When we approached the short reading in World War Z for discussion
we mainly talked about how fears drove the market and consumerism. We also discussed
the effect of people abusing that fear for their own personal gain. It was a discussion
of how fear is a driving force in the way we approach our decisions of the
material world. I will turn the attention to a different kind of fear frequently
displayed in WWZ: the fears of loss and hopelessness. Specifically, the Battle
of Yonkers and the already present fear at the time, that being three months
into the ‘everything is not okay’ mentality, the hell hole known as ‘The Great
Panic’.
The Battle of Yonkers was twofold to the government. One, it
was meant to be that turning point where we push the zombies back against their
currently unstoppable steamroll across the eastern US. Two, it was meant to show
off the military’s might and to flex their prowess for the media in an attempt
to show society that they were still in control in an attempt to curb fear. As
Todd Wainio said: “Dude, we had everything: tanks, Bradleys, Humvees armed with
everything from fifty cals to these new Vasilek heavy mortars. At least those
might have been useful. We had Avenger Humvee mounted Stinger surface-to-air
missile sets, we had this AVLB portable bridge layer system, perfect for the
three-inch-deep creek that ran by the freeway. We had a bunch of XM5 electronic
warfare vehicles all crammed with radar and jamming gear and…and…oh yeah, and
we even had a whole FOL, Family of Latrines, just plopped right there in the
middle of everything. Why, when the water pressure was still on and toilets
were still flushing in every building and house in the neighborhood? So much we
didn’t need! So much shit that only blocked traffic and looked pretty, and
that’s what I think they were really there for, just to look pretty.” All of
the soldiers understood that this was all an exercise of power. Though, they brought
enough firepower, but not enough to keep it firing. When you remember that head
trauma is the only thing that kills these zombies you start to think ‘Why bring
tanks, rocket, high explosive, etc?’ when all you need is one bullet. This
turned into an inability to keep up fire for the early kill zones (mainly
rockets and tanks firing) and even the damage that was dealt was not effective.
This combined with the high tech equipment they had called
Land Warrior all started to build up fear when the Zeds only just got to the front
line. The Land Warrior allowed you to communicate with entire squads and battalions
through an earpiece and transmit info through a heads up display and camera. So
when the zombies started to roll in and people began to panic openly into the
microphone, it started a positive feedback loop where the more panic in the
system the more it caused. There was one moment seconds before the line was
broken when a family of infected shambled out of a house behind the lines and
mauled a soldier, worst part was his guns camera captured it all perfectly, the
terror, screams, blood. As Todd said shortly after this: “Panic’s even more
infectious than the Z Germ and the wonders of Land Warrior allowed that germ to
become airborne.”
The fear of hopelessness that came with that, the Zeds, all
the other conditions was what broke the line. The three months of panic leading
up to that battle, all of it caused this to catastrophically fail and send the
world into an even further panic. What fear can do is destroy, until hope comes
back, then that may be all there is. Later, the South African plan and the
battle at Hope, New Mexico (cheesy), provided that necessary hope to bring humanity
back and win. If those two events did not arise, then all there would have been
was fear until we slowly died out as a species.
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