Could you be "That Guy"?

[Thorn]

Could you be "That Guy"

Obviously living in a world where the dead are coming back to life is pretty hard, we all like to think we know how we would handle it. That we would be together, organized, we have plans right? You walk into a place and go 'If the dead walked right now these windows would be a real problem to fortify".

The question I have though is, do you REALLY think you could be "That guy" you know the one I am talking about. The guy who in every movie makes the hard, cold, matter of fact statement "If we don't shoot her/him in the head he will come back as one of them" and then deal with the fall out? That is a tough role, you would be vilified by so many, hated by some, and then you would actually have to put a bullet or some other object through the head of a once living being.

While yes, being an executioner in this case is much easier to live with, because you could be saving lives when the former loved one springs back to life. Could you be the person to do it? Or would you be content to let someone else take on that role? Would you prefer it?

[AcesandEights]

An interesting topic.

While I can't claim to know for sure what I'd do in such circumstances, I do believe that my views regarding the fate of being undead would lead me to believe that being killed/killing before hand would be favorable by far to both parties (the 'infected'/dying and the survivors).

I also think that human nature and the ethics & mores we surround ourselves with are fluid enough that people and societies can adapt given enough time and, more importantly, the necessity to do so. It wouldn't be easy by any stretch of the imagination, but the more the edifice of the 'old world' and its ways crumbled around peoples heads and the more people saw that it was something that needed to be done, the easier it would become.

A pretty basic assumption would be that the hardest time for such sort of decision making would be amongst the existing generation of humanity that would be experiencing such alien choices for the first time, this would be the make or break period of time, illustrated in so many zombie films (discussed in good detail at the beginning of Dawn) when many would not be able to cope with making such a choice and the hope would be that the fall out from that wouldn't put humanity too far behind the eight-ball.

[Mike70]

as aces said, an interesting topic. i will also echo his sentiment that no one and i mean no one, can predict with certainty how they will react in a life threatening/disaster scenario. so what follows is speculation on my part.

would i shoot someone in the head because they had been bit? almost certainly not. killing someone like that would be murder in my opinion. if a place a relative safety could be found, i'd have the person sequestered away and watched. there would be an opportunity between their somatic death and reanimation to deal with them. like what is done with roger and the character matt frewer plays in dawn 04.

i think a lot of people who had been bitten would probably either kill themselves or ask someone to kill them. i'd have no problem shooting them in that situation because it is the person who has been bitten asking to be released. i wouldn't be taking a decison/action that i had no right to take.

for me it comes down to this: whatever reasons we are on this earth for, playing god with other people's lives is not among them.

[Publius]

That is a tough role, you would be vilified by so many, hated by some, and then you would actually have to put a pullet or some other object through the head of a once living being.

I know this was a simple typo, but it made me laugh because of the image it created in my mind: A "pullet" is a young hen (chicken). :D

[sandrock74]

Thorn, how can one be considered an executioner when the "victim" is ALREADY dead? You can't. At worst, youd be accused of desecrating a corpse.
Sorry, I'm just being nit-picky.

[Thorn]

I know this was a simple typo, but it made me laugh because of the image it created in my mind: A "pullet" is a young hen (chicken). :D


lol... um I hear putting a chicken through someone's head is a perfectly good way to um... prevent re-animation. Thanks though, corrected that above.

As to killing them, sorry let me clarify. Look at it as shooting them before they turn and reanimate because you know they will. Could you do that to avoid any possible incidents?

[SRP76]

I would have no problem putting a bullet through a stiff's skull. I own firearms for the sole purpose of putting one through a living person's skull if they break into my home, as we speak, in normal life. Why would I get weepy over one that's already dead?

When it comes right down to it, I'm sure just about everyone here would do what's needed.

[Skippy911sc]

A few years ago I would say no. I could not kill anyone. Since then I have taken up hunting. I am not comparing them mind you, but to look into the face of some thing that is alive and knowingly pull the trigger came fairly easy to me. In fact the rush I felt was sort of weird. I now love to hunt and have no problem with skinning and quartering/butchering my own meat. I still find the beauty in animals and watch with a sort of fascination as they eat or play, but I know at any moment, if I saw fit, I could shoot this creature. I do not kill for the pleasure of killing but for food, I wanted to put that out there. If you would have told me 10 years ago that I could or would do these things I would say you are crazy. At that time I had an anti hunting stance (I chose to not do it) no did I own a firearm. Now I wait eagerly for each of the different seasons and plan accordingly.

Since taking up this love, I have also learned the finer points of firearm use as well as the use of a bow for hunting. I think that has actually hurt my film views due to the knowledge that this education has brought. I laugh when I see a guy, who for the first time, picks up a bow and gets a head shot at 20 yards. Or the knucklehead who manages to hold the gun from the hip and take out a Z. I think if it were not a family member then I would have little problem disposing of the dead in the proper manner. Now a family member will be a lot harder to come to grips with and I would say I would not be able to.

[Yojimbo]

I am a gun owner and possess firearms for defense of my family and home. I have hunted in the past with relatives and friends throughout my childhood and teen years, but have not been out in the field for many years now.

As far as bring able to shoot someone, I know that I would be able to do this provided that it was justified at the time in order to protect myself or my family from harm. In the course of hunting, I have killed animals, and though I enjoyed the hunt (tracking, stalking, drawing a bead for a killshot) I honestly never felt a great amount of pleasure in the kill - which is probably why I have not been out to stalk prey in the field for over 20 years now. That is to say, I know that I would have no problems taking, gutting and dressing a deer, rabbit or a boar to prevent my family from starving, but I don't really like to do it just for sport.

With respect to the living dead world: I know that I would have no qualms about putting a bullet through the skull of a total stranger before he or she revives. I would, however, have a hard time taking out someone before they actually died (example: dude is dying from a bite from a ghoul, but is clinging to life) I would have had a hard time been able to ice Roger in Dawn at the point where he was still alive and talking, but would have very easily taken him out at the point when he was actually dead, or already turned. But, all that being said, I do not know if I have the strength to shoot my wife after she turned, or cut off her head if she had passed away. I would love to say that I am stong enough to do so, but honestly don't know that I could do it.

So, I might be able to shoot your zombie wife in the head, but you might have to shoot mine for me. It is concepts like this that make me glad that I am not really living in the land of the dead.

[Cody]

You'd have to kill the ones you loved if they became infected in order to protect yourself. It would take balls to shoot loved ones in the head and would kill me on the inside. You'd have to in order to protect you and others though.

[SRP76]

The real problem is when you have to decide whether to kill the members of your family that have not been bitten. For instance, sickly ol' Grandma is nothing but a liability; she cannot run, cannot defend herself or the rest of you, and is nothing but dead weight. Your only choices are to leave her to be eaten alive, or blow her head off to spare her that agony.

[Bub666]

Your only choices are to leave her to be eaten alive, or blow her head off to spare her that agony.

I would leave her behind,so I don't have to waste any bullets on her.I know,I'am a mean S.O.B.:D

[MapMan]

I would pull the trigger. Wouldn't think twice about it.

[MaximusIncredulous]

While being extremely difficult, I wouldn't see any choice in the matter. A loved one that has little to no chances in a situation like that would have to be taken out. If it's a direct relative to me or to someone in the group that hasn't been bitten, I would try to find and administer some sort of tranquilizer (not likely, I know) to make it a tad easier to do the deed otherwise I would wait for them to turn.

[Zombie Snack]

I think most people would overcome the pain, emotion, and hesitation involved in putting down a loved one, a neighbor, an aquatiance, or whoever in a zombie epidemic..Man has faced terrifying, horrifying, unimaginable situations throughout the history of civilization, and did what ever it took to survive. How did all those soldiers muster the courage to storm the beaches at Normandy, under fire from the Nazi's, with the MG's and 88's cutting them to shreads. How did you step off that landing boat when the 12 men in front of you were shot as soon as they stepped off, and continued thru the bloody waters, under fire to make the beach head and crawl over, under and around dead and dying, soldiers you have served with for years only to form up with other scared, terrified men and make a charge at the enemy. In the States our people did fight a war between neighbor's, relatives, and friends in the 1860's...We called it the civil war, it was civil to the tune of over 600,000 killed. I dont think the majority of people would just lay down and die in a zombie epidemic, In war you kill or are killed, It is the basic instinct of humans to want to survive..I think Man has proved many many times, over the years, on every continent that we are capable of inflicting massive casulaties and death upon each other. Would you emotionaly break..surely, eventualy, but most people would strive to survive until that point.

[Skippy911sc]

I have heard soldiers coming back from war state that when you kill someone a piece of you dies with them.

[Trencher]

The question I have though is, do you REALLY think you could be "That guy"


Yes, why is this even a question only small children, insane people or some kind of buddasaints would not be that guy (or gal).
You guys really fear liberal fool protecting the zombies? Witch hunts and mob killings of "suspected carriers" is much more likely.

[lullubelle]

Hon, i am a social worker, so technically I am already that guy :lol:

[Skippy911sc]

Hon, i am a social worker, so technically I am already that guy :lol:

Ouch!
:elol:

[Mike70]

Yes, why is this even a question only small children, insane people or some kind of buddasaints would not be that guy (or gal).
You guys really fear liberal fool protecting the zombies? Witch hunts and mob killings of "suspected carriers" is much more likely.


i still don't think all of us are clear on what thorn is asking. he isn't talking about shooting zombies at all. what he is asking is: could/would you shoot someone who had been bitten before they turned? could you summarily kill someone else because they had been infected and were going to turn.

that is the question that's been put forth.

like i said in my earlier post, i wouldn't kill anyone because they'd been bitten. i would do what was done with roger and with matt frewer's character in dawn 04. i'd put them somewhere under guard and shoot them after somatic death.

[Thorn]

Exactly. I think most everyone, and not everyone has been alleged would be able to shoot a zombie ( I can sure you there will be some people who can not bring themselves to do it in a number of situations for varying reasons).

I am saying. You and a group of survivors are holed up somewhere, someone has been bit and you are pretty darn sure that that person is coming back after they die to attack you.

Not everyone agrees with you of course, no one agrees on anything it seems. Could you be the guy who puts the bullet through their head BEFORE they die.

I do not think it is as easy a question for all of us. Some might have trouble putting a bullet through the heads of friends, loved ones, small children, or otherwise sympathetic people. You might be content to let someone else do the "wet work" while you sit back and enjoy the ride.

The question was more "could you be the take charge person, who faced the hard facts and did the gruesome task".

[Trencher]

I understood the question actually and I meant what I said about the bitten more than likely would be killed by everyone in the group and maybe even relative of the bitten would be killed "just in case" or if supersticion got involved. The person you are now and the person most of you would be in a mob is two widely diffrent people.

[Wooley]

Kill a bitten person before they die and revive? Probably not. I' d have to have changed a lot to be able to kill someone who isn't a direct, immediate threat to me, unless it's ambushing raiders, so I'd go with the Dawn '04-Me, the bitten one, my gun, and a closed off area away from everyone else until whatever happened happened.

[Thorn]

For me it comes down to a few things I guess.

First I would have a hard time taking the life of an innocent person, who quite possibly did no wrong except be a victim. In the end of their living life to be executed seems a bit cold and unfeeling. It is also something that goes against my character as a person. Life is a precious thing to me, not to be wasted or thrown away. Certainly not to be taken from someone.

Now in the scenario I am painting look at it as it is in the dawn remake, they basically want to kill the guy in front of friends and family because they have a strong feeling he will turn. Try to envision that scenario.

Now, here is something else to consider.

Think about the psychological impact that will have on the group of survivors with you. There will be immediate and long term fallout.

1) You are establishing precedent. Whoever gets bit, or we suspect of being bitten will be shot. Even if it is needed can't you see situations where the bitten person will not let the rest of the group know about it? What if they only suspect it was a bite, and in reality the got their arm raked across jagged metal in an escape attempt while a zombie held it. Do you shoot them? They may very well think so and not tell you. Then in the middle of the night they could turn and kill you.

2) You just set yourself up as the bad guy, and the rest of the group will look at you differently. You may become an outsider, and quickly be deemed undesirable. That or they will fear you, some may even respect you. At the end of the day though there will be a reckoning of sorts and everyone will have an opinion of the high profile executioner.

3) Psychological fallout on yourself. In the days of firing squads they used to try and lessen the psychological burden on the rifleman by only loading one gun with an actual bullet. You always had in your mind a degree of plausible deniability. "I didn't kill him". So if you do take on this role is it something you can do? I mean what if you are wrong? For some of us, myself included doubt would likely creep in. "Did I kill a healthy person?" Might be tough to make it through the night.