The Last Of Us Warns That Us Vs. Them Thinking Is As Deadly As The Zombies

By Alex Buscemi (abuscemi@buildersmovement.org)

In season 2 of HBO’s 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, “Hey, what if we were the oppressive government?” And the Seraphites, a cult-like group who communicate in eerie whistles and think the end of the world is a divine reset.

In one scene, the grizzled Wolf leader, Isaac, is torturing a captured Seraphite for intel. And the conversation goes something like this:

Isaac: “You put an arrow in a little boy’s head.”
Seraphite: “You kill our children.”
Isaac: “Never by choice. You train them to shoot at us.”
Seraphite: “Because your Wolves killed them.”
Isaac: “Because you trained them to shoot at us.”
Seraphite: “Because you broke the truce.”
Isaac: “Because you broke the truce.”

It’s like watching two kids argue over who hit who first, except instead of a playground it’s post-apocalyptic Seattle, and instead of detention there are flamethrowers.

Meanwhile? Zombies. Actual face-eating mushroom zombies are crawling toward everyone, and neither side is remotely prepared. 

Both sides are so consumed with being right and enacting revenge that they ignore the far greater danger.

Sound familiar?

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 — poverty, climate-fueled disasters, global food insecurity, insert your apocalypse here — we’re too busy fighting each other. Over tweets. Over the phrase “Happy Holidays.” Over The Last of Us being too woke or not woke enough.

Meanwhile, the problems that affect all of us gain ground. And our only chance of survival is to team up with the very people we think are our enemies. 

That’s what The Last of Us gets right. The show isn’t just about monsters. It’s about what happens when identity matters more than survival. When we start fighting each other instead of preparing for what’s coming together.

So, how do we fix it?

In The Last of Us, nobody survives alone. You need other people to watch your back, share supplies, and scream “RUN!” when a clicker pops out of a parking garage. The second everyone turns on each other, it’s game over.

Same goes for us.

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 infected, survival’s a team sport—and we don’t have the luxury of picking sides anymore. 

The zombies in The Last of Us 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.

Let’s stop fighting the wrong enemy. And start building something better.

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