I read this article by Asmari Rahman, and suddenly I had the urge to watch the complete first season of the TV series The Walking Dead again.
Most fans of horror fiction are aware of the rising popularity of zombie fiction which is rivaling vampires and werewolves. In a way, it's started by Romero's classic Night Of The Living Dead which borrowed some elements from the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. The most important point of all zombie fiction is that a zombie outbreak, no matter how small in scale, will always lead to what is known as a zombie apocalypse, an event of a widespread (usually global) rise of zombies in a general assault on civilization. A zombie apocalypse always means the end of human civilization as we know it. a widespread (usually global) rise of zombies hostile to human life engages in a general assault on civilization.
Many of us have been able to overcome such common fears as darkness, heights and many other phobias (yes, that includes coulrophobia, you clown!), but the zombie apocalypse sends a shiver down anyone's spine in a more frightening way. The premise of a zombie apocalypse is that human civilization is actually very fragile when facing unprecedented threats. To human, any unprecedented threat is extremely traumatic, causing shock, panic, disbelief and possibly even denial, and thus minimizing the human ability to deal with it properly. Even the most insignificant unprecedented threat is likely to lead to the collapse of civilization, unless it is dealt with quickly. There is a mathematical model published by Philip Munz, Ioan Hudea, Joe Imad, and Robert J. Smith which confirms it, called When Zombies Attack!: Mathematical Modeling Of An Outbreak Of Zombie Infection. You can download it for free here if you really are curious enough to see the mathematical model. Just don't ask me to explain it to you. I found it hard enough to understand that I simply asked my cousin, a math genius, to read it and tell me if it's plausible enough. Sadly, his answer is a terrifying 'YES'. The methods of that modeling may be applicable to the spread of political views or diseases with dormant infection.
In 2003, an American author named Max Brooks published his book titled The Zombie Survival Guide. Despite its tongue-in-cheek nature, this best-seller does make some sense in an odd way: you cannot apply usual method in an unusual situation. In one of the book's most interesting parts, Recorded Attacks, the author makes use of some 'historical cases' (either real or made up) to point out that, in those cases, the authorities almost always dealt with it wrongly; and often denied the true extent of the threat with extreme efforts. In the end, it's always up to the common people to deal with it directly and properly, while the authority are busy with their own power play. And in the end, according to the mathematical model I've mentioned previously, on a longer time scale, the researchers found that all humans end up turned into zombies or dead; end of human civilization.
Now, look at what is happening in Indonesia. Does the last two sentences of the above paragraph sound familiar to you? Does it make you want to say to the government the equivalent of "Sorry, kid, but nerf guns will not help you surviving a zombie outbreak. Real guns will."
Unfortunately, it does to me. Zombie is a perfect metaphor for a worst-case scenario. If you are prepared to survive the complete breakdown of society due to a zombie outbreak, then you will be ready for almost any emergency situation imaginable. Fortunately, I am ready. More or less.
Are you?
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