Disaster collectivism creates a sense of solidarity and cooperation among humans who demonstrate a remarkable willingness to help one another. While the zombie apocalypse scenario is hypothetical, real-life disasters demonstrate that people come together to support their communities. Examples such as Hurricane Andrew and the San Francisco earthquake highlight the emergence of crisis bonding and resilience. Understanding the inherent nature of cooperation and generosity is crucial, not only in the face of fictional scenarios but also in addressing real-life challenges like climate change and natural disasters.
If you watch a lot of movies, you might think that a zombie apocalypse would turn us humans into, well, monsters, but it turns out that we humans are actually pretty darn cooperative when the poop hits the fan. In times of disaster, people usually help one another and work together to deal with the disaster and to help their communities recover.
Now, a zombie apocalypse hasn’t happened - yet - so we can’t say for sure what would happen if the undead suddenly lurched into our world. But if we look at disasters like gulf coast hurricanes and west coast earthquakes, we can see that the very best parts of human nature often come alive when we face the worst of times.
In the aftermath of 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, people strung power lines across the street to neighbors whose power was interrupted. After the 1904 San Francisco earthquake, many people were left homeless and without anything. Yet, amazingly, whole communities arose in parks, providing food and shelter - and even lively music - for those in need.
Now, that doesn’t mean that everyone will always be wonderful when things are horrible. There are some people who try to take advantage of difficult situations, trying to gain resources or power when things are chaotic. And - even people who are by and large cooperative can end up doing selfish things if they fear that everyone else will do the same. That means that our very fear that society could break down in a zombie apocalypse could be very the cause of that breakdown - an apocalyptic self fulfilling prophecy if I’ve ever heard one.
This is one of the reasons why it’s important for us all to know and appreciate just how fundamental cooperation and generosity are to human nature - and not just for the zombie apocalypse!
As we face unprecedented changes in our climate, more extreme weather events, and disasters like wildfires and earthquakes, more and more of us will be dealing with shocks and catastrophes. And we will need to work together with our neighbors and communities to deal with them through cooperation and mutual aid.