I started watching The Walking Dead a number of years ago. Without giving away too much of the plot, it is a television series about the zombie apocalypse; it’s certainly an interesting genre. I got emotionally vested in the characters, so I continued to watch. Being an engineer, I elect to selectively forget and give artistic license to how zombies continue to move even if they don’t necessarily fuel up, as in consume ‘food’, though I still have the ‘conservation of energy’ voice screaming in my head.
Apart from that, another element that tickles my fancy is the engineering logistics to surviving. This part of it is not unique to the zombie apocalypse, but also applies to apocalypse in general. You’ll often see elements of this if you were to watch doomsday prepper shows. I have a friend who has aptly labeled TWD as ‘misery porn’.
I believe that I’m both inventive and resourceful. There’s a certain fascination and wonder to solving some of these problems in creative ways. That said, I look at everything that they need to account for such as… food, safety, water, power, etc. Honestly, more than once I have pondered, do I really want to survive only to have to deal with that much struggle and despair?
Do firearms make you safer?
Back around 1993, there were a rash of unrelated German tourists who were killed in Miami. Local gang members targeted these tourists. In most instances, the criminals rear-ended the tourists while driving their rental car; they shot and robbed them once they pulled over. The rental cars were relatively easy to spot since Florida started rental license plates with the letter ‘Z’, a practice that they have since stopped.
When they apprehended these local gang members, they asked why they were targeting tourists. Their response? The local residents were more likely to carry firearms.
As we’re watching so many mass shootings, I got into a discussion with a friend. He suggested that the appropriate response is to assure that you’re well-protected by having your own firearm. Think about your safety and the safety of your family, do you want their fate at the hands of the next madman?
However, is my anxiety, my search for some sense of security, and my desire to exert some element of control… are these all legit reasons for me to cross the threshold and buy a firearm?
No, I’m sorry… this is logic is flawed
Actually, it’s not completely flawed; allow me to elaborate. If you have a firearm and know how to use it appropriately (not a trivial caveat, but more on this later), then you have a higher chance of survival should you happen to get into a mass shooting situation. Absolutely. I won’t debate that. I imagine that having a bulletproof vest or a crossbow will also improve your odds.
If you already have a natural inclination to carry a firearm… or wear a bulletproof vest… or carry a crossbow. Then great, you have a better chance of survival. No debate. However, if you start doing any of those things because there’s been a systemic failure in society where ten people are shot to death in a Boulder grocery store (or the like), then that is a problem for a number of reasons.
Does it make sense to acquire and maintain a new skill for your safety?
First, I agree there is a right to bear arms. I’m not going to debate that, but with great power comes great responsibility. It takes great care to learn how to wield a firearm appropriately in the first place. There’s additional education that comes to carrying and handling it appropriately. Each of these has a safety switch which you have to know how to engage and disengage. Each one of these has a certain amount blowback, to which you’d need to grow accustomed. All of these skills require maintenance and practice to upkeep and much like any other skill atrophy over time.
As I mentioned before if you already have a natural inclination to carry a firearm, then the additional burden of carrying a firearm for personal protection is negligible. If you don’t have a natural inclination to wield a firearm, then it is an added burden for you to acquire the skills and maintain them in order to own a gun responsibly. I can’t remember how much water to flush through the water filter in my refrigerator every few months; I can’t imagine needing to remember all the intricate details to operating a gun.
Do we become jack-of-all-trades?
Second, other entities manage many elements in our lives in which we rely upon. Just stop for a moment and think about everything that you pay for:
- Internet.
- Wireless service.
- Electricity.
- Garbage collection.
- Water.
- Gas.
- Fuel (for car).
- and a wealth of other things implicitly (through our taxes).
Let’s say that one of the above has a systemic failure, say garbage collection. So you decide that you’re going to be master of your own destiny. You thus pack three weeks of foul-smelling, wet garbage into your own car and drop it off (if they’re even accepting it). The wet garbage drips into your car and you can still smell it a week later.
Do we become experts in safe filtration of water, managing gas lines, managing our own generator, building a local cell tower, fixing pot holes, etc.? …simply because there’s a systemic failure in one of these infrastructures? Is this the zombie apocalypse? A few months ago, the power grid in Texas failed catastrophically for weeks. Is the expectation that Texas residents should outfit their homes with generators? I mean, it’s great if you have it, but you shouldn’t need to have it.
You already paid for this service
Third, simply put, you already paid for this service; it should simply work. The internet connectivity is down; if it’s down for more than a couple of hours, we’d likely be screaming at someone on the phone. There is a blackout; the first thing that we do is check for an estimate for when it’ll return. We understand that things happen and that there are occasionally extraordinary circumstances (like historic windstorms), but generally things should work.
When there is a systemic failure in any of these systems, we should absolutely scream and hold systems accountable. Examples of such systemic failures include:
- Dangerously elevated levels of lead, bacteria and chlorination byproducts in the water in Flint, Michigan.
- Statewide failure of the power grid in Texas in January 2021.
- Repeated mass shootings across the entire country.
This is where it gets surreal; people push back at that third item. They don’t think it’s a problem that needs solving. We already payed the government, in the form taxes, to keep us safe. Why are we so apprehensive to have them do something… anything to keep us safe? If you were in a restaurant and got a bad entrée, you’d send it back. Why not demand the same level of accountability from our government about our collective safety?
Should we expect more from our government?
You could make the case that personal safety is among the most important in Maslow’s hierarchy, though in that case, you can also make the case that it is especially in this case when we should expect more from society, not less.
I know that many will claim that they should take their fate in their own hands and don’t want to be the victim of circumstances and choose to buy and carry a firearm, and that’s a great rationalization.
That said, do they also not want to be the victim of circumstances when they use a public restroom that is out of toilet paper? Do they carry a roll with them as a contingency plan? I doubt that they do; this doesn’t pass the sniff test. Pun absolutely intended.
We’re not living in the Wild West, we can assert reasonable assurances to minimize mass shootings; we’re just choosing to abstain. The suggestion to arm ourselves as a solution to repeated mass shootings is absurd. It is at best a temporary contingency plan; it’s like duct taping your bumper back on your car and calling it a fix. It’s not.
There’s always a bigger fish
Even if you truly believed that the immediate answer is to simply make sure that you’re appropriately prepared enough to deter this from occurring, this reasoning is not sound… There’s always a bigger fish.
For those of us who grew up in the 80’s, we remember the Cold War. The United States and the Soviets were caught in an escalating race to arm themselves. The citizens of each country were terrified that any day could be our last. Thankfully, the leaders of each country blinked and finally acknowledged that this was ultimately self-defeating. It even affected our economy; there’s no sense of saving for a future that may never come, just spend it.
Can’t we see that it’s the same argument except applied at an individual scale rather than a national scale? Here’s a hint: It didn’t work then either.