Fear The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Human Nature
By Liam O'Leary
On this week’s Fear The Walking Dead, we got a glimpse of what might be the greatest threat to your survival: Human Nature.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: One of, if not the biggest threat you’ll come across (Or at least, the biggest catalyst to said threats) is people.
People will always be smarter than the dead. They can make plans, they can use weapons, they can find out and exploit your weaknesses. People will almost always be a bigger threat, and, if they aren’t, they will serve as a catalyst for allowing other things to become bigger threats.
But…why? Why will people pose such a problem? Because, quite simply, it’s human nature.
What do I mean? Well, we, as a species, are flawed.
We can be jealous, greedy, weak, distrustful, duplicitous, selfish, biased, controlling, paranoid, short-tempered, violent, and unstable.
If you’ve seen my articles over the last few weeks, you’ve seen me give warning signs of hostiles inside or outside your group, or even that you yourself are becoming a problem. All of these are necessary because, frankly, anyone could become a threat, under the right circumstances.
As I’ve said when discussing the beginning of the outbreak: When the chips are down, you see people’s true colors. Looters will looters, rioters will riot, and so on.
This week’s Fear The Walking Dead showed us just how bad human nature can be, under the right (Wrong?) circumstances.
I speak, specifically, of the situation the people of Gonzalez Dam find themselves in. Over the past couple of episodes, we’ve watched as the survivors in the areas around the dam grow more restless each time Lola’s men attempt to distribute water. Eventually resorting to violence.
Think about this: Despite the fact Lola is giving people water (An extremely precious commodity), there was still an angry mob trying to storm the dam by episode’s end.
Why? …Human nature.
Even if there are people in the area who are grateful for what Lola is trying to do, as Daniel warns, there will always be people who are not. There will always be those who want more. There will always be those who need more.
Some people, even if they do appreciate a gesture like Lola’s, may not trust her motives; They may assume that she’s only giving people water so that she can use it to exert authority over them, and that distrust may lead them to believe that they need to control their water…and use force to ensure they do.
Conversely, someone (Like Dante) may see how valuable of a commodity (In this case, the dam) is, and attempt to take it to be the aforementioned person exerting authority. The point is: No matter what good you may be intending, there will always be someone (Probably several someones) who will either feel they haven’t been given enough, or want to be the person with the power to decide who gets enough.
To survive the zombie apocalypse (Or any crisis, really), you need to accept and recognize the bad side of human nature. If you accept that people are capable of desperate, if not evil actions, in such desperate times, you will find yourself much more mentally prepared when said desperate actions inevitably occur.
Additionally, you need to recognize when people are veering towards desperate, dangerous and/or violent action. You need to be able to recognize when people may be trying to lure you into a dangerous situation, when simple anger at the situation is boiling over to violence directed at you, etc.
When you can see the seeds of of problems being planted, you can uproot them before they grow into a problem.
And, finally, I would be remiss if I neglected to mention being on the lookout for one’s own allies, as well.
As much as people may not want to admit it, it’s human nature to look after those closest to you before anyone else. People will always look after their own (Their friends, their family, their group of survivors) before acquaintances or strangers.
What this means is, if your group doesn’t really trust one another — Doesn’t see them as family or even friends — your group may not last very long. When push comes to shove, people will take the side of their friends and family over their allies.
An ally is just someone you’re with as a matter of convenience. If you don’t recognize that, you may be in for a rude awakening when your ally suddenly finds you inconvenient.
Next: Fear The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Trust
And that’s our survival rule of the week!! Hopefully, it will help you should you ever need it and give you that mental edge that will prove so crucial once the dead start eating everyone.
If you like this and want to find out more rules to survive the zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can get it on Kindle here and on iTunes here!