waaaay back when I was a cashier in retail we would talk about dumb shit while unloading the truck, and we got to the "what would you do in a zombie apocalypse" me and another worker were like yeah we would just die. End it all, we can't fight or run or shit. I refuse to put that much effort into survival.
And my manager was like no!!!! If that happened, I would drive to find you guys in my truck and we could eat stuff from my wife's garden and I would make sure everyone I know survived!! I would carry you all on my shoulders away from the zombies!!
Anyway, random shout out to that guy. You were too kind for retail management, Devin.
also afterwards everyone who was talking about their cool bunker fantasies were like "Damn, Devin's right, we should also be considering helping people around us." which is the only recorded instance of a retail shift making people better human beings.
That’s exactly why I don’t like most zombie apocalypse stories (or most other post apocalypse stories). They always fall into the trap of Everyone Being Awful.
The idea that societal collapse exposes mankind’s true nature ignores one thing: society IS mankind. We make it, just by being around each other. Social mores and customs aren’t arbitrary rules inflicted on us by some unseen force, they’re our own behaviors and views. We say please and thank you because we want to be kind. We establish charities because we want to help others. We set up garbage cans because we want to be clean. We’re the ones setting the standards and frowning at the people who don’t rise to meet them. We’re the ones who are appalled by the cruelties in our history.
Yes, we’re capable of truly awful things, but we’re also capable of remarkable kindness. We’re capable of more goodness than we give ourselves credit for.
THANK YOU
The problem with nearly every post-apocalypse story is that they take the worst behavior of people during a riot or a natural disaster, extrapolate it to all of humanity, and assume that situation never changes. But even the worst disasters end. Hurricane Katrina looters aren't still looting. And there were far more people helping than looting.
I'm so tired of this assumption that the worst of humanity is "realistic" while the best is cartoonish or childish. Every single time there's a disaster, or a crisis, you see people helping and people risking their lives for others. Hell, we've even had societal collapses before and we've rebuilt civilization every time. The real childishness is assuming all people are, at heart, selfish and uncaring. Because that's how bitter teenagers who have never experienced the world view it.
