Christopher Rivera, Period 7, 5/18/23

 Christopher Rivera, Period 7, Due 5/18/23

Literacy & Learning

• Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or nonfiction covered in class.

• Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception.

• How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

World War Z, by Max Brooks, offers a strikingly realistic chronology of a zombie pandemic. Brooks, an American author, paints a disturbingly foreseeable picture of the United States of America on the eve of the apocalypse - a nation of short-sighted indifference. The novel envisions a fatal consequence of a society obsessed with personal comfort. The zombie plague spreads from China, appearing sporadically in outbreaks in population centers worldwide. A team of scientists publishes a report calling for immediate and extreme military responses from governments around the world in order to prevent a potential global catastrophe. Israel heeds the warning, isolating itself from the rest of the world and fortifying its borders. America, on the other hand, does almost nothing. The domestic national response extends to basic education for law enforcement, and the approval of a fake zombie vaccine called Phalanx.

The rationale behind the US government’s initial negligible response to the zombie crisis is best described by Grover Carlson, the White House Chief of Staff at the time of the first outbreaks. “We knew Phalanx was a placebo, and we were grateful for it. It calmed people down and let us do our job. What, you would have rather we told people the truth? That it wasn’t a new strain of rabies but a mysterious uber-plague that reanimated the dead? Can you imagine the panic that would have happened: the protest, the riots, the billions in damage to private property?” The government’s egregious short-sightedness represents the attitude of America as a whole. When warned of a potentially catastrophic threat, America’s leaders focused only on how they could preserve the people’s illusion of security and stability  in the short term. An appropriate response to the threat might cause public unrest and political fallout, so the administration convinced themselves that their meager response was sufficient. The American public, too, paid little attention to the looming crisis. Carlson says, “The whole thing was pretty much old news after a few months. It had become ‘manageable.’ People were learning to live with it and they were already hungry for something different.” People saw the zombie threat as an inconvenience, a sensational headline that died down after a season. Americans wanted something fresh and different to captivate their attention as they moved on with their lives. As a result of the complacency of the American government and the public, the disease is allowed to fester in the dark. By the time the nation truly accepts the scale of the threat, zombies have overrun major cities and are devouring the nation. The unprepared military is helpless to stop them. The panic that the government tried to prevent cascades across the nation and millions are consumed by the undead.

Modern America is among the world's most wealthy, comfortable, and indulgent societies. Our high living standard and intensely consumerist economy facilitate a culture of convenience. So much of what we do, from our shopping habits to our entertainment choices to our media consumption, is focused on our immediate satisfaction. The fatal flaw of such a society is that we tend to ignore inconvenient truths. If facing a societal ill would disturb our individualistic lifestyles, we play down the problem and put off a solution indefinitely. One striking example in the modern day is gun violence. As of May 22, there have been over 200 mass shootings in the United States (a mass shooting is defined as an incident where at least four people are injured). That is almost two per day. Despite these appalling figures, there is significant resistance from gun rights advocates and politicians to pass any sort of logical or meaningful restrictions on the widespread sale and distribution of guns. According to them, regulations would infringe on their own constitutional right to bear arms. Thus, deadly weapons continue to pour into our nation, and people continue to die. The “Great Panic” of World War Z is a cautionary tale for our society. We need to face our nation’s many issues head-on, even if they are “someone else’s problems,” and even if our response requires us to deviate from the cushioned, convenient lifestyles we are accustomed to. If we ignore the tumors that infect our country, they will grow unchecked until they touch the lives of every person.

While reading a section of the chapter “Home Front USA”, our class had a discussion about the strength of the human spirit. The section of the chapter we were focusing on told three stories that explored the psychological effects of catastrophe. Quislings were people who lost their minds and began to act as if there were zombies, completely detached from reality, attacking other people, and even unable to feel pain. ADS stood for Asymptomatic Demise Syndrome or Apocalyptic Despair Syndrome, a condition where a person simply lost the will to live in a constant nightmarish reality and died in their sleep. Finally, there was the story of Christina Eliopolis, a crashed pilot who survived a zombie-infested swamp with the encouragement of an imaginary voice on her radio. In the lesson, we also discussed some of the causes, effects, and possible treatments of “burnout”. When someone is truly burnt out, they have no motivation to do anything, from work to chores to personal hygiene. That person can experience head and body aches, difficulty concentrating and remembering, and weight gain. On the other hand, mental fortitude and the will to survive can allow us to perform extraordinary feats of endurance, as is the case with Christina Eliopolis. Something that stuck with me was the idea that when motivation runs out, as it does in burnout, personal discipline can carry someone through a difficult period of life. The lesson also caused me to reflect on the way that I deal with mental stress and self-discipline. I always try to have something to look forward to, whether it be a day off from school, a social event I will be attending, or a package arriving in the mail. The discussion reminded me to take care of my mental health and to have empathy for those I know who are struggling with mental health challenges.