Greetings.  It occurs to me that I have a fair backlog of blogs from my other pages.  While I plan to make this my primary blogging place in the future, there are some things from the other blogs I feel would be a good fit here.  So whenever I post a new blog I will try to remember to post one of my old ones along with it.  Without further ado, I present to you, "When the Zombie Apocalypse Comes, Will We Still be Able to Order Out?"

The breakdown of society.

That is the core theme at the root of most Zombie movies. One thing goes wrong and poof! The whole system crumbles. One tiny little microbe gets on a dead body, reanimates it, it bites someone who dies and then is reanimated and before you know it the whole town is a mess of limping, rotting, moaning once-humans who are now the physical embodiment of walking death.

Kinda like what happens when a Wal-Mart rolls into town.

The semiotics of Zombie movies and modern society hit me like a ton of bricks last winter when, as the local bus system was unable to get around the several feet of snow (I live in a small college town about an hour and a half south of Chicago). This bus system being unable to move people around caused all kinds of problems: Both the local universities shut down for the day, numerous stores including the one I worked at, as well as the mall it was attached to, closed for weather reasons for the first time in something like 15 years. Hospitals were left without janitorial staff and the lower-grade nurses and orderlies. The town pretty much broke down for about 2 or 3 days straight.

And as it all happened, all I could think of was how much this breakdown based on the removal of one little cog was like a Zombie movie. I had also been reading the "Zombie Survival Guide" at the time, so I was in a prime state to think on these things. But ever since I have read that book, the idea that a Zombie Apocalypse (or something like it) might be unleashed on the world has never been far from my mind.

Fortunately, throughout the abysmal snow storm, I could still get pizzas and Jimmy John's delivered directly to my door.

Society, relationships, any kind of social structure, is a house of cards. Remove one piece, and often the whole thing comes tumbling down, as is evident with the country's recent economic troubles: AIG, GM, most of the major banks. These are all so big and so powerful that, were they to fail, America's economy would collaps faster than a roadrunner dashing away from a coyote. But even if that happened I'd probably still be able to get pizza delivered to my door. I guess no matter what, some things may never change.

So, when the Zombie Apocalypse comes, do you think we'll still be able to order out?