To me the message of Walking Dead 0504 was that we should beware micromanaged reciprocity. The idea that everything has a cost is actually embedded in our DNA and behavioral economics is observed in every species. It is an emergent property that doesnt require all that much conscious decision making. When the policewoman tells Beth she owes for every kindness and is in debt for the police saving her life, she robs the survivor of her own agency. This is what feels creepy about the deal of indentured labor. And about an overly monitized, law driven, litigation hungry policed society. In my faith all our debts are to God and we are free to pay back the earthly system as an experiment in living in accordance with Gods love. So many times Beth could have died but there but for the grace of God went she. She owes her rescuers only the renewed opportunity to be good to others in turn. That is the real law of the jungle. One good turn deserves another, on a planet that turns around the sun. Short circuiting the cycle of reciprocity by mandate is where the trouble begins. Making the debts personal and too overt is where the magic and mystery of sovereignty gets tainted. If you want to survive a zombie apocalypse, or anything else, pay it forward, lengthen the chains of debt into rhizomal webs of reciprocity. Stop asking to be paid back for every good thing you do.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 13:56:43 +0000