If you haven’t heard of Rick Austin yet you’re probably not somebody who is interested in disaster preparation. Rick is a best selling author, popular speaker and radio show host who specializes in survival strategies. While some preppers focus on weapons technology, self defense, construction or hunting, Austin is very heavy into botany and teaches people how to grow very productive food sources which are extremely low maintenance while blending into wild scenery so they are less visible to raiders.

If you’re in a business such as that you always need to grow your brand and make people aware of your offerings, so you’d think that somebody like Rick would jump at the chance to be featured on a CNN special. They have one in the works, called United Shades of America and they reached out to Austin to be part of the show. But after a brief look at how it was being billed, the Survivalist Gardener took a pass, Austin said in an interview with The Inquisitr:

Austin is no stranger to the many ways that on-camera comments can be spun and edited, if an interviewer or producer has a personal or biased agenda. Because of his popularity in the preparedness arena, Austin was approached for the CNN project through the Bright Roads Productions company that is working on a new series entitled United Shades of America.

Austin said it took him just a few moments to become “extremely suspect” about the new series, which is to be hosted by liberal comedian, W. Kamau Bell. In fact the online promotional material for the TV show notes that “comedian W. Kamau Bell will explore the far corners of our country and its ‘subcultures’ and make people laugh in United Shades of America.” Bell is also the host of the FXX Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell late-night comedy sho. On United Shades of America, Bell will “dissect” a vast array of topics which will reportedly include “politics, pop culture, race, religion, and the media,” promotional material for the series revealed.

There’s an old saying in show business which claims that any press is good press provided they spell your name right. If you’re an actor or a comedian, that may contain some truth within reasonable limits, but if you are making your living outside the Hollywood bubble that’s simply not the case. The audience Austin reaches is not looking for entertainment so much as information on what they consider a vital topic. He needs to be taken seriously, not treated like some pop star, and the comedian chosen by CNN to host this show has a history of cynical, left wing propaganda disguised as comedy. It sounds as if Rick sussed this out early and realized that W. Kamau Bell was going to do nothing more than treat him like some sort of kook to get cheap laughs at his expense.

And why would Rick Austin need CNN that badly when other reputable outlets already give him much fairer treatment? National Geographic – not exactly renowned as a haven for Right Wing Wacko-birds – seems to take Austin very seriously and admires the science behind his theories of natural gardening. If you’re at all interested in the subject, just read through that article. The science behind how Austin structures gardens in wild, concentric circles where plants “cooperate” in a natural fashion to survive was completely unknown to me. It’s some fascinating stuff whether you’re planning for a survival scenario or not.