What is with the whole Zombie thing?

[Capybara]

Hi all:

I have been absent from the world of shooting for the past few years and am recently getting way back into it. Yesterday went to the Ventura Gun Show, I have gone many times but not for about the past five years.

What am I missing about the whole Zombie thing? Zombie branded guns, ammo, targets, gun cases, cleaner, shooting glasses, etc. What the hell is going on with this? Am I clueless, or are the Zombie's a metaphor for the bad Recession or Dems or terrorists? I just can't understand. Some of the targets were kind of disturbing in a way, Middle eastern Zombies holding a knife to the throat of a voluptuous, I suppose American looking hooker? I even saw the mannequin-like zombie targets that spurt blood when you shoot them? When did the shooting world get taken over by 12 year old video game players?

I suppose it is a reflection of society itself with "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and "Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter" and the like insinuating themselves into popular culture. But it all just seems incredibly juvenile and kind of disturbing in a way to me, I like to have as much fun shooting and blowing up stuff as anyone, but all of the SHTF/Zombie threads all over the web are just strange. I agree, SHTF could happen, I even had a little taste of that here during the '94 Northridge Earthquake, but the threat there was from panicked ***holes driving around like idiots to drain the stores of supplies, and of course, who could forget the lovely L.A. Riots? But none of those involved fictitious undead characters WHO DON'T EXIST outside of comic books.

I am all for young people getting into shooting, my 13 year old son just received his first gun, a new 10/22 and I think that if that is how people have fun, it is okay but it does strike me as a little bit immature and strange, as if people handling deadly weapons think of life as a fantasy video game, which is more than a little disturbing. Is there something about all of this that I am missing?

Educate me. Please. I want to shoot with other shooters and have a good time, as long as they are safe, reasonable and sane. But some of this makes me wonder.

Thanks,

Dan

[97F1504RAD]

Haven't you heard the world is ending this year and Zombies will walk the earth so we have to prepare and be ready by taking target practices on them.

On a more serious note, Lighten up it's really not a big deal. Don't take it so serious it is all in fun.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

...When did the shooting world get taken over by 12 year old video game players?

2004

[Which Way Out]

Zombies just need killing, That's all.

[BassNut]

Zombies just need killing, That's all.

Aren't they already dead? LOL

[chickenfried]

It's all in good fun. Besides the zombie folks are probably more grounded in reality than the contrail folks or the tactical operators. You'd be hard pressed to find someone that really believes the zombies are coming. How do you feel about cowboy action shooters?

[FX-05 Xiuhcoatl]

we need to be able to distinguish human from zombie, that's why they are selling zombie targets

[toby]

Your best bet is to avoid all SHTF,Zombie,Prepping threads all together. Their kinda like Mosin rifles all the same, you seen/read one you've done them all...

[Capybara]

Yeah, I get it, I was just surprised that about 30% of everything at the show had to do with zombies. I am sure that it goes back to I hate video games, have tried to like them, tried to get into them but they are just mindless, boring after 5 minutes and waste of time to me. But since the world is addicted to video games (my own son included), I guess I am just an anachronism. But I totally dug Shaun of the Dead and Army of Darkness so I can see where zombies have their place in entertainment.

I have a video production company and I have interviewed George Romero as well as John Carpenter so I am familiar with all of the origins of and background on the whole zombie wave in mass pop culture, I guess I was just surprised that it had saturated the shooting world as much as it has.

Yeah, the whole mall ninja, wannabe sniper thing is obnoxious too. I have a close relative who was serving in Iraq and Afghanistan (Infantry) and another who was in Afghanistan and came home and is now a sniper on a SWAT team in Georgia. The whole killing people thing is serious business and it is disturbing that there are people who have guns who subscribe to that whole mentality as a hobby. When I spend recreational time with either of them, sure, we go shooting, but they don't spend their time reminiscing about the enemy that they have killed in the line of duty.

Dan

[cudakidd]

Honestly? Because talking about shooting Zombies doesn't get you labeled a racist or bigot.

It has become a euphemism since the old ideas of shooting people when the welfare checks bounce became a touch unPC. If you are wary of a social class or ethnic group you can avoid the whole issue by using the Zombie label instead.

I think it may also go deeper then that, the whole Walter Mitty idea of societal collapse, freedom from constraints, laws, rules and we all get to be Mel Gibson in Mad Max.

[97F1504RAD]

You need to watch Walking Dead on AMC

[battleship]

Zombies don't pay taxes so its good to go.

[Capybara]

Cudakidd, that is really interesting and that's what I was getting at. I was feeling like it was a joke that needed to be explained to me. I know that we live in a phobic society and that if you speak about any group of any kind, you are labeled a racist or bigot, when that is ridiculous. All of the best comics of our era base most of there best material on the differences and stereotypes that we all have about each other.

My other theory is, when did all of the classic monsters of horror films come to their greatest prominence? You guessed it, during the 30s during the Great Depression. What have we been in since 2007? The Great Recession. I see the parallels. We also live in the era of terrorism where the enemy is faceless and disappears into the crowd. When people are afraid of losing their job, not finding a job, losing their home, not being able to pay their bills and the distant specter of terrorism, it makes sense that a lot of people would like shooting and "killing" an enemy that is recognizable. I was just wanting to know if anyone here had a perspective on this?

Ah, heck, we probably should throw in some gun talk here so that this thread actually stays on a general topic track of guns. So what is so special about the Hornady Zombie loads? Is it just packaging or did they really test those bullets on the undead?

Thanks,

Dan

[glocklover]

You need to watch Walking Dead on AMC

New episode in 1:40 minutes!!!

[Capybara]

You need to watch Walking Dead on AMC

I have, good show. Heard an interesting interview with the director on the radio as well.

I get zombies in entertainment, I just don't get buying a lethal weapon with a zombie lazer etched on the lower receiver.