I think it's supposed to say everyone who dies becomes a Walker, but also people who get bit become walkers.
Oh? Well, "people who die from walker bites" are just a subset of "people who die", so I really don't see any difference. It's already been made clear that walker bites do not transmit the reanimation bug, since everyone already has that factor which causes reanimation after death. I think I'm still confused as to the question.
The Walker virus (or infection, disease, whatever it is) seems to have two variants. There's an active one and there's a dormant one. Everyone is already infected with the dormant one that's apparently able to be controlled or stopped by the body's own immune system. When the person dies the immune system can no longer fight the dormant virus which now becomes active and aggressive and reanimated the body at some point in the next few minutes to few hours. The active version of the disease is much more virulent and aggressive. It causes a person to become ill and succumb within a half-day or so. At which point the dormant variant goes to work.
I believe what the poster is saying, is what we've known since Rick disclosed what Jenner told him at the CDC, "everybody is infected, they'll turn no matter how they die". Therefore, I believe the poster, like me and others, surmises, that a Zombie bite only kills you, it doesn't turn you by itself. Dying is what turns you, being bit or not doesn't make a difference in how you turn. I think the this past half season Flu Virus, is just a virulent Flu Virus that killed people, and since they died, they turned. The Flu itself didn't turn them, and doesn't have anything to do with the "Turn you into a Zombie Virus" everybody is already infected with.
We talked about this in an earlier thread. The mechanism that revives people is a "virus" while what kills someone from a bite or scratch is a "bacteria" . (or whatever terms are more accurate) They're interconnected but not the same thing. The new flu might be a more aggressive version of the "bacteria"
When were these mechanisms revealed? In the comics? In the show? In a video game? Or are you relying on your own knowledge of epidemiology?
I think the "flu" in the first part of the season was just that, an aggressive flu that was just much more deadly given the unsanitary conditions people have been living in for the last year, year and a half. It's sort of like how if you were to travel back in time to the 19th century you'd probably find it pretty hard to survive there on at the very least the food and water supply. Our food and water is so treated and clean we've not many immunities to the natural bacteria and such in these items. People in the 19th century DID have these immunities from being exposed to them. I don't think this "flu" is related to the zombie [illness] it's just very aggressive and deadly (as some strains of the actual flu can be) given the unsanitary conditions people live in with limited medical resources. Whatever people die from after a zombie-bite however has to be related to the bite which, again, I think comes from a more active and aggressive version of the zombie [illness.] Since people die from it within 12 hours usually by running a very high fever and severe pain. So it's more than a simple infection from an untreated wound. But it does seem to move slowly and not through the blood supply since fairly early amputation of the bitten area prevents the spread of the disease. (If it traveled by blood it'd be all over the body after a bite pretty quickly.) This *may* suggest that the body has "some" immunities or defense mechanism against the illness and that it attacks and spreads by some other means.
Jenner was pretty clear that they didn't know what the cause of the reanimation was, which is why it was so hard to treat. Fact is, we're all working on assumptions here. It may as well be black magic.
The Walking Dead Wiki has this to say on the matter: This is why amputation can save those like Hershel from turning, because it stops the infection, not because it stops the zombie "virus."
I didn't like that the series began after the fall. So we didn't get to see how it happened. What ever it was it was very fast. So fast that after the hospital nurses stopped taking care of Rick, he was able to wake up after it before he starved to death. It happened so fast that the stores were still full of stuff. (There wasn't time for them to be emptied by hoarders before they all died) If the cause of zombies was a virus, even if (like in 12 monkeys) someone deliberatly spread it, it would take time to get every where, governments would have time to respond and it would take about a year to get everywhere in the world. (like in Wolrd War Z) But in this story, it was everywhere at once. I'm inclined to think god just "flipped a switch" and suddenly everyone world-wide who died became a walker. So ground zero became every hospital, hospice, motorcycle accident and war zone. Also why doesn't anyone use the word: "Zombie" in this series. Has Disney copywrited it?
I'm fine with them picking up after, as it sets it apart from a random zombie disaster flick a bit. Just wish they'd toss us a little backstory now and then and fill in those bits, even if they don't want to really explore the whole thing... New spinoff coming, maybe that will give us some of that? Eh, doubt it. Most likely, it's just the same conceit that every zombie movie makes: almost every zombie movie takes place in a world where zombie movies never existed. Bites, shooting them in the brain, it's new and novel concept every time. Otherwise, people would know too much going in and you lose the terrified/panicked/what do we do? vibe. Not that it still wouldn't be scary as shit, but in OUR universe, you'd know enough about it that it's unlikely it would ever get that far.
Yeah pretty much, zombies don't exist as a fictional concept. Thus the word "zombie" doesn't exist. (Of note, the grandfather of zombie movies "Night of the Living Dead" doesn't use the word either.)
"Zombie" gets used a few times in the comics. More commonly though Rick's group calls them "Roamers" (the ones that move around) and "Lurkers" (the ones that tend to stay in one spot til someone passes by.) The one that bites Hershel on the show would be a Lurker. "Walker" has never been used in the comics as far as I know.
Yeah, I don't recall though if zombies exist in popular culture or not in the context of the comic, however. I like the way the series handles it though. Because, again, if zombies don't exist in popular culture then why would the word itself exist? And if zombies DO exist in popular culture then certain tropes, like shooting them in the head, not letting them bite you, etc.; would exist and be known.
Yeah, if zombies exist in the popular culture of the setting it really stretches the credibility of an outbreak becoming wide spread.
With the notable exception of "Return of the Living Dead", where they knew all that stuff, tried it, and it didn't work. Although that movie made the zombies so unstoppable that it's hard to see how the original outbreak was ever stopped in the first place. Did they establish any way that they actually could be killed? I haven't seen the movie in a while. (Yes, I know it's a satire, but.... ) The word "zombie" would still exist in reference to the original voodoo-style zombie, so no problem there. It just never made the leap to apply to the walkers. You'd think it would be obvious, but as you say, Romero himself didn't even do it. I think that started with Fulci. But you're right that there was no such thing as a Romero-style zombie in the popular culture of that world, even under a different name.
The zombie in the ancient voodoo style would still exist but wouldn't be as prominent in popular culture and such enough for everyone to say "walking dead people! Zombies!"
The Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant does a really good zombie story in a world where "zombies" did previously exist in pop culture before the breakout. It takes place post-break out, where civilization was able to survive, but just like in TWD, everyone is infected, so zombies are something society just has to deal with. There are a lot of cute things, like George Romero is considered a national hero since because of him, people were prepared for what to do when the breakouts started. And like George has become the most popular baby name in his honor.