# After the zombie apocalypse, would you accept refuge with a settlement of competent racists? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221 "2015-03-17T18:30:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/41 "2015-03-18T02:35:04Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Yes, I did. I realized that after I submitted the post that the racial makeup was left unspecified. While it would usually be the default case of whites being the bigger bigots, I could imagine them not letting me join their Black Panther party. > …Even if I fail, I’d rather die like a man than live pretending the racists were just OK people. I couldn’t feel right leaving others to die. What are we saving our selves for? The world’s gone to shit, and won’t get better any time soon. And it’s probably the “me first” attitude you show that lead to this enclave full of racists. (post shortened, underline added) Which bigot taught you that it’s usually the “default” case of whites being the bigger bigots? You can die like a man, or you can die like Purina Zombie Chow. Either way, you’re dead. “Dying ain’t much of a living, boy.” - Josey Wales ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/42 "2015-03-18T15:29:25Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > If you were drowning, and a racist extended his hand to pull you from the water, would you choose to drown? If your house was on fire, would you prefer your family burn rather than they be saved by a racist fireman? Analogy fail. In the OP was I already was saved. Likewise with the fireman/lifeguard. Now, do I have to go live with the fireman, listen to his racist screeds the rest of my life? Why IS the racist lifeguard risking his own life saving me at all, and my non-same-skin color friends, rather than just letting us all die? What does the racist enclave get out of saving people, only to turn them out in the cold later? It doesn’t make any sense! You know perfectly well that the real life version of the same scenario in the OP would be that the racist army would just kill us all and take our stuff. Or take our stuff and leave us unarmed in Zombieland. Or not bother at all. Quite the surprising lack of compassion for your fellow man shown in this thread. If the “I got mine” attitudes displayed are what we would be saving from humanity in the OP scenario, then maybe we as a specie need to die off. Maybe the Zombie Apocalypse would be a good thing. Maybe the zombies will eventually build a better civilization. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/43 "2015-03-18T15:39:00Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Which bigot taught you that it’s usually the “default” case of whites being the bigger bigots? Is this some sort of gotchya? Are you calling me a racist? Don’t have any better argument? Who taught me this? The history of the US! Where this Zombieapocalypse fantasy is taking place. It wasn’t black people, or Native Americans, or Asians that enslaved the white people of the US, that enacted Jim Crow, that created separate but equal, “colored” water fountains, the Klan, that created the need for the Civil Rights Movement > [@doorhinge](#): > > You can die like a man, or you can die like Purina Zombie Chow. Either way, you’re dead. > > “Dying ain’t much of a living, boy.” > > - Josey Wales Yeah, well, I guess Josie Wales dies in the film, right? He didn’t succeed at fighting for what he thought was right? Or maybe, he gave up his core values for survival? Methinks you picked the wrong guy to quote! He did what I listed as one of my options - he created a negotiated settlement with the Indians (who wanted to kill them all) and managed to create a situation where everyone could live in peace. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/44 "2015-03-18T15:39:03Z")
I wonder how many weeks of pants-shitting fear and malnutrition such an attitude as yours could endure. It’s easy to moralize as you sit well-fed and safe behind your computer screen. How would you do in a war zone or a prison camp? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/45 "2015-03-18T15:49:39Z")
[QUOTE=Just Asking Questions;18215899 You know perfectly well that the real life version of the same scenario in the OP would be that the racist army would just kill us all and take our stuff. Or take our stuff and leave us unarmed in Zombieland. Or not bother at all. .[/QUOTE] Not necessarily. There is strength in numbers. Recruiting more people like them makes them safer. Plus if there are many kinds of racists. Some are defined more for their love of their own race than their hatred of others. Hatred of others is part of the deal of course, but the priority is “educating” their group to be proud of who they are and recognize their superiority. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/46 "2015-03-18T15:55:17Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > (Underline added) > > Tsk, tsk. How racist of you to assume that racist must be white. > > Since you’re out-manned, and out-gunned, I assume your remaining days will be short in number if you attempt to take them out. It’s not unheard of among black persons to claim th at only whites can be racist–a position that is obviously bullshit. I don’t know how common that fallacy is among other oppressed minorities. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/47 "2015-03-18T16:05:51Z")
I’d stay for a while, then leave later when I feel I can. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/48 "2015-03-18T16:08:56Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Quite the surprising lack of compassion for your fellow man shown in this thread. If the “I got mine” attitudes displayed are what we would be saving from humanity in the OP scenario, then maybe we as a specie need to die off. Maybe the Zombie Apocalypse would be a good thing. Maybe the zombies will eventually build a better civilization. That’s a couple times now that you’ve kvetched about others having an “I got mine” attitude. Now, just for the novelty of it, stop fighting the hypothetical. Explain as cogently as you can, how your situation or humanity’s prospects for the future are improved by you taking your family and flouncing off to die. Please keep in mind that the only witnesses to you making this point are racists and zombies.I expect neither group will be much impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/49 "2015-03-18T16:23:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > It’s not unheard of among black persons to claim th > at only whites can be racist–a position that is obviously bullshit. I don’t know how common that fallacy is among other oppressed minorities. Nah, Indian people hate each other at pretty much the same frequency. And IME, they don’t lie about it. They don’t think any race is more racist than the others. Just that some are clearly inferior. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/50 "2015-03-18T16:25:57Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > That’s a couple times now that you’ve kvetched about others having an “I got mine” attitude. Now, just for the novelty of it, stop fighting the hypothetical. Explain as cogently as you can, how your situation or humanity’s prospects for the future are improved by you taking your family and flouncing off to die. Please keep in mind that the only witnesses to you making this point are racists and zombies.I expect neither group will be much impressed. He is standing on his high horse but what bothers me about the hypothetical is it’s not just my family, it’s some other members of my group that I would be abandoning, helpless. People I traveled with. I don’t have any minor children and it seems the height of jerkishness to just abandon those people: > [@](#): > > The city or town you live in fell early on, and for a few months now you (along with your spouse and kids, if you have one) have been wandering with a small group–say half a dozen, not counting you and your family. You knew none of the group before joining them. > You and your family are the right skin tone, so y’all are in like flynn – but the rest of your original group descends from the wrong ancestors, so they’ll have to go. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/51 "2015-03-18T16:31:43Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > In the OP was I already was saved. Likewise with the fireman/lifeguard. Now, do I have to go live with the fireman, listen to his racist screeds the rest of my life? Why IS the racist lifeguard risking his own life saving me at all, and my non-same-skin color friends, rather than just letting us all die? What does the racist enclave get out of saving people, only to turn them out in the cold later? It doesn’t make any sense! Aha! So as long as I donate money to the Save the African Children fund, I have proof that I’m not racist? I feel so sorry for _those people_. Let’s just hope they don’t move in next door, am I right? And if I ask Christopher Columbus to explore and subjugate the New World in order to save their poor non-white souls, I’m also not racist? It’s for their own good! I think you’re not understanding the complexity of human behavior, especially when that behavior hits a crossroads of two conflicting beliefs. Contrary to popular belief, racists are people too. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/52 "2015-03-18T16:35:43Z")
This whole question reminds me of the sailor’s rule. You know, where you pick up sailors overboard regardless of creed or nationality. You may not want “those people” to be part of your crew but that doesn’t mean you want them to drown horribly right in front of you. Real racists are not unadulteratedly evil. They just aren’t. Sure, sometimes people get carried away and put on white hoods and start burning things but plenty of racists just believe “you guys over there, and us guys over here”. They are as complex as any human being. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/53 "2015-03-18T16:35:58Z")
Take away the zombies and take away the wandering around and the openness of the racism and you’ve got modern America. Where the hell else am I going to go? The real question is whether I say something about it. The only difference between your scenario and modern America is whether we are open about the racism and can openly speak against it. On my nice cul-de-sac, my house is one of two (out of eight) white families. White families are the exception in my neighborhood, which is a lot Mexican, some Black, Asian and Punjabi. Since it is upper scale in cost, it is kind of an swell place to live. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/54 "2015-03-18T16:36:45Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > It’s not unheard of among black persons to claim th > at only whites can be racist–a position that is obviously bullshit. I don’t know how common that fallacy is among other oppressed minorities. All over Eastern Europe there are various ethnic minorities that historically have been oppressed by the Turks or Russians or Poles among others. IME they are some of the most vehemently bigoted people you’ll ever meet. They hate dark skinned people, they hate Jews, they hate Muslims, they hate Russians, they hate Gypsies, and they hate people from all the other ethnic groups in the region. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/55 "2015-03-18T18:56:51Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > …Yeah, well, I guess Josie Wales dies in the film, right? He didn’t succeed at fighting for what he thought was right? Or maybe, he gave up his core values for survival? Methinks you picked the wrong guy to quote! > > He did what I listed as one of my options - he created a negotiated settlement with the Indians (who wanted to kill them all) and managed to create a situation where everyone could live in peace. (post shortened) You’re the one who assumed the racist group must be/had to be white. I’m not sure what kind of negotiated settlement you expect when you say you intend to kill the white people who saved you and your friends, and then fed you. I would think that a thank you would be the more appropriate response. You couldn’t defend yourself from unarmed zombies but you think you can take on an armed militia. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/56 "2015-03-18T19:03:19Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > All over Eastern Europe there are various ethnic minorities that historically have been oppressed by the Turks or Russians or Poles among others. IME they are some of the most vehemently bigoted people you’ll ever meet. They hate dark skinned people, they hate Jews, they hate Muslims, they hate Russians, they hate Gypsies, and they hate people from all the other ethnic groups in the region. (Off-topic question - Is it still considered racism if you hate everyone and treat everyone else as a lower class person?) ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/57 "2015-03-18T23:06:33Z")
THat’s known as misanthropy. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/58 "2015-03-19T00:07:54Z")
Rule of thumb in a zombie apocalypse, communities that rescue you always have a dark secret. If that’s what they’re showing on the face of it I don’t wanna know what’s going on behind the scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/59 "2015-03-19T00:19:37Z")
I’d leave with the crew that got me that far. T If say, I was alone and rescued by racists, I’d probably stay until it was safe or fitting for me to leave. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221/60 "2015-03-20T02:08:40Z")
It would depend how racist. They don’t sound super bad as described in the OP, just saying “those people” have to leave after the dust settles. Meh. If they were beating them or enslaving them or using them for zombie bait, that’s something else entirely. They’re a private group, they should have the right to say who can join, even if they have a misguided criteria. If they can do a better job keeping me and mine safe than some multicultural rag tag melting pot, oh well, I might feel a bit of remorse, but I’m not risking my loved ones for the sake of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-zombie-apocalypse-would-you-accept-refuge-with-a-settlement-of-competent-racists/715221.md?page=4)