Zombies make me think

My buddy Joel talks about his favorite book series– a group of graphic novels that discuss the world when ravaged by zombies.

The series seems a lot like small farming organizations to me- where you work and work and somehow are able to make a little more food than you need to eat.

I’m starting to understand why all the farms around here in Boise have piles of junk or equipment they can;’t be bothered to move or clean up- they just dont have the time.

I remember how much my dad tried to work to make sure my life would be easier than his- and how my grandfather went through the great depression. It seems they both were worried my life would be hard, or inconvenient.

Being set in a world that was just “reset”, everything would be inconvenient. (unless, maybe unprotected sex?) I think about tools- when I was a kid I was so excited to get a good STICK- you know, one that was long enough and strong enough- maybe I could poke things with it, or use it as a sword. Whatever I did with it, I wanted to keep it.

Same deal with people in the waking dead- you need to find and make and use all the tools you can. I guess a political system would be a tool also. Movies always seem to split into two ways the political system breaks down-
1. The sports enthusiast/ self-obsessed/ natural leader guy takes control and starts making decisions
2. The group itself becomes introspective and eventually a leader reluctantly takes the lead, knowing the others have considered it and haven’t taken the role.

I think it would be hard to determine a leader after an apocolypse. You don’t have a ton of history about other people so you wouldn’t be able to apply the normal political research we do nowadays:
“Oh, he picked his nose at age 3, so he ust not be presidential leader material”.

I guess the leader would be picked on their CURRENT character (or displayed character- I’m sure they could be a good manipulator) or maybe by their identification of threats and how we can solve them. “Hey! Don’t you realize zombies will be here soon? I have the only plan to get us out. Follow me!”

I was listening to a drum and bass show from my fav. radio station- Radio 1 in england, and they were using an old sample from a radioactive news report from long ago:
“Most of the soldiers were unsure of their roles, having learned them only days before- thus reducing efficiency.”
I love how teams can work efficiently, but this makes me think about all your days working with groups in your classes at school, Joel! Ha ha. I remember you cursing the word synergy repetitively.
I was thinking about an alternative team- one where only a select group of people would do the work efficiently. (Of course, this would only work if you weren’t under direct threat). But then, why should some of the group be allowed to sit around? If we really don’t have any wealth left over, all we have to offer is our thoughts, work and.. ourselves. Depending on how large the group is, I think it would get really clear who is lagging on society and who is helping it. I mean, even in the New Testement we had a system where people would be taken care of even if they didn’t have anything to offer- like widows and orphans.
Would you keep people around in your society if they didn’t offer anything significant back? How much would we risk to keep them alive? (I say “we”, assuming I would be in the capable part- but how do I know I will?) Maybe I could have a broken leg. I could either plead to be cared for, hoping I can help eventually… or maybe just tell people to leave me be and let my fend for myself. You know, the whole “don’t do me any favors” mentality.

Dude, your blog posts make me think.