I’ve talked a lot about zombies in the past, lending credence to an apocalypse of unfathomable proportions. The thing that sticks out in my mind as the number one reason I wouldn’t want the apocalypse happening, is not because of the roaming undead seeking of whom they may devour, but because of the survivors who are in it for themselves. The thought is nothing short of a Monday Mayhem post.
Zombies don’t scare me. The undead are rather benign when separated from the crowd. A quick spike to the head and they are no more. As part of the horde, they are a fearsome bunch consuming everyone in their path. Nothing alive can stand in their way. However, take them out of their element and place them in water, they’re useless.
On the other hand, people, those who have survived the end of days, are the ones who I fear the most. They are the ones who, if for nothing else, will hunt their victims down and put an end to their lives all for the benefit of themselves.
Is that an exaggeration?
Let’s have a look at what humanity has done in times of peace.
The U.S. Navy has taken flack lately for its missile testing it has conducted a few weeks ago near San Diego, on a Saturday night no less. Witnesses stated they thought they saw UFO’s hovering in the skies.
The lights didn’t reveal the military’s intention.
That’s for starters. How about this? In a little while, Black Friday will be upon us. In the past, crowds have gone from restless to stampeding, taking human lives along the way. All for what? a toy that will end up in a junk heap a year from now? Have we lost our minds?
Okay, that may seem trivial to some, but can you imagine what humanity is capable of in times of a future societal breakdown? It won’t be pretty. The first to go will be the weak. If the zombies don’t take them, the strong among us will. They will dictate our future and run our lives. Then there are the ones who society has discarded. The dregs of society who ended up in our jails and prisons. What will happen with them? You can be sure, the jails and prisons won’t hold them. The first thing on their mind will be getting out of their cage so they can roam free among us.
What do you think?
As wonderful and as great humanity thinks it is, nothing can stand in the way of human nature. Human nature dictates an attitude of one-for-one, all-for-one. It drives humans to do the most deplorable things to each other, all in the name of survival. And the worst part about it? I just don’t understand the human compulsion to self-terminate. When things get hard, too difficult, a gun is there, not for protection, but to make a quick exit.
I know it sounds pessimistic, yet if history has anything to do with it, I don’t want to survive an apocalypse. I’d rather be one of its first victims.
Although, I still hold hope that one day, if the roof does cave in on society, humanity will do the right thing and think of the weak and unfortunate among us, giving them the aid they need to survive with dignity.
That, at least, is my hope.
What scares you most about surviving a zombie apocalypse? The question is, would you like to survive a zombie apocalypse?
Looking to God 
Humans are terrible. They’re the man reason I think I wouldn’t survive an apocalypse…even if I managed surviving the initial event, there would be someone bigger and stronger and faster and with more companions than me. I wouldn’t last long.
I agree that it is the “normal” humanity which is and always will be the most terrifying. If anyone has read my blog in the past, they can see where I think the fault lies for that. And, you’re right, when times get tough, people get ugly. Look at what happens in natural disasters – the looting, etc. When devastation hit home around here, lots of great examples of love and compassion was at the forefront – where it should be – but there was a lot of the ugliness, too.
I think I will find a group and just stick it out together. There may be a lot of bad people out there, I don’t intend to be one of them but I’m not going to just roll over and play dead either.
Mad Max has a lot to answer for. A lot of television and film makers have assumed that a post-apocalyptic world will be full of marauding gangs of gimp suited psychos, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be like that. I think humans will resort to living in smaller hunter gatherer groups and there’ll be territorial disputes where resources run short.
But… have a quick glance at Paris over the last week and the way ordinary people can come together and co-operate when faced with a violent murderous enemy. Humans are as capable of working together as they are fighting.
I think the problem will come as things settle down, post-apocalypse, and the old patterns and structures start to re-emerge with the egomaniacs thinking they’re the best to run things.
Catastrophe, panic, settlement, reorder, back to where we are now. That’s how I think it would go. And as an aside, I quite fancy heading off to the hills to survive on my own. I think I’ve seen enough survival programmes by Ray Mears to get buy without starving to death.
No internet! No coffee! No ice cream! I’d probably die from withdrawal before the zombies could get me.
Excellent post, Jack. [What’s that saying from a comic strip–I’m forgetting its name–‘I have met the enemy and he is us.’] I keep harping on “They Live,” I know, but . . . I’ve been thinking a lot about it. That movie roots the cause of consumerism and greed (and other negative traits) in alien beings, but the truth is, that we humans are the cause of our own demise (as well as that of many other species’ extinctions–not to mention our planet, potentially, what with climate change). It’s a scary thought, for sure, ‘end times,’ because the people who are left will no doubt be transformed even if there are no zombies to be found, and transformations are not always pleasant, as literature and media and real life have shown. I guess my answer is I’d like to survive, but if friends and relatives don’t, as well as all the goodness/good people that IS/ARE in humanity, then I don’t want to survive. What would be the point, in a way, unless I’m expecting to somehow lead a revolution whereby humans become good again (circumstances would almost certainly prevent a purely altruistic or idealistic society if life itself is so touch-and-go again). Wow, so much here, Jack. Fascinating discussion you’ve raised.
Thanks, Leigh. Survival is all we’ll have once the apocalypse takes hold.
I definitely would like to survive, but I agree that people would be the bigger threat. You may find a group that works together, which is great. Yet there is a high chance the group would accept someone that turns out to be self-centered or hungry to take charge. Too many people see others as a means to an end instead of fellow human beings. Yet, we probably wouldn’t survive very long on our own because we’d have nobody to watch our back.
Reblogged this on thepageofdaniel and commented:
PTSD would play a big part here, as would survival of the fittest / most – prepared / best – prepared. Adjustment to a strange new environment, like a ” zombie apocalypse ” or aftermath of a major terrorist action, plague or cyber – terrorism cutting off communication lines & stopping utilities.
A zombie apocalypse, robot / AI / Terminator uprising, alien invasion, world – wide plague, or a cluster of ” normal “, predictable factors coming together to wreak havoc on the industrialized world’s infrastructure ( Cyber – terrorists cutting into the Internet, news feeds, utility controls, for instance.) sending the world back to the pre – Industrial Age. I’ve gotten pretty used to having technology as an element in my life. So how would I cope, as well as most people who never KNEW of a world without cell – phones, iPads, tablet computers, 24 hr. TV among other things ? I can’t say.
Now THAT terrifies me! I refuse to shop in December because of the mean crowds, at Christmas!
My kids just gave me their lists. I’m not looking forward to this weekend.