Bear with me.
I haven't fully fleshed this out, but maybe in comments.
I remember when zombies were a function of voodoo.
This was my first exposure and a really good one:
Remember "Omega Man" with Charlton Heston?
That was written by Richard Matheson who died fairly recently (last June).
It was actually based on a book he did in the 50's called "I Am Legend".
In that story, a biological event had turned a large amount of the population into "vampires".
Omega Man did not do the story justice.
Neither did the Will Smith movie.
Neither clued you in as to why the main character was legend.
Ask in comments and I'll tell you why.
Lately, zombie films have functioned on the same premise: some widespread biological event makes some people "inhuman".
You've probably seen (promos at the least for) "The Walking Dead".
Same premise.
A couple nights ago, I saw an episode as I was flipping through the channels and stopped to watch.
Some Zombies were leaving a barn, and a stand of non-affected humans started gunning them down.
I was busy on the computer reading your blogs when I saw the normals stop shooting. I hadn't bothered to change channels.
That's when the little girl came shambling out of the barn, snarling, eyes weird, etc.
And you knew it would happen.
One of the adults approached the child and shot her in the head.
Now World War Z.
What can we learn from this?
Is it this:
Sometimes there are illnesses that are so debilitating, so incurable, so hideous and scary that the proper thing to do is shoot the victim in the head. ?
The other day, my friends from across the street were describing her uncle and his recent behavior under the influence of Alzheimer's Disease (how you like to have that one named after you?).
"He never talked to anyone like that in his life!"
When she had looked away, I turned to her boyfriend and put two fingers to my head and he nodded.
And then I got it.
Thus this post.
I have a friend at church it's hitting.
One of my best friends (my Best Man) is headed that way. A really brilliant guy. Earlier in his life.
A friend's mom.
My former boss's dad.
Another friend's friend.
My Grandma.
My Grandma had been in a mental hospital nearby called "Eloise".
If you ever read of "Bedlam", that was it.
Shambling, vacant stares, unruly behavior, restraints.
It's been torn down since the ACLU sued to have all mental problem people released from custody, something Reagan got blamed for.
I've seen someone very close to me look like that in the middle of an epileptic seizure.
If you've been reading awhile, you know who.
And we're being trained that it's OK to shoot them.
Or have Obamacare Death Panels figure it out.
whoops?
ReplyDeletewhat happened to my first comment Ed? It did publish.
DeletePascal:
DeleteI got this comment through e-mail.
The nefarious Blogger.com deleted it or didn't post it.
This has happened to me on other sites.
Pascal said:
This touches my recurring theme. The beneficiaries of Judeo-Christian stabilized culture have been indoctrinated to toss that aside and only look at neighbors relative to their usefulness. Are they contributing or are they a burden, and forget all that nonsense like loyalty and gratitude and love.
And what is worse, the proponents of this neo-paganism think highly of themselves because they understand, unlike those biblical morons, that they must kill mankind in order to save it.
Like killing zombies before they contaminate the rest of the planet. You and I are zombies to them Ed.
And in reply to Pascal:
DeleteYes, I think it is linked to your Neo-Malthusian theme.
I left that for you to mention in comments.
Thank you.
Pascal has been pointing out for a while now that the "Green" "Sustainability" movement is really geared toward paring down the population (human that is) of planet earth.
Interesting approach... :-)
ReplyDeleteIf you are implying that the desensitizing of society toward (graphic) violence , in this case the recent resurrection (pun not intended...but I'll take it.) of zombies in movies, tv shows, and comics, is in some manner a direct correlation to the upcoming fiasco of National Health Care ? (And the bean counter death panels ... yes, who else is really going to be manning...or at least pulling the strings of the puppets seen by the public at large...but the governmental bean counters?)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I do not think they are in direct collusion. But I am willing to bet, the bad actors on the government side of the house are going to take advantage of every and any thing they can. And if constant and or repeated exposure to violence of this type, provided by a large chunk of the entertainment conglomerate (unintentional or otherwise) helps to grease their skids...so much the better...as far as the government is concerned.
Don't forget, al be it to a far lesser degree, this type of tale has been around for at least hundreds of years (in some form or another ...Voodoo worship for example) what is missing to a greater and greater degree, was the counter balance of a strong moral/religious underpinning to our (or any other) society. This allowed for the profane to be exposed to the public (in fact, it could be argued, it made said tales even scarier) with the knowledge they knew where the lines were clearly drawn. (If there were such things as zombies/vampires/werwolf's, etc, Those would be okay to remove....but "real people" with real illnesses...that is only up to God.
Now however, with the chipping away of a collective moral compass. ... Just a matter of if and not when...unless things change.
Guy, when I first started the train of thought, it was when I was reacting to the news of a friends uncle: that I'd rather be dead than suffer that fate.
ReplyDeleteObamacare wasn't a first concern.
But when I thought of my first reaction, I realized that I might have been conditioned to the reaction that there is a fate worse than death (and I don't mean spiritual death).
If I thought of offing myself in that condition, then maybe I'd think well of offing someone else in that condition.
Then I saw the Walking Dead episode.
Zombies have been with us for awhile, but not on Zombie Apocalypse scales.
I'm just saying that we are being conditioned that some humans have outlived their usefulness or can be viewed as a threat.
And I can believe that there is a spiritual force behind that.
If you ever read "I Am Legend" (and you won't get it from either movie) you'd know that the title comes from the fact that the "hero" who has been killing "vampires" in their daylight sleeping chambers has actually been killing humans who have suffered a malady from biochem warfare, who are reassembling a valid society.
They capture our hero and put him on trial for murder.
He realizes that he has become THEIR bogeyman.
He is Legend.