Elia gets passionate about zombie rights

Guest speaker Dr. John Elia, from Wilson College, spoke about zombies as people during the Zombie Symposium at York College of PA.  He asked about “zombie’s moral standing as it is linked to the allegory of plague as retribution.”  He also stated the rules of being an ethical killer of zombies that I will summarize.  Kill when: All other means of escaping certain personal death are exhausted or if allowing the zombie to “live” would not be good for the human if a cure were found. (ex. Guts are hanging out.) Both rules are completely acceptable if one is at war with zombies.

Elia spoke in detail about zombies “being people” and the extreme lengths one should take to remember that fact during a zombie apocalypse.  His thesis is strong if indeed there were an apocalypse and we were to see our loved one changed to walking dead.  I can’t get past the “living dead” so as Elia spoke, I began to think historically about deadly diseases and the treatment of those afflicted.  The Black Plague, leprosy, small pox, typhoid fever, and AIDS, just off the top of my head, are a few plagues that come to mind when thinking about the ethical treatment of those fallen with disease.

I desperately wanted to ask Elia during the question and answer session if he had given though to diseases in the past and present and how inflicted people were treated.  I didn’t get to ask him but I’m guessing, he had to have some thought about the possibility of a disease that may warrant killing those who have reached the height of illness and are intent on inflicting those not sick.  It is a chilling thought but not one that I would rule out.  Grave illnesses can make people act inhuman.  Fortunately for all man-kind, in the reality of the 21^st century, those fallen with deadly diseases are treated as humans and every step is taken to treat and cure their illness.  And in my personal opinion, if the dead do begin to walk, shoot first ask questions later.

~P.