NationStates Jolt Archive

Our nation is quite shocked at what is done to our brethren in some nations.
We feel that all intelligent being deserve basic rights.
Zombie Emancipation Act

Category: Human Rights
Strength: Strong
Proposed By: Emancipated Zombies

Zombies are individuals who have been infected with a virus known as 'solanum'. After the victim succumbs to said virus, it changes the function of many tissues and organs in the body. One of these organs is the brain. The virus takes it over, and allows it to be 'reanimated'.
We regret that the solanum virus kills so many, and it would be preferable to halt its spread. This proposal is not condoning the transmission of the solanum virus.
However, this does not change the fact that many zombies are self-aware, and deserve rights.

APPALLED AT the apparent disregard for or enslavement of zombies in many nations;
NOTING THAT zombies are intelligent and self-aware beings.
IN ACCORDANCE WITH NSUN Resolution #6, "End Slavery";
AFFIRMS zombies' rights;
DECLARES that as intelligent self-aware beings, zombies must be freed from the chains of slavery.

NOTES THAT this proposal does not legalize the consumption of brains and assorted other flesh from other beings.
Note that this is an early draft, and our brains are not quite as adaptable as are you living representatives, we tend to miss things. If we've made any glaring mistakes, point them out. We would be happy to receive input.

I would suggest adding some sort of definition to zombie.

My main problem with the aim of the resolution however is that zombies tend to want to eat human flesh/brains. Gwenstefani would be reluctant to give equal rights to something which may harm the general populace.

I would suggest adding some sort of definition to zombie.
OOC:
*facepalms*
I knew I forgot something...
I'll be right on that.
My main problem with the aim of the resolution however is that zombies tend to want to eat human flesh/brains. Gwenstefani would be reluctant to give equal rights to something which may harm the general populace.
IC:
It appears we made a serious mistake in neglecting to consider the brains-eating. We went vegetarian a while ago, so we had forgotten about the eating habit of our less-civilized brethren.
Hmm.
*thoughtfully taps forehead for a few moments.*
We find this situation quite a quandary now that we have taken into account the whole brain-eating thing. Perhaps another representative has some input that might be useful?

OOC:
*facepalms*
I knew I forgot something...
I'll be right on that.

IC:
It appears we made a serious mistake in neglecting to consider the brains-eating. We went vegetarian a while ago, so we had forgotten about the eating habit of our less-civilized brethren.
Hmm.
*thoughtfully taps forehead for a few moments.*
We find this situation quite a quandary now that we have taken into account the whole brain-eating thing. Perhaps another representative has some input that might be useful?

Well, even with equal rights they won't be above the law, so any brain eating would be punnishable by that nations laws (although the death penalty might be hard to enforce.)

NOTING THAT zombies are intelligent and self-aware beings.

Typically my government is a strong advocate and supporter of rights for sentient living beings, but according the the Necromancy Asslembage, one of the leading schools of magic, undead are defined as reanimated dead beings, and can include things like zombie dogs, skeleton parrots, ghou cats, wight mice, and vampire bats. These creatures were not protected by United Nations law prior to death, and my government will not support legislation to impart civil rights reserved to sentient beings who have been lucky enough to be reanimated post-death.

That said, frankly the zombification / reanimation process has shown the Asslembage, which regularly uses corpses (for academic purposes only I'm assured) as the physical component for creating zombies, that zombies are not free willed beings. They are dead, whom happen to be under the control of the necromancer whom created them.

My government's concern is that if we were to give necromancers the right to animate dogs or sharks into zombies, that the necromancers that control the will of their undead would use these creatures to stuff ballot boxes.

This is not to suggest that my government is opposed to reanimation of the dead. Not at all! The defense of my nation, does depend upon the services of the Necromancy Assemblage (afterall what better way to fight UFO aliens, than with something else straight out of fantasy). This also implies that zombies simply can't be hacked and burned by anybody on the street ... no more than automobiles or pet dogs should be free game. But until it can be demostrated that an undead is not simply following the instructions of its creator, we must object to this bill.

I will admit that perhaps there is another school of necromancy that is unheard of in Mikitivity, and perhaps zombies created by those magiks are not subjected to the same constraints as the necromancy taught and practiced by the Assemblage ... there certainly is room for discussion here, but I don't see many nations agreeing that zombie dogs or vampire bats should be given the right to vote, when they didn't have such a right prior to death and reanimation.

Well, even with equal rights they won't be above the law, so any brain eating would be punnishable by that nations laws (although the death penalty might be hard to enforce.)
Zombies can be destroyed by destroying the brain. So while more difficult to enforce than in living beings, the penalty of ending the offending zombie's existance would be possible.


On a different note:
We believe we have made another grave mistake(if you will forgive our pun!) in the resolution that needs correction. After pondering more, we have remembered that not all zombies are self-aware as we postulated. Some are simply instinct-driven brain-eaters as portrayed in popular movies. We believe a solution to some of the problems would be to enact stipulations based on that fact, so that we wouldn't end up with the "GRAAGH. BRAINS." sorts running about the countryside eating innocents.

The quandary now is defining which ones are self-aware and which are not...

The quandary now is defining which ones are self-aware and which are not...

Which will be problematic since there have been people struggling to find a definition of sentience for a while now, and as far as I know they have still not found one that everyone is happy with. But good luck on that. Maybe you should ask them for help actually, although I can't remember their names. I'm sure someone on here can remember though...?

Typically my government is a strong advocate and supporter of rights for sentient living beings, but according the the Necromancy Asslembage, one of the leading schools of magic, undead are defined as reanimated dead beings, and can include things like zombie dogs, skeleton parrots, ghou cats, wight mice, and vampire bats. These creatures were not protected by United Nations law prior to death, and my government will not support legislation to impart civil rights reserved to sentient beings who have been lucky enough to be reanimated post-death.

That said, frankly the zombification / reanimation process has shown the Asslembage, which regularly uses corpses (for academic purposes only I'm assured) as the physical component for creating zombies, that zombies are not free willed beings. They are dead, whom happen to be under the control of the necromancer whom created them.

My government's concern is that if we were to give necromancers the right to animate dogs or sharks into zombies, that the necromancers that control the will of their undead would use these creatures to stuff ballot boxes.

This is not to suggest that my government is opposed to reanimation of the dead. Not at all! The defense of my nation, does depend upon the services of the Necromancy Assemblage (afterall what better way to fight UFO aliens, than with something else straight out of fantasy). This also implies that zombies simply can't be hacked and burned by anybody on the street ... no more than automobiles or pet dogs should be free game. But until it can be demostrated that an undead is not simply following the instructions of its creator, we must object to this bill.

I will admit that perhaps there is another school of necromancy that is unheard of in Mikitivity, and perhaps zombies created by those magiks are not subjected to the same constraints as the necromancy taught and practiced by the Assemblage ... there certainly is room for discussion here, but I don't see many nations agreeing that zombie dogs or vampire bats should be given the right to vote, when they didn't have such a right prior to death and reanimation.
OOC:
Damn do I suck at writing resolutions with definitions and such. Grr.

IC:
Ah, we see that there is another clash of definitions.
We are referring to a different sort of zombie, a zombie created by an infection of a certain virus. Unfortunately, we seem to have misworded the resolution so as to claim all zombies are created by the same processes as were we, when the truth is that that is far from it!
Excuse us for our callous self-centeredness and our disregard for the way things work in the rest of the world.

After hearing the issues taken with this proposal so far, we believe a complete rewrite is what it needs. We're off to the drawing-board.

OOC:
Damn do I suck at writing resolutions with definitions and such. Grr.


I wouldn't say that at all. For a start, you've showed a complete willingness to listen to constructive criticism and use it to better your proposal. A lot of people can't even do that. Most good proposals go through a few rewrites anyway as there is always going to be something that you haven't thought of but that someone else picks up on. Rewrites help make the proposal stronger and have less loopholes.

Excuse us for our callous self-centeredness and our disregard for the way things work in the rest of the world.

After hearing the issues taken with this proposal so far, we believe a complete rewrite is what it needs. We're off to the drawing-board.

My government has not been offended. The purpose of a draft proposal is to solicit and respond to feedback, by basically gaging the positions of other governments. That said, we appreciate your replies and look forward to your new draft of the Zombie Emancipation Acts.

But please, no dogs or sharks! We have enough problem with uneducated voters, the last thing we need to see in Mikitivity are "Alpo, it's the dog food with brains in it! Vote for me, and I'll see to it that Alpo is served at all kennels nation wide" commericals. ;)

Which will be problematic since there have been people struggling to find a definition of sentience for a while now, and as far as I know they have still not found one that everyone is happy with. But good luck on that. Maybe you should ask them for help actually, although I can't remember their names. I'm sure someone on here can remember though...?
OOC:
DLE, Biteswaldi, _Myopia_, Saysomething, a couple others. Those are the names I remember off the top of my head.

In fact, if their "Rights for All Intelligences" is developed more, then this becomes absolutely useless

Grr, I should have guessed it would have depend on the sentience thing.

OOC:
Grr, I should have guessed it would have depend on the sentience thing.

Yeah, sentience, taxation, sovereignty, and MAD are the topics that tend to always pop up.

Perhaps one way might be to just reword this the "Until Death Do Us Part Act", which would say that rights granted to an individual prior to death are retained after death, with the exception of marriage vows or as provided in one's will and last testament.

For example, if I have the right to vote now and am married, but die, my widow would no longer be married to me, but if she reanimated me, I could vote again as a zombie.

The idea is you wouldn't be granting rights based on the status of being a zombie, but rather on the fact that I had them before.

This doesn't address my IC post where I pointed out that zombies are pawns of the wizards that created them, but that is an __opinion__ based on the Magic of Mikitivity. That is not a limit that applies to other nations necessarily. :)

Does this mean that we would have to impose regulations on the film industry. They always show "the differently alive" as baddies who only want to eat your skin and brains. This could effect the attitudes of the younger generation against "the differently alive".

My government strongly denies the apparent remarks ,printed in the Engineering Chaos Times, by the minister for public health. We despute that he said "Not quite alive and not dead enough". He said .... oh .... something else..... :headbang: .... he'll resign tomorrow!

How does the age of retirement affect "the differently alive".

The Empire plans on prosecuting offending Zombies to the full extent of the law. Their disease is no excuse for their lawless behavior, which has become so common in Waldesia. I am sure other nations have experienced similar problems with these people.

these people.

And there is the whole point of the argument - no matter what atrocities they commit, these are still sapient people (well, certain of them are), deserving of equal treatment under the law.

As to this specific proposal, I don't think it would be fair to the elves, AIs, etc. to do this for just zombies - why not work on the campaign to get human rights extended to all sapient beings? As far as I know, there's nothing in the most recent draft of the proposal which would disbar zombies, especially not if they were humans changed by a virus (DLE has a similar situation with a vampiric virus).