The zombie apocalypse would be a serious threat

Additional Zombie Attributes Are afraid of fire Cannot use somewhat complex weapons My opponent stated, " I mean that if the dead were to rise and feast on the living it would pose an equal or greater threat to that portrayed in zombie movies" In Romero's films humanity is pushed to the brink of extinction by the zombie attack. I will therefore argue that humanity will not be pushed to such a drastic state. I will refute each of my opponents contentings point by point. Counter Argument 1 (Panic and Chaos)While it is true there would be panic, society would not come to a stop. If the dead began to consume the living the military would be able to grasp complete control of many cities and towns and be able to establish marshal law in those areas while at the same time defending key means to live. Major factories, military intstallations (i. e. airfrields, sea ports), farmland, etc would all be quickly occupied by capable military forces in order to provide food, protection, and supplies to the living. With the entire world in combat against the zombies wars between one another will be elimanted, allowing countries to use their total military man power to be dedicated to the defense of the listed key objectives making the impregnable to wandering zombie hordes. Brutal but neccessary precautions will be taken such as the execution of the elderly, the mentally ill, and the dangerously ill in order to prevent them from becoming easy targets for zombies or dying by other means. Keep in mind that zombies are terrified of fire. Setting fires in front of populated sanctuaries will keep zombies away. Inside the sancturies, which are heavily defended and well supplied areas for able bodied living humans, strict orders will be followed were the dead will be burned to prevent reanimation. Zombies will be easy for the military to eliminate seeing as they are slow, walk in relatively straight lines, have low intelligence, and will essentially be slow moving targets to soldiers who are well supplied and in large numbers. Therefore this makes it easy to go forth and eliminate advancing zombie hordes as well as occupy and protect key centers of industry, farming, logistics, supplies, etc. I'd be very surprised if any soldiers actually became casualties to zombie bites. Counter Argument 2 (Not So easy to Kill)1. Zombies do walk in relatively straight lines, not perfectly straight, but straight enough that you don't need to be Annie Oakley or James Bond to get a head shot.2. The fact that most people have no training with a gun is a problem outside Texas, but a problem nonetheless. In the event the world was thrown in chaos the fact that capable military forces are able to maintain firm hold on the means of production, transportation, etc, means that the U. S. , China, Russia, Europe, etc would be able to ship arms to other sanctuaries around the globe quickly either by plane or by ship with basic manuals on how to operate them. A single shipment of weapons that can fit in a cargo plane which would be parachuted into a foreign sanctuary or other safe area would give thousands of the inhabitants the ability to operate and use weapons. In conclusion with proffesional militaries working within their own countries to keep means of supply, production, and transportation open and with most weapons not being very complicated to operate, weapons can be shipped where they need to be shipped quickly thus giving a significant amount of people the ability to maintain security abroad. Counter Argument 3 (Self Spreading Epidemic)Reanimation takes several seconds and possibly minutes. Then the dead have to rise and begin slowly hunting brains. This is not a hard disease to combat, you simply need to be equipped with fire and guns. A modern day equivalent of the Black Death would be able to infect a person, and by the end of the day kill off the entire town. There would be no medicine or method of prevention. There would be no running away. A zombie outbreak requires 1. Dead People2. Zombies to hunt out victims for themselvesIf there aren't zombies near the vacinity, the dead won't rise. For example if zombies begin attacking a city, another city miles down the road won't have the dead reanimate. Zombies have to be near the area of dead people for their magic juju or hocus pocus ability to cause reanimation to the dead to have effect. With military forces defending the living as well as actively hunting out zombies in the open, zombies won't be able to get near the dead. Counter Argument 4 (Never Safe)With well defended and supplied sanctuaries there would be no need to fear each other. By the time the world is in "JESUS CHRIST! ! We are being attacked by god damned ZOMBIES mode", we would know that there is a zombie outbreak and take the precaution of shooting anyone who began to reanimate and since zombies cannot merely exist to cause reanimation of the dead, they actually have to be near the area. The dead won't reanimate if the military is defending the sanctuaries and preventing wandering zombies from approachings. ConclusionZombies are very easy targets to eliminate. Due to this fact the military forces of the world would have virtually no difficulty in controlling and protecting vital means of production, supply, transportation, etc such as factories, farmland, airports, etc. Zombies cannot simply exist to cause reanimation, otherwise one zombie would cause the dead to rise world wide rendering the ability to turn the living into the walking dead a useless and time wasting atribute, which it isn't. Due to this fact the military can easily wipe out entire mobs of wandering and stumbling undead people while at the same time protecting well defended and supplied sanctuaries protecting those who happen to die within from reanimating. This will allow well developed countries the ability to quickly wipe out the zombie threat within and begin to ship weapons and supplies to nations and areas that need it. Given areas such as Africa, Australia and other rural areas abroad will be wiped out. But the casualties inflicted by the zombie attack would not drive the human race to extinction. Since the resolution is, "if the dead were to rise and feast on the living it would pose an equal or greater threat to that portrayed in zombie movies", and since in movies zombies drive the human race to near extinction, and since a zombie attack in the real world will not lead the human race to the brink of extinction, the resolution is negated.