{"id":46039,"date":"2025-05-28T16:58:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T16:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/?p=46039"},"modified":"2025-05-28T17:11:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T17:11:24","slug":"the-last-of-us-us-vs-them-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2025\/05\/28\/the-last-of-us-us-vs-them-warning\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last Of Us<\/em> Warns That Us Vs. Them Thinking Is As Deadly As The Zombies"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

In season 2 of HBO\u2019s <\/span>The Last of Us<\/span><\/i>, humanity has survived a zombie apocalypse long enough to remember what it loves most: pointless, self-destructive wars against each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

Enter the two factions: the <\/span>Wolves<\/b>, a paramilitary group that took down an oppressive government and then decided, \u201cHey, what if <\/span>we<\/span><\/i> were the oppressive government?\u201d And the <\/span>Seraphites<\/b>, a cult-like group who communicate in eerie whistles and think the end of the world is a divine reset.<\/span><\/p>\n

In one scene, the grizzled Wolf leader, Isaac, is torturing a captured Seraphite for intel. And the conversation goes something like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaac: \u201cYou put an arrow in a little boy\u2019s head.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span> Seraphite: \u201cYou kill <\/span>our<\/span><\/i> children.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span> Isaac: \u201cNever by choice. You train them to shoot at us.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span> Seraphite: \u201cBecause your Wolves killed them.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span> Isaac: \u201cBecause you trained them to shoot at us.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span> Seraphite: \u201cBecause you broke the truce.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span> Isaac: \u201cBecause <\/span>you<\/span><\/i> broke the truce.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s like watching two kids argue over who hit who first, except instead of a playground it\u2019s post-apocalyptic Seattle, and instead of detention there are flamethrowers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile? Zombies. Actual face-eating mushroom zombies are crawling toward everyone, and neither side is remotely prepared.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both sides are so consumed with being right and enacting revenge that they ignore the far greater danger.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sound familiar?<\/span><\/p>\n

We may not be dealing with zombies (yet), but in our world, the pattern is eerily similar. Instead of uniting to face the biggest threats of our time \u2014 poverty, climate-fueled disasters, global food insecurity, insert your apocalypse here \u2014 we\u2019re too busy fighting each other. Over tweets. Over the phrase \u201cHappy Holidays.\u201d Over <\/span>The Last of Us<\/span><\/i> being too woke or not woke enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the problems that affect <\/span>all<\/span><\/i> of us gain ground. And our only chance of survival is to team up with the very people we think are our enemies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what <\/span>The Last of Us<\/span><\/i> gets right. The show isn\u2019t just about monsters. It\u2019s about what happens when identity matters more than survival. When we start fighting each other instead of preparing for what\u2019s coming <\/span>together<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, how do we fix it?<\/b><\/h3>\n

In <\/span>The Last of Us<\/span><\/i>, nobody survives alone. You need other people to watch your back, share supplies, and scream \u201cRUN!\u201d when a clicker pops out of a parking garage. The second everyone turns on each other, it\u2019s game over.<\/span><\/p>\n

Same goes for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

We need to stop treating people who disagree with us like the enemy. We need to build trust, not just with those who vote like us but with everyone. Whether the threat is political collapse, environmental disaster, or a ravenous horde of <\/span>infected<\/span><\/i>, survival\u2019s a team sport\u2014and we don’t have the luxury of picking sides anymore.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The zombies in <\/span>The Last of Us<\/span><\/i> are fictional. But the warning is real: the longer we treat each other as enemies, the more vulnerable we become to the things that threaten us all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s stop fighting the wrong enemy. And start building something better.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization on a mission to help overcome our most toxic divides. <\/span>Sign up for weekly inspiration, tools, and ways to take action to overcome us-vs.-them mindsets and solve our toughest problems together: <\/span><\/em>https:\/\/<\/span>buildersmovement.org\/join\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org) In season 2 of HBO\u2019s The Last of Us, humanity has survived a zombie apocalypse long enough to remember what it loves most: pointless, self-destructive wars against each other. Enter the two factions: the Wolves, a paramilitary group that took down an oppressive government and then decided, \u201cHey, what if we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":46040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"collection_feed":[],"type_feed":[77],"class_list":["post-46039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Last Of Us Warns That Us Vs. 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