GenocideHeart said:
Prince Charon said:
The Ero-Sennin said:
Okay. Zombies in the classic sense would get mowed down by droves in any world where crowds of people are generally known either as "dead" or "dead and just not knowing it". Slow moving targets with no survival instincts that are only a threat in mobs to the infeebled, young, old, stupid, or any combination of the above?
It's not so much a world ending apocalypse as it is a turkey shoot.
Only for the people who don't panic and/or behave like utter morons. So, there goes about 70-80% of the population.
This man speaks the truth. Most normal people are going to take a look at that recently deceased loved one coming after them shuffling on his/her feet and FREAK THE FUCK OUT because after all, life isn't a movie, and yet, there's something right outta a bad B-movie intent on gnawing their face off.
By the time the few people with nerves of steel take control of the panicking masses, they won't be masses any longer.
Maybe in a world where there aren't zombie movies, but you seem to be forgetting about this amazing thing called the military. They can blow zombies right the fuck up with bombs, missiles, artillery shells and other weapons from range without the emotional difficulties civilians would have with mowing down their former loved ones turned monsters. On top of that, add on even half of the 18 million people in the US with hunting licenses and as The EroSennin said, you're not looking at an apocalypse so much as a turkey shoot. That's not even counting the millions of people who WOULD keep their heads and start running over zombies with cars, beating them to death with baseball bats, or dropping toasters on them from the second story window.
You might have trouble killing Zombie Granny Genocideheart, others won't.
Let's also consider the zombie as a species: They're basically designed for failure. Think about it. In order to actually spread the disease or eat, they have to go up against their number one predator (living humans) every time. That's like having to fight a lion every time you want to have sex or make a sandwich. No species can survive like that. For one thing, biting is a terrible way to spread a disease-It's slow, it's easily noticeable, and it's easily preventable.
If the CDC learned there was a zombism disease, they wouldn't have to spend half the effort they do on figuring out how to stop it because containing it is simple compared to containing swine flu: Blow the head off the guy biting people. Problem solved. For another, in this day and age where almost everyone in the developed world has a cameraphone or even just a cell phone, do you really think that a zombie outbreak could go unnoticed? That's not exactly something you can just sweep under the rug. It'd be on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, you name it in a matter of minutes. Why would the government try to cover something like THAT up? There wouldn't be much point.
Zombies are also very, very weak to numerous things that living humans don't have to worry about for a simple reason: We have an immune system, they don't. Maggots are going to start eating them alive, their gut bacteria will quickly begin to devour them, their inability to take in more water will cause them to dehydrate and then desiccate, their slow reflexes and poor coordination will leave them helpless to manage the terrain, once their eyes are gone they will be blind (which will happen very quickly), and let's not even get into the stray dogs, birds, and other animals that are going to see zombies as walking kibble and are going to chow down. Humans are only the top predators because we're smart, we're organized, and we're well armed. Zombies are none of these things.
The only reason zombie apocalypses occur in fiction at all is because the plot demands it. The moment you really think about it the concept falls apart.