Dear Editor: As a fan of the Walking Dead series on my side of the pond (America), whenever I watch it (either manifestation), I can’t help but succumb to my Marxist intuitions and think of it in terms of the vulnerabilities of Capitalism, that is in terms of all its macho hubris and insistence on free will and the god-like invisible hand of the market as the solution to everything. I, being more of an agnostic as concerns the “invisible hand” (a cynic even), tend to watch the series, take note of the landscape it offers, and think:
“Well, there you go.”
And I say this because those who are true believers tend to make it seem as if Capitalism is some kind of natural force in our lives and protector of all things good. Yet, the landscape that both Walking Dead series offer suggests something less controllable.
And as I’m certain you know already, the main reason I brood upon this subject is the recent pandemic of the corona virus that has set off an onslaught on our retail outlets by people who seem to think we’re facing some kind of apocalyptic event. And witnessing this, I can’t help but think of the mentality of right-wing militias that, while seeing slippery slopes in the political and social systems, embrace the corporate value of individual will. It’s as if everyone is stocking their imaginary bunkers. Still, as is typical of the rightwing mentality, people seem to be digging trenches for a battle that’s not likely to come.
As experts are pointing out, most people won’t be affected beyond the policies implemented in order to protect our most vulnerable citizens with compromised immune systems. But, of course, the “experts” are always suspect because they act outside of the corporate value of individualism. Otherwise, we would have to submit to some nefarious government conspiracy.
It just seems to me, dear editor, that when this is all behind us, we will have faced a reckoning with Capitalist values (a worthy apocalypse), as well as this exaggerated individualism that supports it, by recognizing that cooperation is the only real solution to problems we might face as a society and that, rather than succumb to this apocalyptic mentality that will, inadvertently, undermine the market, we might want to think in terms of what established government officials and experts (not Trump( are trying to tell us.