Remember way back when, when you
were a senior in high school and you had to read The Lord of the Flies? In that book, the author was asking the
question is man inherently good and it is the laws of society that turns him
evil or is man inherently evil and it is the laws of society that keep men in
check?
I guess there is a lot of contributing
factors. I mean, a person can be the nicest person in the world but the wrong
circumstances can turn people into savages. That is what Alan Moore was trying
to prove in Batman: The Killing Joke
is that the only difference between The Joker and everyone else is one bad day.
I like to think that I am a really
nice person that is willing to help anyone around me. But when my wife had her
affair, I entertained all sorts of fantasies of emptying my gun clip into that
rat#$%^ scumbag. I constantly imagine her pulling into my driveway and me
flinging up my garage door and emptying rounds into the passenger side of her
sports car that I bought the down payment on and into her boyfriend. So if
pushed to extremes, anyone can descend down into madness.
But what is man inherently? Are they
naturally good or naturally evil? Look around. Law and order, any semblance of
authority is gone. So it is very easy for man to degenerate down into a primal
state. We have yet to see that.
When Eric and his group made it in,
they were just scared and seeking shelter. Janet has made emergency ration packs
for people that might pass by that might need help. In theory, we have a clear
cut us-vs.-them scenario where all of humanity needs to bond together to fight
the undead. This kind of goes back to my 9-11 article in that, while the
zombies are not a unified, organized army, they for damn sure all have the same
intentions. So we need to be bonded together as well. It needs to be us versus
them. Their side is only warring with each other over who gets to eat the most
out of our corpses. So we need to have a similar unity. No dissention. We all
need to work together.
But I feel like I can say that because
we are sitting on a mountain of food. What if I was out there, on the run,
desperate, dragging Alex, with only five bullets left and zombies closing in?
If I was on the outside, I am getting into Reasor’s by any means possible. I
want safety. I want food.
Brad’s group? We knew them. They were
getting in. Eric’s group? Sporting a police dog, a married couple, bags full of
medicine and two hot chicks with sweet racks? They were getting in. But what if
a sausage fest of redneck Duck Dynasty commandos showed up? What if it is a
busload of prisoner all wearing penitentiary-issued jumpsuits? Are we opening up the doors to them?
And even worse, what if we say no and
then they decide they are low on fuel and bullets and decide they are getting
in here at all costs. They rip the doors off the hinges. Then what if before we
can make repairs, a horde comes shambling through?
I remember looking around at the world
before all this. I used to live by the belief that opportunity makes the thief
and a thief with no opportunity calls himself an honest man. I am pretty much
as anti-drug that you could get. I despise all sorts of illegal drugs. But if
someone was downloading a CD off the internet or burning a copy of a DVD, what
did I care? I guess the difference is that I don’t consider those things to be
“evil.” They are illegal, yes, but not evil.
Unfortunately, there was very much
evil in the world. Child molestation, domestic violence, murder, kidnapping,
armed robbery… That stuff was in the news every day. So here is my question, we
seem to be safe and secure here in our little bubble. I am aware that we lucked
into a gold mine when it came to the outbreak. But what of the rest of the
world?
Are they holding on to their humanity?
Is it dog-eat-dog out there? And maybe if it isn’t there yet, maybe it will be
when the food starts to run out. Are the people that were ready to abandon
their humanity more suited for this zombie world? And if so, did they elevate
and survive better than those that still wanted to cling to the old world?
And as things continue to spiral out
of control, will things only get progressively worse? Maybe we are all just
products of our environment. I am reminded of the wonderful philosopher Quark
who once said:
“Let me tell you something about
Hew-mons, Nephew. They're a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their
bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature
comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in
jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent,
wonderful people... will become as nasty and as violent as the most
bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their
eyes.”
