World War Z
"Fear Sells" - Max Brooks
This quote is pretty much what the whole book revolves around, the fear of dying, the fear of being hurt, and the fear of the unknown leads people to believing or buying fake hopes. One portion has a man selling a placebo drug for supposed zombie bites, making people immune. That obviously didn't help much.
This quote is actually one of the most universal means people take advantage of to do many things, such as rake up profits from selling placebo drugs to buying the latest brand clothes. Every year or so there's a new epidemic being widely dangerous and deadly as stated by the media. Vaccines and such aren't made readily fast, but many fake drugs cash in the fear, people too scared to know whether the fake drug actually works or not, they simply take the so called "medicine" and their fears go away. Who knows social anxiety better than teenagers? They have many things to worry over, one of them being clothes. They have a fear of not fitting into the crowd of people and be rejected. One major trait people look at is what you wear, whether your clothes are cool or uncool. This is one reason why trends are just what they are, trends. When someone wears something cool, it spreads like wildfire, consuming all, which leads to people fearing if they are wearing the latest clothes or not, making them buy from brand stores, multiplying the store profits because of overpriced clothing. Fear is indeed a major player in economic situations, and also part of our very existence.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
9/17/10 Writing Challenge
World War Z
Manhattan, New York
[During the war this place was heavily infested numbering in the hundred millions, the bulk of New York. I am here today with Billy McBillard, a farmer that was drafted into the war as a scout. I sit with him now in a Starbucks. He doesn't seem very fond of the coffee.]
The night was pitch black, the moon barely visible, I was in a scouting unit whose job was to check ahead of the infantry and report any sightings. In front of the front lines was us, miles ahead of the rest of the troops to lure Zack into our little trap. It was a person's worse nightmare, people try to keep their presence silent and minimal so that Zack won't detect them and here we are, making as much noise as possible to lure Zack to us!
[He takes a sip from his coffee.]
Now, we didn't go alone or anything, we were in groups of three, one to drive, one to secure the turret, and one to make the noise. I was the latter, and Jesus Christ that wasn't fun. I carried things from amps to freaking grenades. If a grenade wasn't going to catch the attention of Zack, then the goddamn high pitched noise magnified through the amp would. It wasn't a pretty sight. they would come by the droves and I was right there, bait on a platter. After enough we would bail back to camp and get ready for the oncoming slot as part of the infantry. Now don't get me wrong or anything, but these foot soldiers have it easy. They simply have to wait in their cozy little camps while we go out and bring the insuring horde. It wasn't completely safe you see. One time another group was going around getting Zack's attention and out of nowhere they hit a mine and they lopsided off their vehicle. We couldn't save them in time. That was the last time I went into the field hastily.
I'm happy that's as far as we went, compared to the rescue teams.
Manhattan, New York
[During the war this place was heavily infested numbering in the hundred millions, the bulk of New York. I am here today with Billy McBillard, a farmer that was drafted into the war as a scout. I sit with him now in a Starbucks. He doesn't seem very fond of the coffee.]
The night was pitch black, the moon barely visible, I was in a scouting unit whose job was to check ahead of the infantry and report any sightings. In front of the front lines was us, miles ahead of the rest of the troops to lure Zack into our little trap. It was a person's worse nightmare, people try to keep their presence silent and minimal so that Zack won't detect them and here we are, making as much noise as possible to lure Zack to us!
[He takes a sip from his coffee.]
Now, we didn't go alone or anything, we were in groups of three, one to drive, one to secure the turret, and one to make the noise. I was the latter, and Jesus Christ that wasn't fun. I carried things from amps to freaking grenades. If a grenade wasn't going to catch the attention of Zack, then the goddamn high pitched noise magnified through the amp would. It wasn't a pretty sight. they would come by the droves and I was right there, bait on a platter. After enough we would bail back to camp and get ready for the oncoming slot as part of the infantry. Now don't get me wrong or anything, but these foot soldiers have it easy. They simply have to wait in their cozy little camps while we go out and bring the insuring horde. It wasn't completely safe you see. One time another group was going around getting Zack's attention and out of nowhere they hit a mine and they lopsided off their vehicle. We couldn't save them in time. That was the last time I went into the field hastily.
I'm happy that's as far as we went, compared to the rescue teams.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
9/2/10 Questions
World War Z
Summary
The setting of this book takes place in many countries such as the United States of America to Chile to Israel, about a decade after World War Z, a war that nearly destroyed the human race. Max Brooks travels around the world to interview and record people and their unique experiences during the Zombie War and what happened.
Question
1)The story can make you think about what would happen if the world was plunged into a world of darkness, filled with flesh eating carnivores and how we, as a human race, would survive such a disastrous ordeal. If such a situation were to happen, could we come out on top and survive? Or would we break as a civilization and succumb to our basic instincts and cease to function as a society? It is an interesting viewpoint that we don't see very often.
2)Although there are many characters, there is one that is unique, and that is Todd Wainio, who does what he is ordered to do. Todd Wainio is a U.S. infantryman and fought in the Battle of Yonkers, which was a disaster for the military as it had made the public lose confidence and fanned the flames for the "Great Panic". He manages to survive the Battle of Yonkers and becomes a veteran to the "Road to New York" where the U.S. went on the offensive and led a campaign to purge the country of the zombies.
3)The events that led up to what happened in the book started with an unknown strain originating in China that eventually spread throughout the world. Infected organs that were shipped out of China from the black mark for transplants may have been the cause for why the infection spread so quickly. Another reason continuing reason is that the governments failed to take notice of infection because they were in denial of zombies actually existing. The virus began to spread and millions of people were killed as a result, only to reanimate as the living dead. Thus, the beginning of "World War Z".
Summary
The setting of this book takes place in many countries such as the United States of America to Chile to Israel, about a decade after World War Z, a war that nearly destroyed the human race. Max Brooks travels around the world to interview and record people and their unique experiences during the Zombie War and what happened.
Question
1)The story can make you think about what would happen if the world was plunged into a world of darkness, filled with flesh eating carnivores and how we, as a human race, would survive such a disastrous ordeal. If such a situation were to happen, could we come out on top and survive? Or would we break as a civilization and succumb to our basic instincts and cease to function as a society? It is an interesting viewpoint that we don't see very often.
2)Although there are many characters, there is one that is unique, and that is Todd Wainio, who does what he is ordered to do. Todd Wainio is a U.S. infantryman and fought in the Battle of Yonkers, which was a disaster for the military as it had made the public lose confidence and fanned the flames for the "Great Panic". He manages to survive the Battle of Yonkers and becomes a veteran to the "Road to New York" where the U.S. went on the offensive and led a campaign to purge the country of the zombies.
3)The events that led up to what happened in the book started with an unknown strain originating in China that eventually spread throughout the world. Infected organs that were shipped out of China from the black mark for transplants may have been the cause for why the infection spread so quickly. Another reason continuing reason is that the governments failed to take notice of infection because they were in denial of zombies actually existing. The virus began to spread and millions of people were killed as a result, only to reanimate as the living dead. Thus, the beginning of "World War Z".
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