We do realize we are debating asthma about a TV character, right?

 

Yeah. I'm pretty sure the majority of this forum is about a TV show.

 

uh yea, what I was saying is people are fighting about the different extremes of asthma... relating to a fictional person. It's not about the asthma but that she doesn't want her son to be a soldier. He should be fighting, asthma or not.

 

I actually kinda hope they do something with Karen. Her character has some potential in my opinion.
Although I will say, I do think Noah should learn to defend himself so he can survive in this world. Regardless if he has asthma or not.

 

Well I don't see anyone fighting but okay.

His level of severity could be bad enough where he physically cannot fight. He should be doing something else useful if he has severe asthma, not just going to a battlefield and dying without getting a shot off. That helps no one.

And also asthma, though usually doesn't, can develop and worsen at any time from a number of reasons. Basically you can't say for sure the kid is in any condition to fight.

 

Personally I think everyone in Woodbury should be able to defend themselves because they've had it way too easy up until now. None of them besides the main people guarding the fences can survive a herd. They're sitting targets. I think Karen is doing her son more harm than good and it really has nothing to do with his asthma but more about her being an overprotective mother.

 

I agree that in a preferable situation you would want everyone to be able to defend themselves, but that cannot always be the case. Also defending yourself is different then becoming a battle-ready soldier. If somebody has a detrimental ailment, then they will do nothing but burden the entire army and weaken whatever position he is part of and the role he is responsible for. It is in no way worth it.

Our military (US) does not take people with severe health issues for a reason. Now I know it is easy to say "Well our military is large and complex while Woodbury is just a relatively small group of people" but even during the draft when we needed soldier so bad we forced young men into the military, we still did not take anyone with severe health issues. It just does nothing good. A weak spot can only serve to help the enemy. You're basically taking a person who can contribute in different ways and sending them to their deaths. It just isn't smart.

How can his mother be doing more harm then good if her son would die during the first hectic situation?

 

If the kid can't defend himself or handle walkers, he's just as helpless as Judith. At the very least someone should be teaching that kid some basic survival tactics.

 

If that kid survives whatever military plan the gov has planned...I'll eat my shorts.

 

I'm not sure if she will be successful in killing the Guv, but it sure looks like we're leading up to the kid dying and her turning on the Guv. Her suddenly having a sickly kid makes you wonder if this wasn't the original plan, and this scenerio just occurred to the writers as an afterthought.

 

Sure, teach him survival tactics, teach him military tactics too if you want, but depending on if his asthma really is bad enough, making him a soldier wouldn't really be helpful.

 

From a tactical viewpoint, that kid can be on the wall, freeing up a more capable fighter for the assault.

 

"You have asthma? That's cute. Now learn to use a gun or you'll die and become a mindless, flesh eating zombie."

 

Perhaps the asthmatic boy and over protected mother are not simply attempting to skirt responsibility. But rather the writers representation of holdouts of preZA mentatilty. Works for me that these people for the most part have been sheltered physically and mentally thx to the Guv. Now these naive cattle are being thrust into the sh-t with all it's horrors.

 

Karen's just someone for Andrea to talk to as a main Woodbury female character, as Woodbury's main characters are dominated by men aka;The Governor, Milton, Martinez.

 

I may have just been a tool for the writers to show us
A) the governor is preparing for war and has little sympathy for his town people.
B) town people are sheltered and clueless and unaware of the world outside their walls
C) a way to contrast Woodbury and prison because whole Milton and Andrea were defending a 14yo that morning Andrea saw Carl, every ounce a child soldier, that afternoon.

just as an FYI a work associate of mine died from an asthma attack and another friend of a friend ended up in the ER and 'died' twice before staying alive to breath another day so asthma really can be serious.

 

I don't think anyone is disputing the seriousness of asthma, I have brother with asthma and its scary when he has an attack. But we as viewers have no idea how serious Karen's son's asthma is vs how much she's just trying to protect him as a mother who doesn't want her kid armed for war. I imagine its a little of both and the very fact we're even discussing this and that it was such a focal point in the last episode, I think that kid is a goner.

 

Really? And that is not the only one in this thread clearly disputing the seriousness of asthma. I'm not saying all severities are as serious as the higher ones, but this kid could very possibly have a severe case. His mom did say "He can't even run ten yards without getting out of breath", depending on exaggeration that sounds pretty damn severe. Definitely little to no use in a battle situation.