What most guys really like about zombie and disaster shows is that, in addition to being entertaining, sometimes there are things you can learn and put into practice. This gives rise to discussions and makes us feel like real men, just like when a guy in the neighborhood has his hood up on his car and we all go "see what is going on" even if we don't know anything about car engines.
"The Walking Dead" is a great show for guys because it is a great discussion starter. But how is it for teaching guys how to be a prepper or a survivalist in the real, non-zombie infested world?
Aside from the guns and weapons and perhaps some self-defense techniques, there is not much in "The Walking Dead" for the would-be prepper or survivalist. That is, unless there really will be a zombie apocalypse coming soon.
The fact of the matter is that most of what we need to prepare for in the case of a real, non-zombie disaster is far too boring for the TV show to deal with. Preparing for a "SHTF" (Sewage Hits The Fan) scenario means that preppers and survivalists deal with mundane issues like water purification and sanitation a lot more than which crowbar is better to crush a zombie skull.
Like in most television shows, the characters in The Walking Dead don't really seem to go to the bathroom or need to find clean drinking water or deal with matters of personal hygiene.
The interesting thing about surviving a major disaster is how rudimentary most of the daily struggles are. For instance, more people die in the world from diarrhea due to unclean drinking water than AIDS or TB.
After a natural disaster or anything that causes a massive power outage, sanitation is always a top concern so that disease doesn't break out. Cholera, which has as its chief symptom explosive diarrhea, can kill people so quickly that in the morning they seem fine and they are dead by nightfall. This is a lot more serious than a zombie invasion.
The other thing that you can't really learn about prepping from The Walking Dead is food storage. Learning how to stockpile food and then cook it in adverse conditions is a huge priority for preppers and survivalists, yet these things don't seem to take much time or energy for the TV characters.
So while The Walking Dead is great entertainment and a very good discussion starter, using it as a way to start preparing for a disaster is a bad idea. It is much better to spend your time and energy planning for how you'd live without electricity for a time or what you'd do to survive if you were stranded away from home.
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