by Don Hall

As I sit in Las Vegas and watch the very industry this town thrives upon slowly decimated by the fear of a pandemic I’m struck by the fact that while we watch movies and television, it seems we learn nothing from the stories they tell.

Remember Thomas Janes in Stephen King’s The Mist? A mysterious mist envelopes a town, monsters come out of the fog and start eating people. The main action takes place in a grocery store and it is the panic that destroys them, not the monsters. The end of the film version is one of the most fucking depressing things I’ve ever seen.

 In John Carpenter’s The Thing, once the creature is discovered to infect and become one of the skeleton crew in the Antarctic, it is the paranoia that ultimately does them all in. 

Carriers is about a viral pandemic accompanied by all the social breakdown that seems to join one. Four survivors flee their hometown to find safety until the virus dies out. The virus is highly contagious and transferred by breath. The four believe there is safety in the southwest and head to Turtle Beach Hotel. Along the way they see society has melted down. There is no social or moral justice as people stop at nothing to survive from stealing cars and gasoline to murder.

We’ve watched ten seasons of The Walking Dead and, if there is any sort of lesson learned from a hundred or so hours of this tale it is that humanity is almost always worse than the existential threat it contends with. Tribalism, infighting, morality thrown to the wind in the face of survival all are human traits. Self interest and cruelty are second nature to us.

I have reason to believe that things are going to get dire sooner than later and the Coronavirus pandemic (it’s officially a pandemic according to the World Health Organization) is just the unexpected catalyst. We’ve been edging closer and closer to disaster for decades. According to a friend of mine (who is in a position to know) since 2006 we’ve been facing an increased risk of water shortages leading to food shortages leading to increased tension and the potential for war between 2020 and 2024.  

Add to that the panic of a population hellbent on behaving like Marcia Gaye Hardin in The Mist or Negan in The Walking Dead, the tipping point is at the door.

Panic, like worry and fear of the unknown, is an emotion that simply does not serve us very well. Sure, we live at a time where it is considered too masculine to stiffen that upper lip and react rationally because, well, emooooottttiiiioooonnnnssss are all the rage. When times are such that our biggest concerns are securing power for the marginalized, the crippling affect of these emmmmmoooootttttiiiiiooooonnnnnssss is that when the shit hits the fan the guy looking for some sympathy and justice is going to have his skull cracked open to get that bottle of water.

I mean, look at how we behave in a Walmart on Black Friday to get a goddamned plasma screen tv for 50% off the marked price? You think your “the customer is always right” and “I was here first” and “what about my intersectional marginalization?” are going to make a lick of difference if you’re in between a hungry guy jazzed up on fear and a Snickers Bar?

Being prepared, being cautious and thoughtful, deciding not to fly or go out to eat is prudent when the pandemic comes. Raiding the Costco for bottled water and toilet paper (toilet paper? WTF?) is panic. Avoid panic. The guy who panics is the first one the zombies fucking eat. The second guy who panics gets Lucille upside his cranium.

Ignore social media or even regular media when educating yourself about Coronavirus. Read the WHO website every morning for updates. Understand the situation before you run naked in the streets, screaming that the world is ending and attacking passers by for their jerky sticks.

 The calm dude with the crossbow even lived longer than Rick.