So I have quite the bone to pick with this week's SG homework. Asking how one would survive "The Purge" is in my mind equivalent to asking someone how to survive the zombie apocalypse. Neither one will ever really happen so its a waste of time. Oh sure, you could make the argument that these are interesting and thought provoking philosophical debates but then again so is what would win in a fight, the U.S.S. Enterprise or a Star Destroyer from Star Wars? The debate may be entertaining but in the end won't get you anywhere for too many reasons to list but I'll stick to the top three.
1. We have no data from which to source our arguments from. Just like how zombies and starships aren't real there has never been a time in "civilized" society that a concept like the purge has ever been attempted. Its immoral to say the least and just plain stupid in the extreme. While you could point to instances like civil wars and the western expansion of the United States where there has been apparent lawlessness the fact of the matter remains that events depicted in "The Purge" simply didn't happen. History has never recorded the type of anarchy that would make the purge work, especially not over such a short time period. Therefore it is impossible to create a viable scenario for which you could survive such a contingency because the variables would be literally infinite and completely dependent on the person's own point of view.
2. From what data we do have such events are impossible. Again just like zombies, the events depicted in the movie "The Purge" can't actually happen. Human nature simply won't allow it. Anytime there have been riots throughout history some semblance of order has risen to calm things down. Over a twelve hour period violence would be greatly localized because people would know they only have to hold out for a short time. Groups would band together to enforce whatever laws they feel apply and you can't simply expect law enforcement and emergency service providers to just kick back and let it all happen. If they can't be arrested for being vigilantes what's to stop all the vigilantes from coming out of the woodwork to protect the innocent on their own? Not only that but doctors, nurses and ex military personnel will simply step up and provide whatever assistance they can by any means necessary. So what if they stole medical supplies from the hospital? That's also legal for twelve hours. History has shown time and time again that it is against our very nature to simply stand by and do nothing as massive groups of other humans beings suffer.
3. Arguments made are entirely culturally based. I touched upon this in argument one but it bears it's own topic. Any argument you read about surviving the purge is going to be completely dependent on cultural factors. The absurd lack of relevant data means we have to fill in the blanks ourselves. Naturally, the only way we do this is with our own life experiences and those are based upon the culture we live in. You may be highly religious, you may be a minority or you may even be a refugee from a war torn nation. Each one of these people is going to have a completely different view about The Purge, what it represents and how to survive it. In fact if you were to remove the words "The Purge" from their arguments you would be inclined to believe they were talking about three completely different scenarios.
It is irresponsible at best to speculate about an event for which you have no data and that realistically can not happen. Even if you were to talk about this from a fictional standpoint (i.e. writing a story or a movie) you would have to develop some kind of background from which to draw data from. The variables and the constants would be to be identified well in advance before any argument could be made. I mean think about it, what are the best and most long lasting story lines in fiction today? They are those stories that have well developed worlds to develop from. They have data which we can all source in our minds, whether we realize it or not as we follow along with the story. These are enduring to us because they create a consistent and stable world from which our own imaginations can assemble the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle being laid out before us. This is fine as long as these worlds remain on the pages or the screen, attempt to apply them to reality, however, and every last one of them falls apart. Invariably, we have to make a lot of assumptions and simply accept that certain assertions are in fact true when they may not be. Critically examine any fictional story and you will find inconsistencies with reality that make applying said story to your real life impossible. That's why questions like: "How would you survive the purge?" piss me off. Its not real, you can't not survive.
P.S. I finally completed my Ivy Valentine Crossplay. Take a look!
I have gloves but they're really crappy and I couldn't use the touch controls to take these selfies with so I had to leave them off. All I need now is to make the sword and Isabella "Ivy" Valentine will come to life! Of course I'll never be as gorgeous as these ladies but hey, as long as we're all having fun who cares?!
