Zombies have always been an interesting topic of discussion for many decades generating much revenue for the entertainment industry via various mediums. Max Brook’s World War Z recounts interviews conducted by an anonymous agent of the United Nations Post-War Commission with many refugees and survivors following the Zombie Apocalypse. In my reading of the novel, one particular interview stood out among all the rest: former White House Chief of Staff, Grover Carlson. The interview took place in Amarillo, Texas as the once respected official now pushed a wheelbarrow collecting “fuel” along the “pie-ladden pastures” (59).
For those of you who don’t realize it by now, “fuel” is a fancy term for dung.
In this particular interview, Carlson admitted in a matter-of-fact casual tone of the many “actions” and “decisions” he pushed through during his reign in order to pro-long the inevitable. He stated he knew of the outbreak the day the “Knight-WarnJews report” hit his office and personally debriefed the president. He admitted to pressing a placebo drug to tame the American Public which stood no chance against the Zombie Outbreak; he admitted his focus was on keeping the powers-to-be happy and in turn, he got to keep his job and the life he had built. He insulted various institutions and organizations and even insinuated the American people were nothing but a pest to his office–all in a very nonchalant manner. His tone was none of remorse; rather, he gave the impression that if he had to do it all over again, he would in exactly the same manner.
Carlson’s take on the whole “catastrophe” was that it affected not only the public in protecting themselves from the attacks of zombies, but that it was political as well–the government had known about it, the media had known, the doctors had known, everyone knew. Everyone was and could be held liable and everyone had as much to lose. As a result, everyone chose to ignore the “warnings . . . that [the Outbreak] could never just be woven into the fabric of public life and that it actually was a global catastrophe in the making” (63).
Ignorance is bliss – until you’ve hit rock bottom and your only primary role in this world is to scrape a “shovelful of ‘fuel'” into a medieval-looking wagon.
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