Is Zom-poc/post-apoc the genre for misanthropes?

[stj]

Much of the thread really does seem to me to deny that criticizing the implicit messages of fiction is at all valid. But if it's valid to criticize porn and its fans, then it's valid to criticize other genres.

And yes, it's a matter of degree. Skipping over the zombies (which do seem to symbolize masses of some malign Other) to the more purely post-apocalyptic side, I must say that anyone who's never felt a cheap thrill at the thought of the end of the world, just hasn't been paying attention. (Apologies to JMS.) People en masse can really get on your nerves. But there's a difference between occasionally entertaining an idea (and politely showing it the door,) and consuming hours and hours of drama and thousands of pages of fiction, no?

 

[Garak]

Communists.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Much of the thread really does seem to me to deny that criticizing the implicit messages of fiction is at all valid. But if it's valid to criticize porn and its fans, then it's valid to criticize other genres.

And yes, it's a matter of degree. Skipping over the zombies (which do seem to symbolize masses of some malign Other) to the more purely post-apocalyptic side, I must say that anyone who's never felt a cheap thrill at the thought of the end of the world, just hasn't been paying attention. (Apologies to JMS.) People en masse can really get on your nerves. But there's a difference between occasionally entertaining an idea (and politely showing it the door,) and consuming hours and hours of drama and thousands of pages of fiction, no?

Do you not draw a line between enjoying works of fiction and then actively trying to play them out in your life?

Say someone's into post-apocalyptic stuff. They play Fallout games, they have Jericho on DVD, they enjoyed The Road, etc. etc. Let's say it's their favorite theme in fiction. But they aren't stockpiling guns, they aren't constantly warning other people that the end is near, and they aren't preparing for an imminent doomsday.

Would you say that person has a problem, or not?

 

[stj]

^^^Very likely there is something weird going on if that's as much of their free time as it sounds like. But I don't know why you'd necessarily assume that they would inevitably be buying guns etc. They might just neglect saving for retirement, carp about global warming PC costing jobs, and vote Republican for a government that treats the real Americans the right way. Or they might listen to John Hagee sermons, vociferously support the state of Israel by advocating war with Iran, and demand increased military spending to counter the threat of EMP weapons. I think these alternative reactions would also constitute problems.

But then, why should these hypothetical apocalypse fanatic have to be some sort of wildeyed crackpots for me to find their obsession with mass destruction to be distasteful, unpleasant, meanspirited and generally conducive to a low moral tone in society? Yet, not precisely a "problem."
Is it really very likely that fanatics who gobble this stuff up hours and bookshelves aren't obsessing at some level about the annihilation of humanity? It's hard to how that much of this stuff could keep its appeal, unless it was eternally refreshed by an inner spring of need for vicarious megadeaths.

I'm really inclined to think that much of the outrage in the thread is aimed at anyone who disapproves of another's tastes. I can only say that's touchy and arrogant.

Do you not draw a line between enjoying works of fiction and then actively trying to play them out in your life?

That seems backwards to me. Instead, I think your life and worldview is inextricably bound up with what kind of works of fiction you enjoy. Most of us don't think consistently, much less think through our odd entertainments. But when our entertainment comes from obsessing about a certain scenario, I do think the kind of scenario such a fanatic "enjoys" does come from his or her true feelings and values, even if they are not clearly conscious of them.

 

[Yminale]

http://www.tnr.com/article/books-an...ppers-what-tv-post-apocalypse-fantasies-tell-

Someone else who agree with Ian Keldon