These past few weeks have been unlike any other I’ve lived through. A worldwide pandemic and mandated quarantine is an experience lucky boys and girls are presented with maybe only once in a lifetime, maybe even once every other generation! However, these weeks of self-isolation have presented me with the perfect opportunity to sit and twiddle my thumbs for hours on end. Or read books, that’s pretty cool too. One comic book that I read during this time was DCeased, a brief graphic novel about a zombie outbreak in the DC animated universe. As depressing as literature like this may seem, I had a rather spiritual revelation after finishing it: life is meaningless. In six short chapters, Tom Taylor has convinced me that we as a species are no match to any greater force, be it virus or elder entity, demonstrated by how quickly humanity fell to the fictional Corrupted Anti-Life Equation, and how amidst all the zombie killing the heros are unable to see that the cure for the Corrupted Anti-Life Equation had been in front of them the entire time.
OK, that was a lot to take in. Have I gone nuts during quarantine, lost all faith in the human race? No, I haven’t, I just like to keep my readers on their toes; however, I am one-hundred percent serious in my thesis. The Corrupted Anti-Life Equation is a virus that “spread as a techno-organic virus,” first infecting people who saw the virus on social media, then using these new infected hosts to infect others. Something from social media going viral? That sounds awfully familiar. In conjunction with this, both heroes and villains alike become infected and help to speed up the infection process of the humans. The virus is then able to rapidly spread worldwide, turning everyone it infects into zombies. (Once again, the internet turning people into mindless beings? Unheard of!). Although it was merely a fictional depiction of the mass infection of humans, this mass infection of human life led me to conclude that if we as a species were ever to face global pandemic, we would be altogether defenseless. We would begin to point fingers at each other for little to no reason, and would slowly tear ourselves apart. And as if to come along and prove my point, we are struck by Covid-19. In the span of a month, we went from having “normal” lives to having to isolate ourselves inside of our homes. And after only the second month, we began to lose it, making crazy conspiracy theories “claiming that 5G is… somehow responsible for coronavirus”, that the virus itself is one big hoax, and that the government is using Covid-19 to become some form of ultra-authoritarian being [BBC News, Center for American Progress]. But the conspiracy theories are only the beginning: we just so happen to be in the midst of a presidential election, in one of the most cutthroat political climates to date. We are looking death right in the eyes, and we can’t even muster the self-respect to put aside ridiculous theories and face the facts. It’s not a matter of if we face mutually assured destruction anymore, it’s a matter of when at this point.
To briefly explain the creation of the Corrupted Anti-Life Equation, one cybernetic hero, Cyborg, was captured and experimented on, unintentionally creating the virus and making cyborg the “patient zero”. When the Corrupted Anti-Life Equation first began to infect people, every superhero’s initial goal was to take out as many of the infected as possible, and save as many uninfected as possible. Once they began to suppress the outbreak, they immediately focused all their efforts on abandoning the planet, not even trying to figure out a cure, even though they had the literal patient zero with them the entire time. This brings me to my next point, that we as a species are so quick to perceive ourselves as being in a corner, and are quick to give up. Once again, I will make a parallel to the current state of American with Covid-19. Recently, there was a large push to “flatten the curve”, and to have people stay inside and socially distance as much as possible. For a few weeks, a majority of the population did self-quarantine, and the rate at which Americans caught Covid-19 did steadily decrease. But right as we saw a decline in Covid-19 cases, we quickly gave up on self-isolation. How weak willed are we that we can’t even follow basic instructions for like a month?! Furthermore, how can we value our own lives so little that we purposefully put ourselves in danger of contracting Covid-19? Maybe this sentiment of how little our lives matter is innate. We look for every opportunity to move on, regardless of how well (or how poorly) we have solved, or attempted to solve, whatever crisis we are in.
In summary, if by some miracle we don’t go completely extinct after Covid-19, there will probably be another virus eventually that will finish us off. If DCeased has taught me anything, it’s that we are weak as a species; we are unable to come to terms with our own problems and would rather blame everyone else for our mistakes. We are oblivious to our surroundings, and are quick to give up. In the event of a catastrophe of global proportions, we would sooner turn on ourselves than try to come together, or try and find a cure, as perfectly embodied by the current crisis with Covid-19. It is worth noting, however, that at the end of DCeased, all of Earth’s survivors do leave Earth in search of a new planet to call their home, knowing that “the monsters were behind [them]”. The ignorance of the human race thrives, and because they couldn’t control the Corrupted Anti-Life Equation, it will one day come back to catch them. Such is the case with humans, too; we rarely learn from our past mistakes, and are only doomed to repeat them. We are really screwed, aren’t we.
OK, that was a lot to take in. Have I gone nuts during quarantine, lost all faith in the human race? No, I haven’t, I just like to keep my readers on their toes; however, I am one-hundred percent serious in my thesis. The Corrupted Anti-Life Equation is a virus that “spread as a techno-organic virus,” first infecting people who saw the virus on social media, then using these new infected hosts to infect others. Something from social media going viral? That sounds awfully familiar. In conjunction with this, both heroes and villains alike become infected and help to speed up the infection process of the humans. The virus is then able to rapidly spread worldwide, turning everyone it infects into zombies. (Once again, the internet turning people into mindless beings? Unheard of!). Although it was merely a fictional depiction of the mass infection of humans, this mass infection of human life led me to conclude that if we as a species were ever to face global pandemic, we would be altogether defenseless. We would begin to point fingers at each other for little to no reason, and would slowly tear ourselves apart. And as if to come along and prove my point, we are struck by Covid-19. In the span of a month, we went from having “normal” lives to having to isolate ourselves inside of our homes. And after only the second month, we began to lose it, making crazy conspiracy theories “claiming that 5G is… somehow responsible for coronavirus”, that the virus itself is one big hoax, and that the government is using Covid-19 to become some form of ultra-authoritarian being [BBC News, Center for American Progress]. But the conspiracy theories are only the beginning: we just so happen to be in the midst of a presidential election, in one of the most cutthroat political climates to date. We are looking death right in the eyes, and we can’t even muster the self-respect to put aside ridiculous theories and face the facts. It’s not a matter of if we face mutually assured destruction anymore, it’s a matter of when at this point.
To briefly explain the creation of the Corrupted Anti-Life Equation, one cybernetic hero, Cyborg, was captured and experimented on, unintentionally creating the virus and making cyborg the “patient zero”. When the Corrupted Anti-Life Equation first began to infect people, every superhero’s initial goal was to take out as many of the infected as possible, and save as many uninfected as possible. Once they began to suppress the outbreak, they immediately focused all their efforts on abandoning the planet, not even trying to figure out a cure, even though they had the literal patient zero with them the entire time. This brings me to my next point, that we as a species are so quick to perceive ourselves as being in a corner, and are quick to give up. Once again, I will make a parallel to the current state of American with Covid-19. Recently, there was a large push to “flatten the curve”, and to have people stay inside and socially distance as much as possible. For a few weeks, a majority of the population did self-quarantine, and the rate at which Americans caught Covid-19 did steadily decrease. But right as we saw a decline in Covid-19 cases, we quickly gave up on self-isolation. How weak willed are we that we can’t even follow basic instructions for like a month?! Furthermore, how can we value our own lives so little that we purposefully put ourselves in danger of contracting Covid-19? Maybe this sentiment of how little our lives matter is innate. We look for every opportunity to move on, regardless of how well (or how poorly) we have solved, or attempted to solve, whatever crisis we are in.
In summary, if by some miracle we don’t go completely extinct after Covid-19, there will probably be another virus eventually that will finish us off. If DCeased has taught me anything, it’s that we are weak as a species; we are unable to come to terms with our own problems and would rather blame everyone else for our mistakes. We are oblivious to our surroundings, and are quick to give up. In the event of a catastrophe of global proportions, we would sooner turn on ourselves than try to come together, or try and find a cure, as perfectly embodied by the current crisis with Covid-19. It is worth noting, however, that at the end of DCeased, all of Earth’s survivors do leave Earth in search of a new planet to call their home, knowing that “the monsters were behind [them]”. The ignorance of the human race thrives, and because they couldn’t control the Corrupted Anti-Life Equation, it will one day come back to catch them. Such is the case with humans, too; we rarely learn from our past mistakes, and are only doomed to repeat them. We are really screwed, aren’t we.