The cosy catastrophe has found a rightful place in English literature, from The Day of The Triffids to The Death of Grass, I can think of nothing better than to curl up in bed for hours and devour pages and pages of these classics.
I think the reason we love the cosy catastrophe so dearly is because of the questions it raises about human civilisation, what would it take for us to descend into barbarism? Is our humanity really only skin deep? These are interesting questions, without a doubt, but I think the cosy catastrophe often misses something, I suppose this is why we call them cosy.
I don't think they are wholly unrealistic, at least not in print, in film they often are. I do think that when, and if, society breaks down, wholly and completely, as is imagined by such authors, there will be men, men like me, who sit around pondering and discussing the future of humanity. (Perhaps this is an unfair characterisation of the cosy catastrophe, and the future thinkers however. Often such discussions occur in moments of safety, and prior to the catastrophe. Equally thinking may be the thing that differentiates the winners from the losers, the survivors from the rest).
And sometimes it will be the most unexpected men who take charge of the reigns, who are willing to kill and maim for the good of self preservation (it is key to highlight that these men will, at times, be the thinkers). I admire this quality in a man, I admire the ability to descend into animalism, but there is a condition to my admiration, and that condition is necessity - many men and women have, however, descended already, without necessity. We forget that in this day and age, there are already men and women who have descended into barbarism prior to the apocalypse, men and women who are already ready for the breakdown of society - these men and women are dangerous.
It may be the case that for all of us, it is a range of institutions, revolving around the state, that prevent us committing the most gruesome of crimes, but for the vast majority of us (I'd like to think), we are glad those institutions exist, that those crimes are stopped, that peace is maintained. We don't want to commit these crimes, and we are glad we are not in a position where we have to. For a certain portion of our country, of our civilisation, of our world, however, these limitations are not seen as a good thing, they see them as a hindrance, and when society breaks down, these portions will murder, rape, and pillage until there is no tomorrow. It is these men we must watch out for, for they could be, if society breaks down, the kings of the new world.
I hope, and rely on the fact that the vast majority of these men are too stupid to become the kings of the new world. Indeed, it is quite possible, and perhaps probable that they are not barbarous due to an intelligent rejection of social and cultural norms, but rather because they lack any ability to internalise such social and cultural norms. But even so, we must watch out for them, and if society does break down, those of them that are not already interned, must be controlled.
