Field Notes

Field Notes

I had just completed reading “Survival Treasure Chest: Today’s Pieces of Eight Make Sterling Investment” (Kogelschatz, 1983:38-39, 41) in Survive magazine. Gold and silver were important things to possess during moments of crisis, according to the article. No survivalist was going to live without a good supply. If this was the case, then no survivalist should go without a good amount. I reasoned that my hometown precious metal dealer, Mark Lewis, might be in contact with local area survivalists and, therefore, his shop was maybe a good point to do my research. I asked him for an appointment. As I came to realize later, I was right, and I was wrong, Mark was aware of survivalists, but not ones who store gold and silver.

I armed myself with a notebook and several naïve questions (“how many survivalists would you say visit your shop in a normal week?” “Approximately what proportion is males? Female?” “What would you estimate the average age of survivalists to be?”). I was feeling a bit confident about my reception, so I decided to conceal my already running camcorder in a light fabric bag. I walked into mark’s shop, shook his hand, and sat on a chair he offered me at the edge of his desk. Arranging my papers and setting the concealed camcorder on the desktop, I was ready to start..

I introduced myself and explained to him that I am a sociologist working on a topic about survivalism, and would like his help. I showed the Survive article on investment to him (A: from his reaction, he had never seen the magazine before). After taking a look at it, he opined, without much interest, that to his knowledge, there is no type of survivalist described by the article ever came to his shop. (A: Ten minutes passed of unfocused talk). It looked like Mark was thinking little about stockpiling of gold and silver as a survival strategy, or of my writing project.

The conversation took an unprecedented turn. Our roles changed. Mark started asking me questions about myself, my husband, and the country of origin of my parents and grandparents. When he realized that my husband and I were both members of the sociology department in the university and German and Canadian ancestry, he was more excited. “You are talking about survival,” he said, “I’ve made an in-depth study about that….you and your husband are prime candidates to be taught the realities of the last one hundred years of United States civilization, and what’s going to happen to us if we don’t wake up”. Mark had his apocalyptic vision. I also just noticed something else. On the desktop to his right, partially covered by a few sheets of paper, was a .38 caliber revolver pointed towards me. (A: This shows a sense of security)

The future is grim, Mark lamented. “We are living in a world of collapsing civilization. It is like an explosion.” The cause of this failure? “The cultural bearing stock, the Anglo-Saxons and northern Europeans that are the problem-solving peoples of our civilization are being displaced.” The presumed best of this lot, (R: the Nordics who “fought the Mongol hordes in Europe… later got in closed wagons and went west and survived in the wilderness) are at special risk.  According to Mark’s interpretation of census publications, “Nordics are just having around 1 to 2 children per family.” He added, “White people instinctively know things are not right, mainly Nordics since he is susceptible to his environment. Even though he may not have the capacity to verbalize this outstanding feeling, he stops reproducing, mostly in prominent cities. Nordics built new York City, but, indeed, people who live there now have stopped having children.” His prognosis: “If you project over 150 year period in the United States, the Nordic will be extinct.” And in other places, “It is worse, it is worse in France, Russia and white communist countries such as Poland, Hungary and others” Mark also warned that other threats are more immediate than extinction. “We are 90% of the population up until the civil war, and now we are just 60%. When we get less than 50% of the population, then living in a democracy, the other groups are going to dispossess us completely. We will be a dispossessed minority.” Mark used examples, citations, and a lot of details from Max, Hitler, Charles Darwin, and George Orwell.

I realized Mark is famous to area journalists and local government officials due to his frequent, unsolicited essays, phone calls, letters-to-the-editor, and speeches at public meetings. The timing of these expressions of opinions was not predictable, but his themes were consistent: international Jewish conspiracy, intensive government repression, imminent patriotic rebellion. Mark was on record saying, among other things, that: “the Illuminati hired Marx to write the Communist Manifesto.”  The United States military is planning to quell a “national wide tax rebellion of six million people, maybe more, who are not even filling tax returns.” The government has already prepared Operation Cable Splicer, which is meant to “Isolate several areas the country (by creating) power blackouts and various communications interruptions, then move the military in… (R: Confiscate guns and property and) arrest those people considered dangerous – like me. ” But “When they try it,” mark bragged, “we will kick their butts right out of the country. I don’t know what will happen, but I anticipate bloodshed”.

As final punctuation, to his discourse and yet another topic, the misinterpretations of “Black History Month,” Mark pulled The National Vanguard under a pile of dusty papers. “if you want to know what is happening on, read this” he exclaimed, slapping the publication down on top of the concealed camcorder. The “whap” of the descending magazine and the “click” of the ending tape coincided. The whimper was mine, a partially suppressed, involuntary cry of fear and relief. Baffled by my utterance, Mark reassured me. “You can keep this if you want,” he said, tapping the journal. I thanked him and assured him that I would read it carefully and consider what he had said, and gathered my things to leave. I had completed the first survivalist interview. I had come confidently of my will and skill to “win” respect and “acquire” information (A: These were the terms I used in preparatory notes to myself). I left in indecisive misperception, titillated by playing with ostensible menace, confused by my gullibility, and scared by my latent new self. By what I had been taken for, and might become if this study went on—a racist.