There is just something inherently scary about zombies. With sheer numbers and slow gaits, they represent an inevitable demise, impossible to stop as they surge forward, hungry for the flesh of those who remain living. But is it really true that humanity as we know it would be done for? It is popular belief in movies and video games and stories that, as a human race, we're pretty much desinted to fail against the walking dead. However, such protrayals are not so much as depictments of the real workings of society, but are instead tools to get to a bone-chilling story out of what would be a fairly terrifying situation. Unfortunately for zombie enthusiests, however, there are plenty of ways to prove that, should the walking dead really walk, mankind, contrary to popular to popular belief, would not fall. Unlike in movies, there can be more faith in certain fields that we will be protected. The police force has plenty of tools to deal with a situation such as this, for self-protection and for capturing a zombie. The medical force is nothing to ignore, either. They also have ways of protecting themselves and identifying both a cause and perhaps even a cure. And even without these teams of specialists, there is still mother nature for the zombies to deal with. A zombie apocalypse would not be the end of human civilization.
There is widespread belief in the fact that zombies could never exist. While this may or may not be true, it is not the focus of this essay, and as such will be an argument we disregard. This leaves us with a choice between which kind of zombie we are talking about. For simplicity's sake we should deal with just one, and the common choice among those asked is the zombie of what is believe to be the very landmark of zombie films, the The Night of the Living Dead zombie. This type of zombie is the zombie the ombie with the more commonly agreed upon characteristics to classify a zombie as a zombie. These includes but is not limited to: a shambling, slow gait pattern; guttural moans and groans; pasty or even green skin color; deteriorating health; low metabolism; low intelligence; low strength; inexplicable hunger for the flesh of the living; contagious through unlethal bites to any part of another person's body; and impervious to everything except blunt trauma to the brain. This is ignoring stories of zombies that move at the speed of lightning; zombies that rise directly from the grave; zombies whose way of contageon are body contact; and other such examples. It is important to outline the zombie that mankind would be facing before figuring out whether or not mankind could face it.
Some might say that the fall of mankind would be inevitable for many reasons. One might be their sheer numbers. As it turns out, it is quite hard to get such a large number of victims in the time it would take to recognize that there is a problem. It is illogical to think that people would not manage to find ways to protect themselves or call for help should they find that a stranger is trying to bite them. Another thought is that, being the pathetic cowards that we are, we would default to mass panic. Unfortunately for this argument, there are clearly people who can rationally face such a situation, as one might learn from watching shows such as TruTV Peresents World's Dumbest and any other program showcasing the bravery of some otherwise ordinary individuals. In this day and age there are even plenty of people who know techniques such as Tae Kwan Do and Karate, which against a witless zombie could actually prove to be quite effective. A third factor against the argument is that zombies feel no pain. Severing an arm or a leg, according to the stories, would be futile; no matter what damage is done, so long as the brain remains intact the zombie will continue all attempts to advance upon its next meal. For one, this is ridiculous for the sole reason that people simply do not go around chopping off people's limbs, but disregarding that point, one does not necissarily have to kill a zombie to protect themselves. It is just as easy to incapacitate the thing, using such methods as a rope, duct tape, a muzzle, a blanket, even sitting on it. So long as it cannot bite you, you are perfectly safe. That is the downside to having only one weapon, and having that weapon be a part of your own body. As one can note, all three of these cases for the opposing argument do not hold a whole lot of water. Mine, however, do.
Let's start with that police force. These are trained men and women who face danger nearly every day. They have several methods for dealing with criminals that would work quite as well on zombies, with a few exceptions. A person who has been going around biting people will be labeled as dangerous, and there will likely be a good amount of people on the case. As such it would not be hard to surround and capture such a person. This leads us to factor number one as to why the human race would survive: zombies are slow. On legs slowly rotting away underneath him, a zombie simply cannot hope to get very far before finding himself surrounded by some very unhappy policemen. He can easily be tracked from his latest victim--a victim likely sent to the hospital, since zombie bites apparently knock a person unconcious before taking effect--and then can be effectively surrounded. It is unlikely that they would not be able to actually locate the thing, too. Why? Factor number two, that's why: zombies are stupid. Unlike a criminal mastermind, a zombie is less inclined to run and hide under the nearest rock and will be trying harder to find its next meal ticket. This would leave the thing right in the open, not difficult for a squad of policemen to find. There is a problem once they do locate the zombie, however...and that is the fact that, again, zombies are stupid. They cannot communicate, cannot talk. The police, having surrounded their subject, will ask the zombie to stop moving and put his hands in the air. A zombie, not the best of listeners, will continue moving, possibly in the direction of the closest breathing officer. With a deranged walking pattern and a reported history of biting people, it will be assumed that the zombie is mentally ill, and as such would likely either be shot with a tranquilizer (it is a little difficult to figure out if that would work or not) or tackled by one of the officers. Third factor: zombies are weak. They will likely try their best to bring their head around and bite the offender, much like an irritable snapping turtle, but given the limits of the human neck bones and the fact that dead flesh and decaying muscles do not excellent leverage make it's a safe bet that he will not be sinking his teeth into any human flesh any time soon.
This brings us to the zombie's victim in the hospital. Given the state of unconciousness, it is likely the person will be swiftly admitted to the Emergency Room for some professional care. this would likely give the zombie pathogen that we are infering is the cause of all this the time to spread throughout the victim. Upon waking up, they are, as one can guess, going to be trying to bite people. Now, one might think that the medical personel are quite doomed here. They are doctors, not police, and would have no defense against a zombie. this, however, is wrong. It is an unkind comparison, but many hospitals deal with mental patients with similar behaviors as this zombie's on a near daily basis. It is not unusual for someone mentally ill to try and bite a person. This leads us to factor number one for the medical field argument: restaints. For a patient all too eager to take a bite out of the health professionals, there are plenty of ways to keep the doctors and nurses safe. It is inherently hard to help save a patient when they have no interest in helping you. It is a given that professionals protect themselves before the patient, or else they would be in no condition to to help the said patient. As such, certain procedures have been put in place to control such agressive patients. The first step is restraints, which is bringin in some people to help strap the person to their bed. During or after this--if it hadn't already been done in the ambulance--considering that the zombie would be continuously attempting to bite any one of these people, they would bring out a muzzle to prevent him from actually taking a chunk out of anybody. If someone is in fact bitten, they will probably be okay..for a moment. If they faint, they will likely be taken into a different room, and it will immediately be known that there is something freaky going on, especially if the professional suddenly wakes up and shows signs of acting similary to the first patient. Even without such a sign, however, by hooking up the first patient ot their funny monitors they would soon realize something is up. As it would happen, low life readings are not a normal occurance in chomp-happy mental patients. So would begin the process that backs up factor two: finding out the cause of the conditions. To make things clear, this case would not, in any way, scream 'zombie' to these professionals. As said 'professionals,' they would be expected to treat the situation as the appearance of a strange new type of disease, and with the prospects of some major money and fame would quickly get to work on finding out more. X-rays, DNA tests, CAT scans, you name it; they will use everything they can to figure out what the heck it is they were dealing with. If the zombie did manage to bite one of the employees, it would be assumed that it is a pathogen or perhaps even a type of parasite instead of a genetic disease, and so would have a way of narrowing their focus. It would also help them identify ways of helping to stop the spread of infections, which could then be broadcasted to the public through the media to help prevent the spread of the mysterious disease, even helping to identfy more cases should anymore zombies be roaming the streets. Knowing the cause is also a part of the third factor: finding a cure. Upon identfying--or even partically identifying--the cause would lead the professionals to begin attempting to find a cure to find out how to stop or reverse the changing from living to living dead. Sure, several mice would likely be zombified in the process, but it is possible they could come up with a cure.
But suppose both of these groups fail, and the human masses go jelly-limbed with terror, and begin to lose the fight. Victim after victim is bitten, spreading the plague, one person at a time. After several days you are left with an undead army, ready to chomp up some more living flesh. After losing their humanity, however, they have also lost common knowledge: mother nature is merciless. Factor one is weather. Extreme heat, for example, will help a rotting zombie rot faster. Extreme cold, on the other hand, whole preserving the flesh a little btter, would probably freeze the zombie in place, locking down it movements. They do not have the sense of balance to keep from slipping in puddles of mud, do not have the sense to walk around snow drifts, do not know that tornadoes are not the funnest of amusement park rides. They will just keep walking, beaten and battere by the lements, not entirely sure what the heck they even are. There there is factor number two: wildlife. Zombies are not the only creatures that can stomach human flesh. Wolves, coyotes, foxes, bears, crocodiles, alligators, unhappy moose...there a plenty of things that would not think twice about taking a bite out of a convenient meal. Considering that their felsh is rotten, other nasty surprises await them as well, things such as bugs and scavenger birds, things that will find rotting flesh both delectable and as easy to sink their own teeth--and beaks--into themselves (as far as we know, the zombies would not bite these things, and even if they did, it is not clear whether wild animals would be affected the a human would be). And even then, if all else fails, there is the big kahoona, factor number three: natural barriers. Zombies, through popular belief, are neither seaworthy (disregarding the ones from Pirates of the Caribean) not mountaineers. To be able to reach the etnirety of humanity, the zombies--who, as mentioned several times, do not have the highest of IQs--will either need to find themselves a good pair of waterwings or spontaniously acquire the abilities of either Jesus Christ or mountain goats. With humanity as we know it scattered about the whole of the world, it is very unlikely that the zombies would ever be able to get to all of them, thusing completely ending the theory that zombies would end human civilization as we know it. What with the inability to mate (last anyone checked) and the rapid deterioration and being snacked upon that would lead to the zombie's slow demise, all that would be left for the rest of the world is to wait out the elliminaiton of the zombies before once again making an attempt to inhabit the land which they managed to overcome.
A zombie apocalypse would not be the end of human civilization. No matter it be by the efforts of the hardworking men and women of the police force or the medical fields or by the sheer power of mother nature herself, the zombie plague would very liekly be unable to take over the world. It may make for a good night in the dark wishing that night didn't actually exist, but it is not a practical way of elliminating the human race as a whole. The next time you someone tells you that the world is going to end by way of a zombie apocolypse, you can now cheerfully tell them how well realistic their theories really are...again, disregarding any theories that zombies would likely never exist, ever. Wouldn't it be to their surprise, then, if it could be proven that zombies could actually exist...