Originally published on the CGS blog on October 31, 2012.
Have you ever wondered what you would do in a zombie apocalypse? If you have, you are not alone. It seems like zombies are kind of the “in” thing right now; The Walking Dead is a wildly popular show on AMC and zombie themed shows are all over a number of other networks. At this point you may be asking yourself, “Why are we talking about zombie hordes right now, wasn’t the Republican National Convention in August?” Well, it was. But seeing as how it is Halloween, I thought it would be interesting to look at this phenomenon through a critical lens.
There is no doubt that there is a psychological basis to this phenomenon. Being overrun by a horde plays on a fundamental fear that humans have. Combine that with the age-old fear of unknown repercussions of scientific discovery, which dates back to the myth of Icarus at the earliest, and you have an instant classic.
While there is certainly a gross-out horror factor that tends to bring in viewers, the questions that follow from a hypothetical zombie apocalypse are more interesting, and in my opinion, the main reason why zombies are so popular.
This fascination with zombies has not escaped the government. In fact, the CDC has a fair amount of blog material on how to prepare for the zombie apocalypse. It does make sense after all; telling people how to be prepared for a natural disaster in a fun presentation is a good way to change up the pace.
Even though all of this is really interesting stuff and it deserves its own attention, it is a fun mental exercise to think about how the international community would respond to something like a zombie apocalypse. While humanity has never encountered anything like zombies, we have had a fair amount of experience with pandemics and other international health issues. HIV, H1N1, and SARS have all been in the international spotlight in recent years and have reminded us of the possibility of a deadly pandemic.
The outbreak of SARS centered mainly in China in 2003 is an interesting example to ponder and could provide an example of how a future outbreak could play out. At the beginning of the outbreak, the Chinese government moved to cover up the severity of the virus, thus resulting in SARS being spread to other countries. This occurrence shows the need for easy and rapid communication between nations regarding the true nature of outbreaks. If each member of the international community does not adhere to this policy of transparency with respect to the outbreak of infectious diseases, the ability to properly address pandemics is severely limited. Unsurprisingly, the advantages of multilateral solutions and an engaged foreign policy on the part of the United States are obvious.
After all, while a large number of Americans, including myself, do have a zombie outbreak plan, I don’t think that any of us actually want to have to use it.
