The reality is that youtube, Instagram and facebook have been taking up most of my time. Those are where I reach the most people and that keeps me busy, especially since I’m also doing Spanish content too, which is fortunately doing very well. The Spanish translation of “Street Survival Skills” called “Manual de Supervivencia Urbana” is the #1 selling survival book in Spanish and just reached 100 reviews in amazon.es. I also finished a French version which will be available soon after the translator checks the proof copy. As you can imagine, this plus family including a baby and a teen about to start college keep me pretty busy.
I do want to take the opportunity to plug my latest book though, “Street Survival Skill”, which is a practical survival manual for the kind of thing you are seeing currently in America and my first book “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” that is about to reach 500 reviews in Amazon, very relevant too.
I’m glad you are enjoying our podcasts with Matt Bracken. Guys, check it out this Saturday 3PM live. You can also watch the previous ones as well.
Living with violence… man, I’ve been writing about that for over a decade now, where to start? Best way to describe it is yes, some things happen fast and catch you by surprise. For example the kind of violence you are seen in the streets right now, you can see people get attacked in roadblocks, shot at, and it’s just stuff people didn’t expect to ever see in their country, certainly not in their own community. So that sort of thing tends to catch you by surprise. Then again, a lot has also been going on for quite some time. It’s just that now it’s more visible, more 3rd world-like so as to put it some way. I bet most Americans never thought they’d see this kind of barbaric, primitive behaviour. When you see those images of “peaceful protesters” tearing down statues and monuments, attacking the police, its looks like straight out of a third world country.
Many of these things you end up adapting to. You mention your Glock 19, something I always insisted on. Now, more and more people see that their low capacity 380ACP pocket gun is… inadequate to say the least given the mobs of “peaceful protestors” rioting and attacking innocent people.
I don’t know how you get used to it. Truth be told you still have a long way to go until levels of crime dictate the kind of security that is mandatory for most of the 3rd world, but you still have to start watching your back more and be more careful. Some of these things I describe quite in detail in “Street Survival Skills”, especially in regards to the grey man approach, keeping your opinions to yourself and avoiding confrontation. Doesn’t make much of a political statement but it’s the best way to stay out of trouble. These days, people are getting fired for even posting that all lives matter online, something that was rather obvious until not that long ago.
I will say though, although you CAN learn to live with violence, it’s not fun and it drains you mentally, physically and emotionally. These are times in which you really want to look around you and ask yourself if this specific place is where you want to be when things get considerably worse, as they most likely will.
FerFAL
Check out my new Book “Street Survival Skills” . Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”
