Being a “gray man” is something all preppers should familiarize themselves with. If you already understand the concept of it, practice to hone your skills and make yourself remarkably unremarkable
If you live in an area that is heavily populated with people and an emergency strikes, it’s best to blend into the background and draw as little attention to yourself as possible. This will help prevent unnecessary violence and attacks on you keeping you safer for longer. Most preppers can agree on one thing: the gray man concept is worth understanding and getting better at.
No one really wants to blend into the crowd, but when it comes to urban survival, it’s a benefit.
APPEARANCE
It can be said that it’s often not how you look, but how you act. However, if you have distinguishing marks, such as full tattoo sleeves, it may be better to cover those while trying to go unnoticed. But you also need to understand where you are at. Going unnoticed means fitting in and blending into the psychology of those around you. If everyone else has full tattoo sleeves, it might be better to let yours show, but that’s not going to be the case, generally speaking.
BEHAVIOR
To get better at being a gray man, take notice of people while you’re in public. Try to figure out what behavior they are exhibiting and emulate it. The vast majority of Americans aren’t prepared for anything, let alone a SHTF situation. Knowing this should help you to understand just how desperate they could be. But, by blending in and appearing to be among the unprepared, you are less likely to make yourself a target of those in desperation who may try and take your survival gear off you by force.
Avoid eye contact! Even brief eye contact when passing on the street can form a connection, making you more memorable than those around you.
The key is to act average, unthreatening, and unprepared.
LAY OF THE LAND
Learn to look like you belong and know the area. If you’ve just moved, quickly familiarize yourself with the personal characteristics of the people who live there. It may also be beneficial to appear unprepared. Looking like you are lost or aren’t sure of your surroundings is like a beacon of light for those looking to cause harm or take things from you. Don’t carry a map and look at it all the time. Do that at home before an emergency strikes and panic sets in so you know exactly where you are going and how long it’ll take to get there.
In disaster strikes, and people panic and become desperate, that desperation can lead people to do whatever it takes to stay alive. If this happens, you certainly don’t want to be singled out as the one person who is prepared for survival. The last thing you want is for all your time and effort put into prepping to be for nothing because your supplies were taken off you by someone less prepared and more desperate.
Grabbing some convenient clothes, I walk, shortly after dusk, to hear that I am a whi-i-i-ite ma-an! There is no way to do that any better, except stay indoors 24/7.
Those who want to escalate an encounter will harp on any meaningless detail of your person or written word.
I have been told by a couple of testers, before, that I was technically flawless, but they never allow anyone to pass, on the first effort.
What if that black hoodie guy in the illustration is simply not allowed to pass by.
This is about being a “Grey Man” while advertising ourselves with fluorescent paint and neon light in the electronic medium by both visiting and posing here.
Gray man.
Always wear long sleeves as though you have tattoos. Give them as little information as possible.
Wear sunglasses whenever appropriate, the larger and darker the better, they cover more of your face from facial recognition. I have neighbors that have facial recognition security cameras. Once they have tagged all the normal delivery people, family and friends, the camera only alerts to unknowns. This tech will only spread.
Have a hat that fits in. Plain with no logos, unless everyone is wearing a local logo. Have a change in your bag. A hat can cover many features. Have a jacket or coat that is reversible. Step into a nook turn it inside out and you have an instant new look.
A tip from Hong Kong demonstrations, an umbrella blocks cameras, drones, and is even a functional shield against stuff like teargas rounds. It also works against animals. I once opened an umbrella in an aggressive dogs face, he freaked and backed down. In the SHTF an animal bite could become really serious.
Wear plain clothing just like everyone else. I have a bright green day glow tee shirt that says “Zombies hate fast food” with a picture of a guy running like the wind from zombies. It’s comical, it gets laughs. I’ve worn it when traveling, so the wife can spot me in a crowd. I’ve noticed TSA near strip searches me whenever I wear it, even when I’m already TSA pre-approved, not so comical. Moroons.
Not mentioned, hair style, does anything set you apart from the crowd.
Know when to blow off the gray man. I’m traveling alone through NY once, it’s simple, train to Grand Central, subway to Port Authority, bus to destination. In those days you needed a subway token, sold by a lady that worked in an armored cage. I’m carrying a big suitcase and a knapsack.
I’m walking onto the platform to get my Token, and there’s three dudes leaning on the wall, I hit the first step, and the one in the middle almost imperceptibly elbows the one on the right. I stop, stretch my neck while taking it all in, turn around and walk into the nearest crowd getting off a train. I walk in the middle of a group going to buy tokens, surprise the bad guys are vanished. They knew I spotted them, perhaps they thought I was part of a sting. I got my token and got out of there.
They refer to it as NY eyes, you look to the side to look in the store window, not to see what’s in the store, but to check the reflection for people following you.
Use every tool.
1118
So is everyone supposed to pretend to be an establishment Democrat? Is everyone supposed to support war and hate Russia? Of course those that support establishment Democrats are in the small minority, but obviously are in power of the deep state including tech, the internet, the Judicial branch, and the media.
AP News is reporting that the Dems are now also trying to bring Devin Nunes in addition to Rudi Giuliani into the Russian conspiracy lunacy for corresponding with former two Ukrainian US citizens.
The deep state Dems and author of the article are alleging that Ukrainians allegations of Joe Biden ousting a former Ukrainian judge for investigating Hunter Biden’s corruption are unfounded.
AP News is reporting that the Dems are now also trying to bring Devin Nunes in addition to Rudi Giuliani into the Russian conspiracy lunacy for corresponding with former two Ukrainian US citizens.
The deep state Dems and author of the article are alleging that Ukrainians allegations of Joe Biden ousting a former Ukrainian prosecutor for investigating Hunter Biden’s corruption are unsubstaniated. Maybe they forgot that Joe Biden bragged on national media about having the corrupt prosecutor removed!
Obviously, the insane surveillance of the former Ukrainian Ambassador allegedly approved by Giuliani is disgusting and unwaranted.
FISA courts must end! FISA allows anyone to destroy anyone’s life anonymously and without any repercussions for such evil and sadistic behavior.
If someone is not even entitled to know what they have been accused of and by whom, they are literally incapable of defending themselves.
Why does the deep state support establishment Dems? Because establishment Dems elevate all government employees to royalty without any restrictions or expectations of abiding by the law, and also for their financial and political gain because the establishment Dems place government employees over everyone else, and at the expence of everyone else. The establishment Dems also grow government progroms in existence and create new ones. The establishment Dems are destructive parasites that must be destroyed once and for all!
This is good advice for traveling. But if you are living in an area where you must ‘live gray’ you need to move. This is no way to live if other options exist.
Common Sense and Situational Awareness are key to avoiding trouble.
Always take inventory of your surroundings, and never allow your cellphone to distract you while in the presence of strangers.
You will have plenty of time to stare at your cellphone when you are home.
Avoid night clubs and large crowds.
Nothing good happens after 11pm,don’t be out unless necessary.
If you are living in an area that has a high rate of crime you need to MOVE and don’t look back.
Consider that it was an art teacher. In context, the discussion would have been about color. She told us that people dressed in greys and dull browns were very insecure.
(People refusing to make eye contact, in this story, would be considered shifty and furtive.)
I raised my hand, respectfully, did not speak until I was called upon, but said that everyone who just checked their shirt was insecure.
True, none of the grey men, in this kakistocracy, got yelled-at.
But, cowardice did not spare them from public embarrassment.
True, she did win the discussion. It was milieu control in a no-go zone, triumphalism, and selective application of the law, that won the debate.
Maybe General Hyten from the Pentagon read this article. Hyten admits that the military is slow to admit mistakes, and learn from their failures, still a slow learner himself though, suggesting that the Pentagon follows and learns from North Korea, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos, while failing to see the big picture that none of the three have ever attacked another country with the missiles that they had developed.
How unremarkable was the grey man?
“***Remarkably*** unremarkable.”
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times. They “catch” you being a goodygoody, which is always illegal without paying the tribute / Marxist indulgence / protection racket / sjw reparations.