Fear The Walking Dead, SROTW: Bad Things Happen To Bad People

4) The More “Good” A Person Sees Themself, The More “Bad” They May Actually Be

I’ve heard people say that “No one sees themself as the villain of their own story.” That may not be entirely true, but I think it’s pretty damn close.

I’d say I’ve seen it recently, but look back far enough in history (Not even that far, to be honest), and you’ll see examples of people doing utterly repugnant things because, in their minds, they were “good,” and, therefore, whatever they did, regardless of how objectively despicable it was, was “good” because they were doing it.

You can look back to hundreds of cases of massacres and (Literal) witch hunts to see exactly what I mean: People slaughtering other people but completely convinced that they were the “good guys.”

It’s amazing how delusional people can become just by slapping that label on themselves…

Now to survive a zombie apocalypse, you will have to bend morality a little bit to survive. You won’t go for that long once the outbreak hits without having to fight for your life against someone: It’s inevitable. There will be crazies, thugs, criminals, and opportunists of all stripes, plus the odd megalomaniac thinking they can use the power vacuum to become the overlord of Earth or some such nonsense, so you will have to defend yourself and your group against these characters sooner or later.

That said, if the leader of your group is sending you out to lay waste to another group you’ve never even encountered before or under suspicion of threats they might pose (Especially if they’re not hostile or even aware of your group), then, yeah…you might not be the “good guys” in this situation.

If your group is contaminating the water supply of another group or siccing massive numbers of zombies on them (We’re talking far more than what you might need as a diversion), for the sake of getting them infected, then there’s a pretty good chance you’re not the “good guys.”

Take a step back and look at the way you conduct yourself. Just because you might call yourself “good” doesn’t mean you actually are.