Posted on 02/22/2014 8:05:49 AM PST by Starman417
Apocalypticism has exploded in popularity and, while nuclear war and pandemics have always been a starting point, the concept of the Zombie Apocalypse trumps them all. The appeal and wild popularity of shows like The Walking Dead, movies like World War Z, and the slew of apocalyptic, gloom and doom series and specials on cable television continues to grow by leaps and bounds. But the reasons behind such interest are often subconscious at times and not fully understood.
The Leftist activist and agitator Noam Chomsky was recently asked “why there’s this preoccupation with the apocalypse and with zombies right now in our culture?” I concurred with the first part of his response which was that that he felt the focus on zombies was “a reflection of fear and desperation” by “an unusually frightened country.” But quickly the obsessive liberal impulse to blame America first and foremost for all ills, real and imagined including the public’s obsession with a zombie apocalypse, rose irresistibly to the surface. He went through the history of fear in popular culture as outlined in the book War Stars by Bruce Franklin. Although the fear is embodied in various forms, he sees a common thread throughout:
“There are a couple of themes that run through it that are pretty striking. For one thing, one major theme in popular literature is that we are about to face destruction from some terrible, awesome enemy. And at the last-minute we are saved by a superhero or a super weapon, or in recent years high school kids going to the hills to chase away the Russians, things like that. That’s one theme that runs through constantly. And there’s a sub-theme. It turns out this enemy, this horrible enemy that’s about to destroy us, is somebody we’re crushing.”
“ I think it’s, much of it is kind of just a recognition, at some level of the psyche, that if you’ve got your boot on somebody’s neck, there’s something wrong. And that the people you’re oppressing may rise up and defend themselves, and then you’re in trouble. And another is strange properties the country has always had of fear of invented dangers. There is a kind of paranoid streak in the culture that’s pretty unusual.”
And that’s about the best the Left can do I guess in trying to fathom the country’s fascination with a Zombie Apocalypse. It’s all just collective, subconscious guilt. Nice try, I suppose, but if that was a “hit or miss” explanation it’s far closer to a miss than a hit.
There is indeed a vast undercurrent of suspicion, unease, paranoia, division, worry, pain, and even trauma right underneath the surface of the national consciousness. I believe it is manifested in the popularity of zombie themed entertainment and the concept of the doomsday scenario in general in popular culture. The feeling that things are rapidly unraveling and coming apart is a constant theme in social media and shared by vast swaths of the population, not to mention visualized in everything from backyard bunkers to Zombie apocalypse decals, Facebook groups, and bar crawls.
Collectively, we have lost our belief in a positive future.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
“Collectively, we have lost our belief in a positive future.”
And that comes with the loss of our faith in the Almighty. The more that Godly religions are attacked by muslims, the more hopeless our populace becomes.
Muslims belong in the Middle East, where they can murder and damn each other to hell.
Zombies are the only politically correct villains left. When Tom Clancy wrote The Sum of All Fears the villains were Islamic terrorist. Hollywood changed them to white South Africans in the movie. PC dominates Hollywood. Americas true enemies are rarely seen in the movies of modern times.
I recommend “Warm Bodies” as a zombie movie. It’s from the POV of the zombie, it is Romeo and Juliet, and Beauty and the Beast zombie movie. Plus, it is funny.
Interesting but, where’s Carl?
Interesting essay. Agree/disagree about 60/40. Most interesting to me is that the left feels the entropy and dissolution as well.
I most strongly disagree with this:
“Collectively, we have lost our belief in a positive future.”
I look towards Psalm 2 and smile.
I think that one of the reasons that the “Zombie Apocalypse” is so popular as a theme is that in the end it is survivable. And the basic infrastructure of the cities and towns will remain intact for the most part.
Why is it survivable? The walking dead aka zombies will eventually rot away into carrion. It’s just a matter of keeping your heads down and staying alive until that occurs. Going after them to hurry up the process just plays into their hands. They don’t need a support chain; aka logistics and they can turn you and your comrades into one of them to continue the fight against the ‘living’.
Subconsciously or not many of us mentally look upon the ‘left’ in the same way. Rarely do they produce anything of basic value without the impetus or ‘reason’ for dealing with their enemies aka anyone who is not ‘them’.
Given enough time the ‘left’ will always return to that lowest common denominator of politics: ‘lords and peasants’. You can also use the Tribe and clan concept too if you desire.
The ‘right’ on the other hand understands the concept of ‘private property’. Humans will work their butts off as long as they know that the results of their labors will belong to them. Call that selfishness, greed or some such thing. But that is the way humans are ‘wired’.
Communism, socialism, fascism works the other way. Those who subscribe to those forms of human governance and interaction expect you to work your butt off for the opportunity to get a few crumbs or table scraps from their betters and you WILL like it... or else.
So getting back to the Zombie Apocalypse, both sides think that it is survivable and are preparing for it. IF it occurs then we will see who was correct and who wasn’t.
Unbelievable. Can’t people figure out ANYTHING any more ?
The zombie craze started when the programs started.
In 2002, for example, who was talking about zombies ?
NO ONE.
Not any more than normal, that is. There is always, of course, some goth, or vampire, etc.
Back in the ‘90s the amount of that in the minds of most people was almost nothing.
As a rule, people watch whatever cr@p the networks put on the air.
And very soon - they are talking about how it is their FAVORITE show.
It’s like all the idiotic survivor shows.
IT IS ALL A BUNCH OF CR@P.
It is designed to turn people into mental turnips.
I have personally seen people who were at one time sharp people who felt exactly as I do... and watch them fall into being idiots who sit and watch this garbage and take it as their own favorite, they no longer can see that it’s meaningless garbage, the sole purpose of which is to make them an idiot who will believe whatever the TV news media tells them.
These same people, who in the past saw the evil of immorality - now have no problem with it.
I would say that Islam belongs nowhere. It is a political movement, manifesting as a religion, that conquered the innocent people of the Middle East around 700 A.D. and has kept them enslaved ever since. I wouldn’t wish islam on my worst enemy. Well maybe Democrats.
“Collectively, we have lost our belief in a positive future”
Not me I’m just looking past the reset button which it would appear is about to get pushed.
The Democrat party has to motivate American citizens to want Democrats in office and to do the actual process of voting. Fear is a tremendous motivator. The Democrats know this. How do you convince American citizens that they need to vote for the big government Democrats? You make the American citizens afraid of what COULD happen. The Democrats have studied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. They understand it. During the last election, they hired dozens of psychologists and sociologists who all understand Maslow’s Hierarchy. While they understand it, the reality of life in the United States made it impossible for the Democrats to run campaigns based on Maslow’s hierarchy. Things are just too good. There isn’t rampant starvation. Canada isn’t massing on our borders. Poor sanitation isn’t killing millions of our citizens. So, the Democrats had a dilemma. They had Maslow’s Hierarchy which they understood, but reality kept them from using it. Then, one smarty pants said, “OK, but what if we make the American citizens AFRAID that they could all regress to the bottom rung of the hierarchy?” The Democrats grand strategy was born. They just make our citizens AFRAID that they are going to drop down the Hierarchy and be forced to focus on their physical needs. I call this PROJECTING MASLOW’S HIERARCHY. Our entertainment venues are used to “project” this fear into our culture.
Right beside you! Americans prospered before there was a federal government and and Americans will prosper again after its demise.
No matter what happens, there will be always be people who land on their feet and even profit from a collapse. I think we are in for some rough times ahead, but all we can do is keep the faith and prepare ourselves mentally and physically for whatever may come.
This is why I despise recreational drug use. It encourages cowardice, which plays right into the Democrat’s hands. People use recreational drugs because they can’t deal with reality. Running from reality is cowardice as well as defining mental illness. Once you are afraid of reality, and you show your willingness to pay money to hide from your fear, then you become easy pickings for the Democrats.
“Vote Democrat. We understand your fear. We’ll make it easier for you to hide. Don’t worry. We’ll take care of everything.....for a price.”
I’m a big fan of “The Walking Dead”, but I don’t normally care about zombie fiction. I love good character driven drama, which is what TWD is all about....the zombies are little more than a plot device. In fact, the show’s title refers to the humans in the series.
My horror-hating sister-in-law and her husband recently got hooked on TWD....they say it’s the best show they’ve watched.
H. Bruce Franklin, 70s college Maoist/Stalinist.
I wonder about the attribution of SFF monsters to fears in the larger culture. To some extent it's true, but there's always something to be scared about, and both genre fiction and the entertainment tend to take on a life of their own with time. What Spielberg or Lucas or Peter Jackson does isn't necessarily narrowly correlated with what's in the newspapers.
The Apocalypse?
Why that should be starting today.
February 22, 2014 is the predicted date for Ragnarok, the Viking Apocalypse.
Perhaps it’s the real world experience of watching mindless, slow-moving drones systematically attacking productive people and destroying civilization as we know it. Perhaps it’s disbelief as a self-destructive movement attracts more and more followers, all of whom live at the expense of those outside the movement. In zombie fiction, the drones even freak out over firearms. If these monsters aren’t consciously modeled from liberals, the coincidence is staggering.
That’s right!!!! That’s today!!! First dibs on being a Viking Queen. (Girl type) just making it clear. :-)
I must admit having sincere doubts on democratic elections generally, and the way America does them particularly....with the double election of the unthinking man bent on national destruction in office now.
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