Fear The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Little Things Get You

3) Deafness

I’ve always appreciated in the Walking Dead universe the writers’ attention to certain details that often get overlooked in other zombie-related media, things like deafness. Now, in some cases, I can understand that, if every action scene in a zombie show or movie or video game were peppered with characters being unable to hear every time they shot off a gun, you’d likely lose half the episode to silence, which, while accurate, would kind of defeat half of the purpose of the show/movie/video game.

Even with The Walking Dead actually addressing the problem of potential deafness arising from the use of firearms against zombies or hostiles, it doesn’t really address just how big of a problem not being able to hear could, potentially, be in a zombie apocalypse, hell, even when it comes to Connie, a character who is (And portrayed by a person who is) deaf, I don’t think we’ve actually been shown how dangerous the condition can be in life-or-death circumstances.

We so often rely on our vision that I think we underestimate just how important our hearing is. When something approaches us that we can’t see for one reason or another, oftentimes, our ears serve as our early warning system, giving us some idea of where in the darkness threats are coming from or if something is coming up behind us.

This brings me back to where I started: While The Walking Dead does tackle how one could lose that early warning system, they haven’t yet shown what would look like and how dangerous something as simple as shooting off too many guns too often could prove to be.

Just imagine not being able to hear what’s going on around you. Not having any idea when or even if something is coming up behind you, not temporarily, permanently. It would leave you having to perpetually look around to compensate or learn to rely on your senses of touch and smell to try to bridge the gap, assuming that’s even possible. Honestly, I’d love to see a scene (Maybe even an entire episode) that focuses on Connie having to survive by herself and display how she’s learned to deal with not having the closest thing humans have to an early warning system in a world where it’s imperative.

While that would be great to see, you’d also have to remember that that would be someone who’s spent most (Probably all) of her life without hearing. Connie wouldn’t have to learn what to do; she’d know, if you lost your hearing, you’d have to try to learn how to deal with it, and the question is…would you be able to in time to not get ambushed by zombies? Would you ever?

In a zombie apocalypse, an ounce of maintenance beats a pound of cure. If you can protect your hearing, you’re better off doing that than trying to replace it once it’s gone, assuming you ever could.