Are there benefits to being a zombie?

[Thorn]

I was reading excerpts from the book "The Zen of Zombies" and I of course was against the idea. There is nothing good about being dead and shambling around the world endlessly surviving on the flesh of innocents. (well some are guilty of something I imagine). Then you look at it from a funny side...

Can you think of anything good to say about being a zombie?

Like...

"Your wife would never ask you if her butt looked big in these jeans"

or

"They have low blood pressure... if any at all." (right from the book)

or

"They are never in too much of a hurry, unless it is lunch time"

[krakenslayer]

Simple needs, simple existence.

No responsibility.

No obligation to follow the pace set by the rat-racers of the world.

No emotional turmoil (unless you're Bub or Big Daddy), no struggles with morality.

Essentially, though, the situation of a zombie in an undead world is little different to our own - both zombies and humans fritter away their existence struggling and yearning for a goal which few will ever attain (live human flesh/success and happiness), and usually find themselves lost but not alone, aimlessly wandering the face of the Earth before their bodies waste away.

[Yojimbo]

Simple needs, simple existence.

No responsibility.

No obligation to follow the pace set by the rat-racers of the world.

No emotional turmoil (unless you're Bub or Big Daddy), no struggles with morality.

Essentially, though, the situation of a zombie in an undead world is little different to our own - both zombies and humans fritter away their existence struggling and yearning for a goal which few will ever attain (live human flesh/success and happiness), and usually find themselves lost but not alone, aimlessly wandering the face of the Earth before their bodies waste away.
Well put, brother Kraken! Quite profound, especially the bit about how we essentially are not all that different from zombies in that we find ourselves yearning for unattainable goals, experiencing pleasure and happiness on a very fleeting level, and wander the earth without direction until our bodies wither away.

At least zombies do not fool themselves, though, unlike us in the living world!

[Trin]

Zombies can survive without food or water. They don't need to exercise. They can eat all they want and not gain weight. Or nothing at all if that suits them. They don't get sick. They're not judged by the other zombies if they're not the right religion or race or sexual preference. They don't need jobs to support their family. Economic downturn? Not to a zombie. Global warming? Doesn't bother them. In fact, zombies have a much lower carbon footprint than the rest of us. They'd likely be good for the environment.

Functioning at a lower level? Hell, sounds to me like they've got it all worked out.

Of course, zombies don't have sweet, sweet death to look forward to.

[Wyldwraith]

I'm with you Thorn,
I can't imagine a worse hell than being a zombie. (Which some might consider odd, since a close approximation to my idea of heaven would be some varieties of vampirism). I do agree however that zombies and people have a lot in common. When I look at my own life I'm forced to admit that I'm a waste of good oxygen on all but my very best days, so it isn't much of a revelation for me that 97.5% of humanity ARE ZOMBIES ALREADY. We just prefer fast food to cannibalism. (Although how many would notice if the golden arches started serving Quarter Pound of John/Jane Does and literal Big Macs would be debatable)

Trin has a good point too. Without the prospect of death, existence would be utterly unbearable. The only thing worse than being a zombie IMO would be being a zombie that was smart enough to realize what it was.

[Debbieangel]

Being a zombie would suck!!

What would you do with your time besides look for warm meat?
NO shopping!
NO being with family and friends cause they would be out to shoot you if they aren't already dead.
NO INTERNET!!!:eek:<Faints dead away> --Now if anything that is good enough reason NOT to be a zombie!

[Mike70]

NO INTERNET!!!:eek:<Faints dead away> --Now if anything that is good enough reason NOT to be a zombie!

i'm right there with you on that one fo' sure.

for some reason this reminded me of the simpsons ep where "the most dangerous game" is parodied. when mr. burns says that he'll give everyone a 5 minute head start, comic book guy is like "5 minutes of running? shoot me now!"

that's how i feel about life without the internet.

[Trin]

If we look upon zombies as humans just functioning at a lower level it brings with it some revelations.

Some of the dumbest people in the world are the happiest. Some mentally retarded or downs syndrome kids are the most loving and happy people around. They don't care about the Internet because they aren't functioning at a high enough level to know what they're missing. We pity them, but they're always smiling.

I'd hate being a zombie because I'd always be hungry and no meal would ever satisfy me. I live for food.

[Publius]

Any advantages of zombiehood are nullified by the disadvantage of lacking the awareness to appreciate them. Anyways, along the lines of a different recent thread, I believe in the soul, so I believe that once your body is a zombie, "you" aren't there anymore anyways.

[bassman]

I believe that once your body is a zombie, "you" aren't there anymore anyways.

That's what I was thinking. How would you even know or "feel" that you're a zombie, anyway?

Kinda like sleepwalking, I guess. Your partner can tell you that you got up, did the cha-cha around the room and then pissed in your sock drawer, but you never realize that it happened.:p

[krakenslayer]

That's what I was thinking. How would you even know or "feel" that you're a zombie, anyway?

Kinda like sleepwalking, I guess. Your partner can tell you that you got up, did the cha-cha around the room and then pissed in your sock drawer, but you never realize that it happened.:p

Hmm... not sure about this one. It's a very difficult topic - just because you don't remember pissing in your sock drawer afterwards does not mean you are not aware of it at the time.

How much of our self-awareness is based on memory? Is there even such a thing as the present, or just the memories of things already gone by? If there is a soul, why would a zombie automatically not possess one?

[darth los]

I'm not sure if it got cancelled but there was this horror show on NBC a few months back and one of the episodes was about a woman who finds herself in the mist of a zombie outbreak. Seems pretty straight forward right?

Here's the twist. She spends the entire episode wandering about looking for something but she's not sure what. Ultimately she encounters her boyfriend and some other chick and they start freaking out at the sight of her. Finally her boyfriend blows her away and I'm like WTF!?!


In the end it was revealed that she was actually a zombie the entire episode and had no idea. So in watching the episode for a second time it put a new spin on the events.


I'll try to track it down for you guys. It's really good stuff.






:cool:

[Publius]

If there is a soul, why would a zombie automatically not possess one?

From a Christian perspective, death is the separation of the soul from the body. If the zombie is dead, the soul isn't there anymore. It's in heaven, hell, limbo, purgatory etc. depending on the condition of the person (and which denomination is right :) ). The zombie lurches on as a soulless flesh-robot.

[Mike70]

I'm not sure if it got cancelled but there was this horror show on NBC a few months back and one of the episodes was about a woman who finds herself in the mist of a zombie outbreak. Seems pretty straight forward right?

Here's the twist. She spends the entire episode wandering about looking for something but she's not sure what. Ultimately she encounters her boyfriend and some other chick and they start freaking out at the sight of her. Finally her boyfriend blows her away and I'm like WTF!?!


In the end it was revealed that she was actually a zombie the entire episode and had no idea. So in watching the episode for a second time it put a new spin on the events.


I'll try to track it down for you guys. It's really good stuff.






:cool:


it's called "new years day." it was an episode of "fear itself", which is what "masters of horror" was renamed when it was bought by NBC. alas, NBC quickly screwed the pooch on the show and it is no more.

[Loz]

It would depend which way you look at it i guess, how much would you understand being a zombie anyway? Even if you had objections now, it wouldn't matter if your memory of what happened in your past was wiped and you didn't understand anything except the need to feed...

[blind2d]

I just thought of it! If you're a zombie, you can have underwater wrestling with sharks! That's a cool power.
Some nice flowers. - Rorshach

[Rancid Carcass]

The biggest advantage of being a zombie (if you can call it that), this simply not having to worry about being eaten alive every minute of the every day. Though underwater shark wrestling does run it a very close second!


I believe that once your body is a zombie, "you" aren't there anymore anyways.

As for issue of 'not being there', I think part of the horror of the zombie threat is that you are still there, vaguely, after revival. I always assumed that was part of the reason why they go to shopping malls or try to 'drive a car down Independence Avenue' - a sort of dim and hazy recollection of the things they used to do in life. Logan touched upon it in DAY surmising that Bub was remembering how to use things 'from before'. It also explains why Big Daddy would come out to fill the gas tank every time the little bell went, and is also the reason why people (with the exception of Cholo!), don't want to come back after they kick the bucket. From any point of view, both Christian and Atheist, if zombies are just empty shells of rotting meat then it doesn't really matter what happens after you die – the only thing you'd have to worry about is being eaten, and if you don't survive then so what? You're not there. You're either sat on a fluffy white cloud strumming a harp or have completely ceast to exist, the nightmare's over. To me part of the horror of the zombie apocalyse is that there is no escaping from it, even in death.

[krakenslayer]

From a Christian perspective, death is the separation of the soul from the body. If the zombie is dead, the soul isn't there anymore. It's in heaven, hell, limbo, purgatory etc. depending on the condition of the person (and which denomination is right :) ). The zombie lurches on as a soulless flesh-robot.

Is the zombie dead, though? Dead is just an easy tag to stick on them, but dead things do not (by their very definition) walk around or continue to function in any way.

A better definition would be undead. Undeath was a state that our superstitious and deeply religious ancestors feared greatly, because they believed the soul was trapped, either on its own or within a corrupted body, in Earthly torment. When they dealt with those alleged to be vampires and werewolves (usually by burning), they believed they were releasing the soul from it's undead body, and bringing the victim rest. I don't see why zombies would be any different.

[darth los]

it's called "new years day." it was an episode of "fear itself", which is what "masters of horror" was renamed when it was bought by NBC. alas, NBC quickly screwed the pooch on the show and it is no more.


Geez, thanks man. I was having a hell of a time tracking it down. I had it on my dvr until it broke and I had to get a new box. :(






:cool:

[Publius]

Undeath was a state that our superstitious and deeply religious ancestors feared greatly, because they believed the soul was trapped, either on its own or within a corrupted body, in Earthly torment.

Good point!

[Wyldwraith]

My point exactly,
Normal death (IMO) releases the essence of what makes the individual unique to go on to wherever one happens to believe that essence goes on to (In my case, Heaven or Hell). Undeath on the other hand is like a metaphysical monkey wrench in this process. The essence/soul gets clogged up in the fleshy constraints, and suffers endless misery until released.

This is why zombies are far more pitiable creatures than several varieties of vampires. It's one thing to have your immortal soul trapped in an equally immortal, conditionally invulnerable, and equipped with a host of neat supernatural abilities body, and quite another to have your soul stuck in a quagmire of a rotting fleshbag that's controlled by an overwhelming hunger for living human flesh.

Given my metaphysical beliefs, I would feel that I was doing a fellow human being one of the greatest services that could be done for another person by destroying their brain if they were a zombie. Far from being a grisly and horrific burden, it would be a noble releasing of that person's very being from its rotting prison. You couldn't save their life, but saving them from being a helpless witness to their body perpetrating horrific crimes on other human beings for God knows how long is a big thing. If zombies ever existed, that is.

Not saying I could be all blase about it, and smile as I gunned down half a dozen zombie children, but I feel that my conviction on the subject would be a great comfort to me under those circumstances.

The people I feel TRULY sorry for aren't the zombies though. I feel the sorriest for an atheist that believes in the existence of the soul, but believes it perishes with the body. If such a person was put in a position where they had to destroy a zombie to protect themselves or someone else, how horrible would that be? Choosing between the survival of your own unique identity and extinguishing someone else's....