* Warning! There are Walking Dead spoilers in this post!
Damn you, Walking Dead! You make the end of the world look so damn awesome! There are beautiful forest locales, awesome shootouts, zombie hordes, cannibals, mysterious villains, cool weapons and even hot women!
I know I’m not alone in thinking this. For the premier of their 5th season, the Walking Dead drew a record audience of 17.3 million viewers! Yup, that’s a record for AMC.
Of course, there are drawbacks to a zombie apocalypse. Getting killed is the top one, but here are some others to consider, in no particular order:
- The smells! Good thing we can’t smell the rotting zombies. And could you imagine the body odor emanating from the survivors? Phew!
- Lack of food. This is a big one! No steak and potatoes, sushi, burgers, pizza, anything Mexican; that would be tough!
- No warm beds. Anytime a house is found, it’s either full of zombies or other people ready to pop off a round or two. Plus, falling asleep with the threat of zombies and now humans on the hunt would be a wee bit difficult.
- No electricity and no internet. How the hell would I charge my laptop, tablet and phone? Where would I get my news fix?
- Snakes and Bugs! I hate mosquitos.
- No running water. Which brings us to:
- No toilets or toilet paper. Leaves? Ugh… Maybe the lack of food is a blessing in disguise.
- Other people. We’ve seen the marauding rapey looking gangs, but I was wondering when the cannibals would show up. I don’t read the comics, but I wasn‘t surprised to see the Terminus meat lockers. Which leads us to:
- Getting eaten. As Bob found out last week, in the 2nd episode of the 5th season, this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll die! If it’s a zombie, yes, you’re done – eventually. But then, there are those Terminus creeps, man.
If a true end of world event occurred, I strongly believe things would quickly deteriorate into a Mad Max world. People, not zombies, are now the biggest threat in The Walking Dead. Sounds accurate to me!
So, weighing the cool factor of the show vs. the cons, maybe surviving an apocalypse wouldn’t be so awesome.
Of course I write this a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I can’t deny that there is a weird excitement that comes when I think of end of world situations or when I read the news lately about the current Ebola outbreak. Am I crazy? Turns out I’m not (or maybe I am, but not for this reason). I’m apparently not the only one who feels this way.
This article caught my eye and made me chuckle: Ebola News Gives Me a Guilty Thrill. Am I Crazy? The author confesses to getting a “twinge of excitement” whenever he thinks of an apocalyptic plague, much the way I do. In the article, the author provides an explanation for this rush, as conveyed to him by a neuroscientist:
The idea of Armageddon “wakens your autonomic nervous system… Your heart starts beating faster, you start breathing faster, your sweat glands engage. There’s a certain exhilaration from that idea, and one can enjoy that kind of arousal, especially if there’s a part of you that knows it won’t happen.”
Research shows that “apocalyptic exhilaration is actually the product of useful evolutionary traits.” See, no need for guilt! We’re wired for this – to a point. Read the rest of the article for even more insights.
So, if you’re like me and get a bit of a rush when reading the news, watching The Walking Dead or that other awesome apocalyptic show The Strain, don’t be alarmed, feel bad or have guilt. We’re wired to react this way. At least that’s what I tell myself 🙂
