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That's Heavy


When I read this I just couldn't get it out of my head.

One of the reasons why I think Walking Dead is one of the top stories out there today is because of the horror that it represents. It's not like any other cheap horror story flick that could get you as far as the next scene, or at the most get you to do a cheap mini-jump (height of which will depend on how much you weigh) in your seat; it's the kind of horror that actually does a number to your well-being; it messes up the balance in your Chi. It's the kind that sticks with you for the longest time. 

Disturbances

With the Walking Dead you won't remember a scary, ugly face a ghost made; you re-examine who you are as a person. You get to look into yourself and actually get to wondering: am I capable of this? What if I were actually there, would I be doing the same? This I think is the mark of a true horror story; when we find ourselves unguarded, asking ourselves those kinds of questions. Walking Dead does not push the envelope of human cynicism (which in its own reality, it doesn't push anything), rather it makes us realize that yeah, that's what we'll do when worse comes to worse. We all have a darkness inside of us; a darkness that only our own living environment can release.

Do I think I could kill a guy? Punch a priest? Lick a hollow block? - Yes I can. We all can. We have the capability to do the nasty things we see on television (or in this case, read from comics) and more, but it is the world around us that helps us not to do these things. It teaches us to be sane; to conform. 


You know that you're pulled into the story when you begin to predict what the next fucked up thing happens to them. I got the part where Lori dies right. Did I spoil that one for you? Good.

Of Following Rules

I know, some of my thoughts above can cause philosophical debates about free will; about how, even in the darkest of times, we can still choose to be good. Blah blah. And isn't that a pain? It took me some time to realize that ethics isn't really a popularity contest where we show our best card and hope that the people around us like us for what we've done. In fact, being ethical is a hard road for us humans to travel. Men hate that they can't lust after other women after marriage; people hate it sometimes when they can't disobey their parents. How about you? What sin do you love to do that you hate you can't do it? 

The Situation Justify the Means, Eventually

We can all choose to be lawful after the end of each day; which I guess is true. But what is law in the first place? Isn't it just a product of collective agreement; where the majority decides the things that should or shouldn't be done? Isn't ethics a construction based on logical predictions of an action's after effects? How we deem something as ethical or not, is it not based on the probability of an actual consequence of that particular action (I hope I haven't lost you)? 

One of the things I love being a human being is our ability to foresee consequences even before an act is performed. For example, if I say to my imaginary sister that I thought she looked fat, she will most probably not like me for a while, which is itself a motivator for me not to call her fat. In the same sense, we develop rules against stealing, against murder, against adultery, against so many other things because of the negative probable effects of that certain act. Every society, culture, even tribe just wants to get by as best as they can.

Now what if we came to a point where we can no longer justify these predictions? What if all we can think about are the positive effects of actually taking another person's life? That's when the dilemma begins, and our society learns that it has to rebuild its foundations. 

...and that's totally a hassle to think about. 

I leave you now with this song by Johnny Cash entitled Hurt from his 2002 album The Man Comes Around, which is a great album that every zombie-fan should listen to. 





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