What would motivate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make a public statement that real zombies don't exist? Sure, there's been a ton of press since the 'Miami Cannibal' case, the Maryland case, the case in Canada...the case in California. Nothing to see here, huh?
The search term, 'Zombie Apocalypse', has been trending on Google, and probably every other search engine in the world. Zombies have been a big thing at the movies, online and even in retail for years. It's not a new thing, movies like 1932 flick 'White Zombie' and 'Night of the Living Dead' in 1968. More recent films like '28 Days Later' from 2002 have become huge hits. DailyMail reported that the AMC TV program about zombies, 'The Walking Dead', is a hit with critics and fans.
People are fascinated with the idea of the living dead, especially with protecting themselves and killing them off! Every year, cities across America (and elsewhere) hold 'Zombie Walk' events. They're usually an underground event, planned online and made to be as realistic as possible with victims getting eaten, lots of blood and zombie killers. There are lots of variations like zombie pub crawls, ZombieFest's, etc. There's even been zombies protesting for Occupy Wall Street rallies! In November 2011, a Zombie Walk in Mexico broke a Guinness World Record (yeah, seriously) with almost 10,000 participants.
Some media outlets are claiming that the CDC was 'forced' to issue a statement about zombies. It's not the first time the CDC has talked zombie. Some very slick PR folks came up with a new way to push Emergency Preparedness, and 'Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic' was born. They used several variations, all focused on getting Americans ready for impending doom. CDC spokesman David Daigle sent an email to the Huffington Post with this statement, "CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms)." He went on to dismiss so-called 'fictional viruses' like Ataxic Neurodegenrative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome.
The HuffPo article also mentions that 'zombie-like characteristics' have been found in the animal kingdom, very creepy stuff! What about the Haitian zombie? Would the government really tell the public if some bizarre virus, bacteria, voodoo...whatever, turning people into real zombies and infecting the population or would they try to stop it first, avoiding a panicked public ready to blow away the next guy that might be walking a little slow? Decide for yourself, but store up some good antibiotics and anti-zombie ammo, just to be on the safe side.
© Margie Wilson-Mars 2012
recommend
Facebook
Twitter
bookmark 
print
Comments: 11
The Miami incident and the spotlight it pointed at this new street dru"bath salts" naturally set off everyone's zombie radar. I don't really expect an actual zombie apocalypse, but it is uncomfortably close to the mark.