Should you just kill yourself in the event of a zombie apocalypse?

By Justin Rutty

The argument for this is you’re just going to die anyways so just kill yourself and be less miserable? Some people say you are just going to be a zombie anyways and you’re just delaying the inevitable. There is also the argument that in this situation there is way too much suffering to be worth trying to survive. Even my friend said this while we were 

watching “The Walking Dead”. Lori was pregnant and was close to having her baby. As were sitting in his room he said “Who would want to bring a child into the world at that point” his argument was that the struggling and suffering that was happening in this world isn’t fair to bring a child into. He also said at that point, “What’s the point of life? You are just struggling to survive. “

My counter argument is you never know it might get a lot better. The best example of this is the movie “Shaun of the Dead.” Think about it.  In the final scene when they are surrounded by zombies in the Winchester, how easy would it have been to just all kill themselves?  Instead of them sitting there scared and afraid of being eaten by zombies to end their worries and just kill them selves. Probably. That depends on the individual. They contemplate that in the movie.  There are many people that can do that facing that situation.  Personally I would take my chances with the zombies but I’ll get to that later.  Yes it would be a lot easier but since they waited an extra few minutes they ended up living through the tragedy; saved by the military.

This decision even comes after great personal tragedy to them. They lose many people from their group including Shaun’s own mother and his best friend, Ed. So it’s not like he doesn’t suffer. In fact, it’s surprising he doesn’t kill himself.   This, however, all gets to the point it is not worth it to kill yourself.

So what should you do in such a miserable situation? Again, we look to the movie for a good answer.  At the end of the movie Ed, Shaun’s roommate, stays behind to close the door. He is not actively killing himself he is accepting his death; is not the same as actively committing suicide. What he decides to do is save his friends and take as many zombies with him before he dies, which is what I think is the right way to do it.  Yes you will die eventually but the point is think of all the good you can do by getting eliminating all those zombies.  You can save a lot more people. So between helping others before your death and the fact that you never know when life will get better it is in my opinion worth taking the chance and not killing yourself in the zombie apocalypse. 

Citations 

Salazar, Heather.“Kantian Business Ethics,” in Business in Ethical Focus, ed. Fritz Allhoff and Anand J. Vaidya. Broadview Press, 2008


Salazar, Heather. “Self-Interest,” The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Series on Ethics and Morality, ed. by Robert  Fastiggi. Gale Cengage Learning, 2013

Blackburn, Simon. Being Good: An Introduction to Ethics. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001. 

Photos

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