The undead are the talk of the nation. Or at least the talk of the Internet. Every day, it seems, innocent people are getting their faces chewed off or their brains and hearts eaten in random, unprovoked zombie attacks. Whatever your political or religious persuasion, no one wants to get his or her face chewed off by a flesh-eating zombie.

At first glance, this is an absurd topic. But dig a little deeper. The talk of “zombie apocalypse” taps into real fear that is profound. It’s about the aftermath of total societal upheaval, one in which the norms and mores of civilized behavior no longer apply. The threat of a genuine “dog eat dog” (or perhaps “dog eat dog brains”) world is always looming on the horizon. The zombies, when they come, may arrive in unexpected forms.

For those of us raised in the suburban United States, with a doughnut-munching ticket-writing Barney Fife stationed on every street corner, the notion of complete societal breakdown seems far fetched. But is it? We’ve seen it happen right here within our own borders in recent years. Natural disasters have unleashed the zombies. Read More